001[Music] hello and welcome back to the Views expressed public affairs programming on waca TV here in Ashland uh and our continuing series on Governor's Council candidates we have Mr Shawn Murphy joining us um welcome Mr Murphy hi Mita how you doing thanks for having me oh thanks for being here um so I think we're just GNA dive right into it but first before we start talking about Governor's Council we'd like to find out a little bit more about you who who is Shawn Murphy well I'm the son of immigrants uh both my parents are Irish immigrants um we actually moved back to Ireland when I was a child so I spent some time part of my childhood uh living in Ireland for about three years um Ireland at that time was a fairly poor country
002and there wasn't a whole lot of work so my father was actually in the United States working uh and sending money back uh we lasted about three years before my mother said you know what we can't sustain this we came back to America I mostly grew up in brry I lived in Dorchester uh but mostly I grew up in brry I graduated from brain in 1995 uh I joined the US Navy I did four years in the in the service uh I was deployed on two different ships uh the USS Marill the USS Fitzgerald on my second deployment I took part in what's called uh Operation Desert Fox was on a vbss team which is a visit board search and seizure team and our job was to uh board shifts coming out of Iraq at
003that time uh this is during the Clinton Administration and we're and after I got out of the Navy I returned back to Boston worked for my father it was a union shop ATS equipment in uh Dorchester um a as time went on I I went back to California my wife's from California um we I was working there as electrician as a union electrician um and you know we had the crash uh the real estate crash and I got laid off um which was tough because I got laid off when we were expecting our first child um and this is this is before we had unified healthc care um President Obama had just come into office um and we there was no Health carees but I was very lucky because I was in the union and
004my uh the health care was covered my son's birth and everything afterwards and I and I was taking care of and the union really did take care of me uh but I sat down my wife I said look you know I love construction but I I would got to be something better so I went back to school at night got my bachelor's degree and then continued on uh and went to law school at night and uh my second child was born while I was in law school um which you know probably is why she'll be the next turne in the family because she's the one who's get for it uh and then after I graduated I passed the bar Massachusetts I came back uh we moved to Brockton uh we had our third child my
005youngest and uh I started working as an attorney um I've been a impr practice for about 10 years I'm a former city solicitor in Brockton um I do a lot of volunteer work uh we in our practice myself and my partner sat down and we decided that we were going to do an awful lot of a fair amount of our business was going to be to serve Indigent veterans um of all the groups out there right now veterans are the most underserved because veterans don't ask for help um so whenever we we have a lot of the veterans agents will send us cases uh we'll take those pro bono if they have any don't have any money so um that that's kind of our practice we built it we do make money we have private
006cases uh because we have to pay bills but a good portion of our stuff is vol to well Mr Murphy thank you for that overview and we'll talk a little bit more about specifically why uh why some of those qualifications or so why some of those uh activities may qualify you for Governor's Council District too uh but I should probably ask you why you're running for Governor's Council and I will say this before you answer that question there may be some of our viewers who don't know what Governor's council is um it's just one of of those boxes that they Circle when they go through the polls but it's actually uh provides a key function so if you could tell folks a little bit about what governance council is and then why you're running for
007the position well governance Council does an array of things but the one thing that is the most important is they confirm judges so when the governor wants to appoint somebody to the Judiciary it has to go through the governor's Council it was basically the very first checks and balances we had in this country want to make sure that the governor didn't have just kaj Blanc and put whatever he or she wants in office um and I think the governor's council is very important because as a litigator I'm in court all the time I've been before some good judges and not so good judges and I want to sure we have good judges going forward I think maybe your views viewers don't realize that there is an automatic there's a mandatory retirement age and a lot
008of judges are leaving the bench and there's a lot of vacancies and we're not filling them very quickly you know for whatever reason but we really need to ensure that the people go in there are qualified and and they are very good fit for the B so a couple couple follow-ups to that so what do you know offhand what that mandatory retirement age is for judges in the Commonwealth at this point is I believe it's 70 70 70 okay yeah and oh no worries um and I'm I'm also very curious um you said you know govern's Council asks acts as a check or balance against what the governor may want to who the governor may want to appoint for for judges and you talked about you know being able to discern between good judges and
009bad judges um how do you define what makes a good judge as opposed to a poor judge well what I would say is this a good candidate to become a judge does there's some factors that I would consider one have they been in practice and I don't just mean someone who's done transactional work someone who's done a thousand closings hasn't been in the courtroom very often so I would love to see more litigators who are in the courtroom because the learning curve won't be as bad there's Rules of Evidence there's dealing with attorneys there's how the courtroom Works they're already used to dealing with this so litigation background is important to me it's that it's not an absolute I mean we can have judges that don't have a litigation background um you know judge young
