By contrast, both her Democratic and independent challengers are relative newcomers, with past government service in appointed municipal boards but no previous electoral experience.
And both are running, to some degree, on not being Devaney, who is known for being outspoken and sometimes divisive. In 2007, the veteran politician was charged with assault after allegedly throwing a curling iron at a beauty store clerk in Waltham in 2007.
That incident did not go to trial, but ended with nine months’ probation and a written apology from Devaney.
Corey Belanger, 41, Devaney’s opponent in the Democratic primary, said Devaney’s behavior was one reason he chose to challenge her.
“Her relationships on Beacon Hill are poor,” Belanger said. “Her conduct in the last couple years has been not what we expect of an elected official. And I’ll tell you one thing: Corey Belanger gets on Beacon Hill; he’s going to mend those relationships and get results. That I can promise to the voters.”
Belanger, a pub owner from Lowell, has been a member of Lowell’s Zoning Board of Appeals for 10 years and has served on other town boards.
He said if he were elected he would fight to end lifetime appointments for judges and to reform the system for pardons, paroles and clemencies.
“Currently there are too many barriers in place for one-time felons,” Belanger said. “If you stole hubcaps when you were 18 years old, I don’t want it to be difficult for you to get a job in your 30s.”
Devaney says any candidate for the seat faces difficulties due to its low profile – many voters don’t know what the council does, or even that it exists – and large districts. District 3 extends from the New Hampshire border towns of Dunstable and Tyngsborough down to Westborough and includes parts of Boston.
“I have 800,000 people in my district,” Devaney said, “and I can’t go door to door from the Fenway to Groton – that’s what the district is.”
As for what the Governor’s Council does, it has the responsibility for approving all the governor’s judicial nominations, pardons and commutations.
For prospective judges, it is the final step in a process that begins with the Judicial Nominating Committee, a group appointed by the governor to recommend three candidates for each open position. The governor then selects one of those, who moves on to the Governor’s Council for final approval.
In 2008, Devaney trounced two challengers in a Democratic primary. She garnered 53 percent of the vote compared with 34 percent for Waltham resident John “Jack” Doyle and 13 percent for Watertown Fire Lt. Thomas Walsh.
If she succeeds in beating Belanger on Sept. 14, she will face Nick Iannuzzi, a Belmont family law attorney running as an independent, on Nov. 2.
Iannuzzi, 44, said his 19-plus years experience as a lawyer has prepared him for the post.
“I’m in and out of courts every single day,” Iannuzzi said, “and I believe there’s no better person to evaluate the appointment of judges than someone who is before these judges all the time.”
Iannuzzi stressed that he would recuse himself from appearing before any judge he helped appoint and suggested that he would avoid the controversies that have ensnared Devaney.
“I think I would add some professionalism to that seat and also some decorum, as far as that’s concerned,” he said.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
