Springfield attorney Jeff Morneau is running for the Democratic nomination to represent western Massachusetts on the Governors’ Council.
The 8-member governmental body provides advice and consent on judicial nominations, pardons, and commutations.
The seat from western Massachusetts is open because the incumbent, Democrat Mary Hurley, is not seeking re-election.
Also running for the Democratic nomination for the office are Springfield City Councilor Mike Fenton and North Adams School Committee member Tara Jacobs.
WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with Morneau.
Jeff Morneau
I know how important this position is, I know it's a down ballot, a lot of people aren't aware of the position and really what it stands for. But the most important job duty is the selection of judges, which I believe is just critical to our community. You know, the opportunity for me, it's just an opportunity to continue to do what I've been passionately doing for the past 10 years, whether it was as president of the Hampton County Bar Association, or what I'm doing now, as a, as an attorney for this courthouse issue. It's really an opportunity to make a difference in our community for years to come.
Paul Tuthill
As you mentioned, it's a down ballot office, it's a position that I'm going to guess a lot of people really don't understand what the role is, how do you how do you connect with how do you connect with voters on on on something like that?
Jeff Morneau
Yeah, you need to get the message out to the voters about it, you got to educate a lot of voters about what the position is. And then not only that, educate them on how important it is. And so that, you know, those are important things. And when it comes to selecting judges, which is really the primary role is, you know, approving judges, which serve in our community for, you know, 15 or 20 years, it's a quarter of a century. And the impact that that has on everybody. I mean, everybody, just about everybody in the community has some connection with whatever courthouse is within their community. And so it's a little bit of a challenge. But it's a challenge that I've been through before. And I think we did a really good job last time between myself and Mary Hurley in terms of educating the public on the position. And I'm going to continue to do that through this campaign.
Paul Tuthill
So, how do you go about determining whether someone would be right for a judicial appointment for, for serving on the bench for as you said, you know, a decade or more?
Jeff Morneau
There's a bunch of things you've looked you look at, and this is something that, you know, this is something that I have a lot of experience doing. I've been doing it throughout my career in terms of looking at applications, helping other lawyers and judges in the community, that have applied for their applications. And what you need to look at are a number of different things that that make that make a really good judge, you know, you start with intellect, obviously, I think that's a, you know, that's a, that's a baseline, that judge needs to have the intellectual capacity in order to interpret and apply the laws. You've got to look at Integrity, you've got to look at their work experience, you've got to look at their temperament, their work ethic, their their common sense, their community, their community involvement. You really want to have somebody with that with that meats that checks all those boxes, in order to get the best and the brightest judges on the bench. And that's really what the goal of the Governor's Council position is, it's to get the best to serve and do the public service for the community.
Paul Tuthill
So it's not a simple rubber stamp on whoever the governor sends up?
Jeff Morneau
No, in fact, it can't be. That's I think one of the very important roles of the Governor's Council, I mean, when it comes to appointments, they shouldn't be a rubber stamp by the governor's counselor. And by the same token, candidates are people that are coming before the Governor's Council, they shouldn't be unfairly scrutinized or embarrassed or humiliated for political purposes, which is, which I think has happened sometimes in the past. I'd like to help ensure that there's a balance of educating the community and learning about the potential judges through reviewing the nominees asking the tough questions, while at the same time I think you're able to show respect to the nominee, the other governors, counselors, you know, members of the judicial nominating committee that have gone through these applications and things of that nature. So, you know, I will always be voting with the best interests of the citizens in mind and without, you know, fear or political favor.
Paul Tuthill
In addition to judicial nominations, the Governor's Council also handles recommendations for commutations and pardons. How would you go about reviewing those?
Jeff Morneau
Yeah, that's interesting that, you know, that hasn't come up in a long time. But recently, the governor's council had some opportunities to go through, go through that process for some commutations and pardons and so that was that was really good to see. That's something that I will be advocating happens more that they be that the the governor and the parole board suggest other people for commutations and pardons and you've just got to look at these You've got to look at the entire record, the governor's counselor, each governor's counselor has a duty and responsibility when making these very important decisions to thoroughly vet, whether it be the judicial candidate, or somebody that's coming up for a pardon commutation, it can't just be a rubber stamp that, you know, because somebody has is before you, that somebody else is recommending you to approve that you approve them, you've got to go through, you know, all of the paperwork, the entire record, go back through the history, and really evaluate the person before you on a personal level. And then, you know, pull the trigger, make make the difficult decision with a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Paul Tuthill
And do you typically interview the person who is being who's being recommended for the commutation or the pardon?
Jeff Morneau
I think different people have different people have different philosophies on that. And similar with judicial candidates I know of, you know, I know of some governors, counselors that routinely asked for a personal interview with the judicial candidates before they, before they go in for it for their formal interview. And I suggest that Governor, you know, I think governors counselors do the same thing here, with the person that's coming before them in depending on the circumstances, and depending on the person and whether I whether I felt the need or desire to have an additional private conversation with somebody. I'm not opposed to doing that. And I would certainly consider doing that.
Paul Tuthill
The Governor's Council recently ended remote access to their meetings, meaning that the only way that the public really has access to a meeting of the Governor's Council is to actually show up at the Statehouse at noon on Wednesdays when they typically meet. Would you favor having those meetings live streamed as, the legislature does with many of their committee meetings and their full formal sessions?
Jeff Morneau
Absolutely. I just think this is a complete disservice to anybody that lives within the four counties out here, Hamden, Hampshire, Franklin, Herbert, Berkshire County, I mean, justice itself, starts with transparency. And when the elected officials in Boston think that the western part of the state ends and Wister it's just not right. I mean here, you know, I've been advocating for a long time, not just for live stream, and live streaming these things, but also for holding governors counselor hearings, at a minimum for candidates that are going to be serving in the four counties out here to have the governor's council hearings out here. So that the members of the public the community in which these judges are going to serve are going to have the opportunity to be at these hearings, and to ask questions and to see these judges themselves. Given the way that things are, there's absolutely no reason whatsoever as to why these hearings cannot continue to be to be put on live stream. It's It's It's, quite frankly, it's embarrassing, I think for the state to to have said, you know, we don't have the resources in terms of personnel or money. It's just not right.
Paul Tuthill
Back to your campaign plans for a final question. Do you think the fact that you have run for this office before -- although unsuccessfully against Mary Hurley, the incumbent who's now retiring -- gives you an advantage in this year's race?
Jeff Morneau
I don't know if it gives me an advantage. It certainly gives me experience with the district. I think last time we ran a very good campaign. We really had a lot of outreach. We made a, you know, we made a lot of inroads, especially in you know, Franklin, Berkshire and Hampshire County where, you know, I really hadn't practiced but I made a lot of great connections out there. I feel like I made you know, I got, you know, got to the community. I think that, you know, you'll learn a lot from each each campaign that you run. And so while you know, I don't I wouldn't say it's an advantage. I certainly think that the experience is going to help help our team this time around and, you know, hopefully we're going to we'll pull it out at the end of the day.