010was a great judge who's who just retired from the federal federal uh federal court but um he didn't really have a litigation background but he became a very good judge so the other factors I would say is we want our judges to be even killed look I'm a Democrat I have a democratic values but I don't want the Judiciary to be overp politicized because if you think about it the judges are the great referees between the left and the right in the middle so when no one can get along you really need a judge that can see you from from both sides and make the right decision based on the facts in front of them everybody has a bias you're not going to get around that but a good judge can take his her bias
011put in their back pocket and focus on the law and the facts regardless who's in front of them what would be some of the things that you would see as a warning flag as for someone who would be nominated as a judge and something that characteristics that would make you take pause if you were on Governor's Council well first thing I would do is I would be calling my colleagues and everybody I could think of to find out have you had a case with this person what's their demeanor how are they deal with there's some lawyers that are very tough to deal with doesn't mean they won't be good judges but I would much rather have the judges to understand uh and and we're more apt to like look we're going to settle we're going
012to work together to come to a resolution then then the attorneys that maybe want to just run up billable hours for their own sake I know you know I'd like say that's the minority but there are attorneys out there that do that I don't want someone who is just argumentative all the time because that's not what a judge is a judge has to be a judge has to be a great listener a judge has to make some tough decisions but he has to make both sides feel like they've been heard so that's interesting and I think that there are some folks who would definitely agree with you on some of those characteristics but I think there may be some questions out there and I've done a couple of these interviews uh with other candidates at
013this point uh and I've been reading the paper and every time there seems to be a seat up for Governor's Council we always have a question about uh if the governor's Council and the Commonwealth should even exist some folks say that it's outlived its utility I'd love to get your uh opinion about that I know you're running for the office but you know we've had a lot of interesting opinions on that what what are your thoughts on on some of those concerns that folks have vocalized about the body so I've heard those concerns but here's here's the alternative is to have judges elected right then judges become politicians I know I'm running for office I'm not your normal politicians the first time I'm running for office but unfortunately politicians they have to be swayed one
014way or the other whatever the climate is at that time uh and we really want our judges to be appointed based on qualifications and their ability to be unbiased if they have to run for office every couple years that I think that's going to hurt their hurt there being unbiased and it's going to have decisions that are going to be more like oh I gotta I got to make sure I have these people are happy with me or those people are happy with me or this group endorses me like you really can't have that to have good judiciaries I think that the places and I lived in a state that did elect judges and I I thought it was a bad system I think this system is a much better system cuz one listen the
015governor is going to get a shot at appointing whoever she wants the governor's council is going to make sure that they're qualified in a good fit and the governor's council is beholden to the voters so you the voters will have their say but not continually influence the Judiciary when the judici the Judiciary is there to basically pay play referee so I I've heard that argument before and uh one thing that I've heard about Governor's Council you know yes the governor's council is accountable to voters but still people insist that Governor's C Council usually acts as a rubber stamp for whatever the governor wants particularly if the governor's council members happen to be of the same party um you know that that's something that that we've all heard but I'd like to find out from you
016is what steps would you take to ensure that that wouldn't be the case if you were elected first I would say that I don't necessarily think that the governor's council is a rubber stamp I mean if you go back there's been times that they've said no and they voted against people what will happen though is most Governors will probe and find out well how do they feel about this candidate ahead of time because they don't want to put someone forward that is a no uh same with clemency like I think Governor Baker wanted to put someone up for a poent just before he left office and he got the word back from the governor's Council it's a nogo and he didn't even try to put it up so I understand that people see that the
017final vote is unanimous a lot of times but there's a lot of work that's been done beforehand and like I know some of the people on the council like Terry Kennedy's uh been on the council longer than everybody I don't know anybody Works harder than Terry it's not like he's I would I would definitely say he's not a rubber stamp as far as myself I'm going to take the time to make sure I understand each applicant's background I'm going to take time to meet them I'm going to do my research and whatever time it takes it takes um but I won't be a rubber stamp but again I like I said I I I want to defend the council a little bit I don't think they're a rubber stamp I think that the the public
018is not exactly seeing what's going on all the time well that's that's uh important for the the public to understand um so shifting more back to you a little bit um I'd like to find out why you're running for Governor's Council specifically in the policy area you know uh folks run for Governor's Council because they care about specific issues or they care about how the governor's council is run if you could share maybe your top two or even more issues that you're concerned about um uh and running for this office I think the viewers would be very interested in hearing that well the biggest reason I'm running for this office is I don't want just some politically connected person getting on the bench that's not suited for it and I don't want to point anybody
