One of the largest field of candidates in the September 6th primary in Massachusetts is for a relatively obscure office.
There are four Democrats competing for the nomination for the western Massachusetts seat on the Governor’s Council. The incumbent, Mary Hurley, is not seeking reelection.
The most recent candidate in the race is Shawn Allyn, a Holyoke attorney.
He spoke with WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill.
Shawn Allyn
So I'm interested in the office because I've actually practice law for the last 22 years in the four counties which this office serves. And I believe I'm uniquely qualified for the position. I have been a trial lawyer for over 22 years, I've tried 50 cases to full verdict, I'm the only person in the race that has actually practice law in the drug court, the veterans court, the mental health court, and who best to vet the qualifications of judges than someone who has practiced in front of judges for years.
Paul Tuthill
You think you think it's important that an attorney be be on the governor's council?
Shawn Allyn
I think it's a great asset, is very important because an attorney, particularly one that knows the ins and the outs of the system, that knows the bail statutes, that knows the sentencing statutes, that knows the questions to ask a judge. And as maybe your listeners do, or do not know, we only get one chance to get this right when a judge is selected by the governor, to be approved by the governor's council, because it's a lifetime appointment. So we only have one chance to get it right. And we have to get it right. We need to make sure that judges that we send to our benches and our counties reflect the views and the values of what the residents want.
Paul Tuthill
So what criteria would you use in in determining whether a judicial nominee is i fit to be confirmed?
Shawn Allyn
So I think you get to look at what particular area of the of the bench that the nominee is presented. For me in Superior Court, I think a nominee must have trial experience-- meaning trial experience civil (and) trial experience criminal. For a nominee in the Housing Court, I think if they had specialized training in HUD or, what have you, then that might suffice.. But qualifications over political connections has to be the litmus test here. For far too long, sometimes, we have judges that are being appointed through politics rather than qualifications. And our our benches and our judicial appointments need to reflect the community in which the judge is going to go sit and preside over. As you may or may not know, Tina Page, Judge Tina Page, who was a Superior Court Judge recently until she retired in 2018. She was the only and has been the only African American woman appointed to the bench in over two decades. So, one may ask themselves why that's happening? And, I think that is somewhat problematic when you look at our demographics within the four counties that our judges need to reflect the diversity of our population. And I think that's very important as well as qualifications.
Paul Tuthill
You mentioned litmus test. Will you apply a litmus test on specific issues in considering judges?
Shawn Allyn
I don't think on specific issues, but I mean, we obviously my number one priority is that we're going to have judges that are appointed that are going to apply the law. And public safety has to be, you know, a number one priority. And when you look at a judge and their background, you can tell from what they've done in cases that lawyers have been involved in what kind of background and philosophy they may bring to the table.
Paul Tuthill
Another function of the Governor's Council is to consider pardons and commutations. How would you go about deciding whether to approve these?
Shawn Allyn
So, I think it's really important for your audience to understand that the Governor's Council essentially they don't get to choose who comes before them is the most important thing, I think in this aspect regarding parole or request by the parole board to the governor to allow a commutation or pardon. The Parole Board has to present it to the governor after the applicant comes before him. And the governor has to agree with the parole board and then submit it to the Council for approval. But I think one thing when you talk about parole, and commutations it's meant to address injustices in the criminal justice system. And sometimes there are injustices done to people in the criminal justice system. Jurors sometimes get it wrong and judges sometimes get it wrong. Having practice a wealth of criminal defense in that arena, juries do get it wrong and judges get it wrong and sometimes people get minimum mandatory sentencing as having and present or has acted as a participant, but have not been the principle, which really means, you know, to give you an example: I drive my car to the store, my friend gets out of the car, and he goes in, and he robs the store. For driving the car, I am very often going to get get the same sentence as the person that went in and robbed the store. You know, whether I knew it or not setting defenses asid. So, pardons and commutations do have a legitimate function in the criminal justice system. But on the other hand, when they come before me, I want to have victim input. I want to know a lot about the crime and what happened. So it's something I would seriously consider and vet, but they do have a purpose in our criminal justice system.
Paul Tuthill
The Governor's Council during during much of the pandemic was live streaming its meetings. But when the when the State House reopened to the public, the live streaming of the governor's council meetings stopped. Will you if you're elected to the council, would you reinstate the live streaming of the meetings so that the public would have more access to the proceedings?
Shawn Allyn
Absolutely. And it's an outrage that the council even has the authority to say, well, the public records law doesn't have the public, the Open Meeting Law doesn't apply to us. And we don't have to, we don't have to stream it, they absolutely should have to stream it. And the other thing I could tell you that I would do is very often a judicial nominee, obviously will come from one of the counties that that the district councilors asked to vote on it, as well as the other members of the council. I think, the hearing for the local applicant, whether they come from the Berkshires, Franklin County, Hampshire County or Hamden County, I strongly believe that their vetting in their public hearings should be done in the county in which they come from. And the reason I believe that is because then it promotes public participation. And it promotes access rather than having people, maybe someone has childcare issues, maybe someone that can't afford to take the trip to Boston that wants to have say, whether they're involved in curiously in the criminal justice system or not. So that's something I think there really needs to be explore, I can tell you Judge William O'Grady, who sat in the Westfield District Court in Hamden County, his hearing was done in the Springfield City Council chambers. And I actually went and watched it, and it was it was very good there was a lot of people there. And I think that's something that vetting can be done on a local level, which makes it more accessible not only to be able to watch on a live stream, but it really gives people a better opportunity to go watch it in person and to participate, although the vote may ultimately have to take place in Boston, but I think transparency has to come to the forefront and the meeting should be live streamed. And quite frankly, I don't understand the reasoning that they've said. They're just going to shut the public out and not do live streaming. It makes no sense with modern technology posted particularly post pandemic because we've all learned how to use Zoom and Skype and all these other mediums that we now know that they're we're familiar with them. It's almost like using our cell phones like as a computer everybody has in their hand in their pockets every day. So there's just no reason for it.
Shawn Allyn is one of four Democrats in the September 6th primary for the 8th District Governor’s Council seat. The others are Springfield City Councilor Mike Fenton, North Adams School Committee member Tara Jacobs, and Jeff Morneau, past president of the Hampden County Bar Association. Interview with all the candidates can be heard at WAMC.org
