For the primary time in practically 5 a long time, somebody new goes to be elected Suffolk County civil clerk of courts.
Michael Joseph Donovan has retired after serving because the clerk Justice of the Peace for civil enterprise since 1976, ending a run of practically half a century in a countywide elected place that not often will get publicity.
He formally hung up the docket folder in December, based on a trial courtroom spokeswoman; he celebrated his retirement with a celebration this week.
Donovan, who labored his method up from an workplace boy to 12-term elected official, has left the keys to the clerk’s workplace for now along with his pal, Southie neighbor and first assistant John Powers III.
Powers, a veteran of the workplace and the grandson of a former state Senate president and Boston mayoral candidate, will maintain the workplace as performing clerk till after the election for the place subsequent yr.
And now Powers plans to run to make that extra everlasting, he informed the Herald.
“I understand the job and i understand where the job is going,” he stated. “You need somebody with expertise.”
He stated the important thing with this job is ensuring everybody has equal, constant entry to the courts, notably as they scramble to modernize in a constructing that also doesn’t even have Wi-Fi. Suffolk Superior Court is downtown at 3 Pemberton Square, however covers Boston, Revere, Chelsea and Winthrop.
At this level, nobody else has lately designated a committee to run for this workplace.
The place not often makes headlines, however in it Donovan was making an annual price of $174,532 when he retired, based on state knowledge.
Donovan, who nonetheless likes to get out and about at political capabilities, couldn’t instantly be reached for remark. Donovan’s retirement was first reported within the Dorchester Reporter.
Powers stated Donovan leaves “big shoes to fill” and is “incredibly well respected by the bar and the community.”
The clerk-of-courts positions are severe enterprise, although additionally they is usually a good touchdown spot for politicians whose different ambitions haven’t labored out. Over on the prison facet of the clerk’s workplace — a few flooring up within the aged Suffolk Superior courthouse downtown — Maura Hennigan, a former Boston metropolis councilor who’s not a lawyer, runs the present, as she has since getting elected in 2006. That’s the yr after she stopped serving on the council to as a substitute decide to run in opposition to incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino, who defeated her.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”