Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Governor’s Council Fiasco Claims First Political Casualty


The Governor’s Council mishandling of the nomination of Joe Berman to a Superior Court judgeship has been a front page story for close to a month.
       
This morning it claimed its first political victim.

And it wasn’t Joe Berman.

Councillor Jennie Caissie has been positioning herself as a potential running mate for Charlie Baker for several months. 

After all, it has been well known that Baker wanted to name a woman to help balance out the ticket.  (And by picking a running mate before December 31st, Baker can tap the donor base twice – once in each calendar year.  So time has been running short.)

But three weeks ago Caissie aggressively interrogated Berman on his role as a member of the New England ADL Board.

Last week, after panning her performance at the Berman hearings, the Boston Herald editorial page acidly noted: “And to think some in the GOP were foolish enough to tout [Caissie] as lieutenant governor material.

That was the last impression voters – and Baker --  read before Baker’s decision.

This morning, Baker chose Karyn Polito, a former candidate for Treasurer. 

Would Baker have chosen Caissie otherwise?

We’ll never know, but it’s hard to think that her performance at the high-profile Berman hearings did anything to help her chances.

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