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Governor's Council, the JNC Application.

Governor's Council, the JNC Application

As part of the nomination process nominees are required to fill out a questionnaire for the Judicial Nominating Commission.

The Governor’s Council is supposed to have access to this questionnaire.

The Governor’s Office chooses to keep this questionnaire out of the public realm, and often makes it difficult for Governor’s Councilors to read this questionnaire.

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Part II of the questionnaire may be seen at:

http://www.mass.gov/governor/administration/jnc/jncapp/judicialapp/

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The following are the types of questions on this part of questionnaire.

 

Of your litigation work, specify what percentage falls in the following categories:

 

(a)    Civil                        _____ %                              (b)  State             _____ %

Criminal          _____ %                            Federal     _____ %

Other               _____ %                            Other        _____ %

Total                100 %                                Total         100 %

Explain the general nature of any proceedings that fall in the category of “other.”  If a material component of your litigation practice has involved appearing in state or federal courts outside Massachusetts, please list the jurisdictions and estimate the percentage of your time spent in those jurisdictions.  (Question 40 from the application)

Have you ever previously applied for a judgeship?  List all courts and years of application.  Specify whether the JNC recommended you to the governor for nomination and, if so, whether the governor nominated you. (Question 51 from the application)

What are the four attributes or qualities you believe should be given the greatest weight in evaluating judicial candidates, and how do you assess yourself pursuant to those attributes? (Question 76 from the application)

What is the greatest strength of the court to which you are applying and how would you preserve and improve upon that strength? (Question 78 from the application)

What is the greatest challenge confronting the court to which you are applying and how would you address it? (Question 79 from the application)

 

I know of no reason for keeping the answers to any of these questions from the people of the Commonwealth. 

The Governor’s Office should review their process of keeping the answers to these questions from the public.

I would wonder about any nominee that does not wish to answer questions like these publicly

 

If there is anything you would like to know about the Council please feel free to contact me at

patrickmccabegovernorscouncil@gmail.com

To learn more about the council and what it is currently doing please check out my site

patrickmccabegovernorscouncil.com

Patrick McCabe

Candidate for Governor's Council District Two

Election Thursday September 6, 2012

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