019out um I'm an attorney I don't but there have been some good judges and some not so good judges and some of the judges that came in there's been great ones that have been appointed recently but there's some that you know have had a tough time with the learning curve and I think maybe on a good foot fit for the bench I'm truly running to make sure that we have unbiased Fair judges um I think that's the most important thing this is a very narrow position right I'm not running for a legislative position uh you know I'm a pro-union guy I could tell you about all my beliefs but when it comes down to this position what's important is we have unbiased judges right um so the unbiased judge piece is is primarily the issue
020that you're concerned about with Governor's Council um are there I one thing I wanted to Circle back on were uh how do you ensure that a judge is unbiased I mean you said earlier yourself that everybody has biases so I'm just curi ious if this is I mean this is something you are very concerned about how are you going to discern that how can you tell if someone or as you're going through a selection process how would you be able to discern um how that person might might might uh behave in that position as you're making your choice it's a great question you're not going to be able to get weed everybody out right it's not going to be possible but what you can do is take a look at the person's career so when
021you have have attorneys that have argued on both plaintiff and defendant side or prosecutor and defendant side uh then they when you see them on both sides they get to see what both sides works like they've argued both sides of the case that goes a long way for judges to become unbiased right um I think that if you have somebody has only litigated on one thing and like has only been a prosecutor their entire lives I'm not saying not going to be a good judge but there has to be something more I need to see a little bit more maybe my conversations with that person maybe they they I get some feel from them saying okay they can make they can discern that decision despite their long career in the prosecutor's office um but I
022would like to see more more of the nominees and the applicants to be people who have been on both sides of all these issues very interesting um I have another question for you about the governor's Council so we we know that judge selection is a key part of what Governor's Council does what are some of the other functions of Governor's Council so that our viewers are informed you talked about uh pardons a few minutes ago but what what are the other things that Governor's Council are charged with well some of the sorry some of the other ones is confirming uh you know clerks uh Pro board people there's a whole host of positions it's would take a long time to name them all um but like you said clemency pardons things like that they also
023oversee notary public and then uh you know they do they vote on warrant uh treasury warrants which is not really exciting at all uh but I think the one that probably is the next most exciting is the clemency part of it so talk to me a little bit about that function and how you your decision-making process under those circumstances would would most likely line out so with clemency get po in clemency like that it's always going to be a case by case but just like with judges there's there's got to be factors right so the first factor is the severity of the crime you know you're not you're probably not going to be ping somebody who's a mass murderer right like it's really it's simple uh the next part I think is really paying attention
024to the victims right somebody who lost a child you know I'm a father of three that's going to be tough for them if if if that person gets a podden um and I think that that's something that you really have to really pay attention to the Vic impact on the victims the other thing that I would really look at is how long has it been since the since when it happened to now what steps has that person taken to uh to make amends for his or her mistakes and uh are they actually sorry and that's that's that those are the key factors but it's a case by case and it's a long process but I think those are the things like not everybody's going to get a poent um you know that's just not how
025it's going to work uh flipping I mean very similar but like looking towards parole boards similar criteria what around that or difference I think the difference of parole board right so with the parole board I think you're looking more for a social workers background versus a legal background right so for judges I really want to see obviously attorneys and people have a legal background who have been both sides of the cases I would much rather see uh the proboard have a more social workers to understand you know what these people gone through what their background is um and then you can tell if the person's actually made amends or you think that this person is a good fit for being a pro I'm not saying attorneys can't be on it but I really think social
026work is a better suited for that position interesting well thank you for filling in a little bit more the duties around Governor's Council I sometimes I I think that uh folks do focus in a lot on the judge flection piece and a lot of Voters don't understand like there's a lot that Governor's Council does uh and so uh that's very very helpful for folks to understand so pulling pulling back from govern's Council itself a little bit I want to focus back in on you Mr Murphy so what makes you uniquely qualified in your background in your opinion to serve on Governor's Council we talked a little bit about your background at the top of the show but I'd like to hear more about that so you know when you pointing this position for judges you
027want well-rounded people um I think my background come from a pretty diverse well-rounded background like I said you know I've worked in blue colum most of my life I'm a vet um I know what it's like to transition from the military to civilian world I understand what it's like to raise a family on a blue collar income or a middle class income and your viewers might be surprised to know that not all attorneys make millions and millions of dollars I don't we do a lot of pro bono work um like I said my first child is going off to college and the bill for that was um shocking uh and I have two more that are going to be going you know they're four years apart so I got 12 years of calls to pay
028um and I'm also an attorney or litigator I've been in court a lot so I see how the courtroom works I understand I have the connections with my other colleagues to make phone calls and say Hey you know tell me about this individual do you think they're a good fit you know and things like that so I think that that's the well-roundedness is what makes my makes me a good candidate for the Governor's Council if I'm just curious to find out as You' been and I I shouldn't quiz you on how many cities and towns are in District 2 I will just say that there are a lot 37 37 so um just in the interest of fairness I did ask the other candidates that so I didn't want to ask you uh but I'm
029just curious Mr Murphy as you're going through and campaigning in these cities and towns what are some of the issues that you're hearing as you're on the campaign Trail um about Governor's Council candidates and some of the things that folks have asking you questions about and maybe some issues that you'd like to uh maybe uh talk a little bit further on well first when as I'm campaigning I'm realizing that nobody even knows this position exists most of the time and then very few actually actually have an interest in it it's not as glamorous as being a rep or a senator or any of those things um but a lot of people when once you get past that they want to talk about like the questions you asked you know what makes a good judge what's
030a good candidate what's the process um and I think I've answer some of those questions but most most of the time when you're campaigning people really want to know about you who are you and where you come from um and and I think that's people vote for people they like tend to be you know and so I think that that's really the most questions I get as far as the technical questions about the governor's Council I haven't gotten many okay well I I'm not going to get too teex I don't think we've gotten too technical with our discussion and that's not that's not the intent of the interview it's more or less to let folks know who you are and and why you're running um so you know that's fascinating uh one thing that uh
031folks and Ashen have actually asked me about Governor's Council and different Co Governor's Council candidates is you know how long do you think is appropriate for Governor's councils counselors pardon me to serve um um well it's an elected position so it's every two years up for re-election how long I you know that's a tough question to answer for that fact I haven't gotten that yet so I don't know uh but I think some of the more senior people on the council uh you know like Terry Kenn like I said I go back to Terry kenned because I know him um he's been on there a long time but he does a good job so if it's not broken don't fix it kind of thing you know um we don't have term limits here in Massachusetts
032and for good reason I think our our voting population is educated smart and tuned in so if somebody's not doing their job they're not going to get sent back in I I think you'll get everywhere with complimenting voters like that Mr Murphy but but there there are vocal uh group of folks who you know I think every election cycle we hear more about term limits but it sounds like uh from your position there you know you have to kind of balance like any other term limit any other office really here in the Commonwealth you have to balance okay well experience enables one to do the job effectively right but sometimes folks linger in their positions because people especially with offices like Governor's Council people just sort of fill in the dot or however folks are
033voting Ash we fill in the dot um fill in the dot without without thinking about it so um you know I guess as folks are making their decisions and uh about who they should select and hopefully they've been following our series here on waca we've we've had the opportunity to interview I think all of the candidates at this point um what should in your opinion people keep in mind when they're making that selection I think they should keep in mind uh you know what the position is first you know look what we're doing the biggest thing we're trying to do is get good judges um and keep in mind what the candidates are saying about how they're going to do that right um okay like I said I have experience that is as an attorney
034but I also have experience not as attorney and well-rounded background like I to plug myself again is I think is is essential for this if you've been in one career your entire life you may not understand what it's like to be someone coming home from work after an 18 hour day um or struggling or or losing your house or things like that and I think that's to understand those things uh in this position we are coming up on the end of our time Mr Murphy so uh you know I know you're like oh I'm gonna plug myself again I'm gonna ask you to plug yourself again uh to make your your your your final or your closing arguments about why uh you feel that you are the most qualified person uh for this position in
035District 2 and then we'll ask uh a little bit more about contact information and and how people can get in touch with the campaign sure my name is Shawn Murphy I'm a candidate for governance Council uh I'm a veteran I'm a father of three um former Union member uh and I'm an attorney and I really hope that uh you'll come out on September 3rd info for me uh because I don't I just want to make sure we have good qualified and unbiased judges Mr Murphy how can people get in touch with your campaign well they can uh go to our we which is www. electon murphy.com and all our contact information is there fantastic well thank you so much for being on the views expressed really appreciate you coming to uh participate in our Governor's
036Council Forum as it were and um I thank the viewers of Ashlin for taking the time to learn more about this important office and to learn more about our candidates once again Mr Murphy thank you so much for joining us thank you [Music]