Views Expressed

001[Music] welcome to the Views expressed we are public affairs television out of waca in Ashlin discussing local issues and Ashlin and Beyond today we have a very special guest Tamisha civil she is is running for Governor's Council District 2 Miss civil thank you so much for joining us thank you for having meina it's a pleasure to be here with the community of ashy fantastic well we've got a list of questions for you that we'd like to find out a little bit more about you while you're running uh what Governor's council is we've got a whole bunch of them so without any further Ado I'm going to get started uh but first a little bit about your personal background uh Miss civil who are you you well it's Tamisha civil I'm a mom I'm a advocate

002for the community um I have a master's degree from Northeastern University uh for uh criminal justice and Leadership uh I currently work as an associate probation officer out of the trial court of Massachusetts I've had experience working for the trial court within the last 10 years uh my job right now is to help people who have offended reenter into society by providing them and supervising them to treatment programs for substance abuse mental health I'm also a legal advocate for a domestic violence shelter and I've also worked for the Suba County District Attorney's Office uh working uh I work as an advocate navigating victims throughout the uh community that have been impacting impacted by crime um and I worked in the major felony unit and I I I've been serving my community in that capacity working

003in the trial court and um I'm here to serve and I'm running for Governor's Council and I'm also an Eastern region commissioner for the status of women and girls and um you know that's a nutshell about me but I love to serve and um you know I've have experience working in Juvenile Court mental health court substance abuse Court which is also known as a drug court uh I I refer veterans to veterans court so that we can preserve their records and I've worked with seniors to make sure that they're not U being exploited financially um by loved ones or family members or P attorneys who have taken control of their finances well you definitely seem to have uh quite a bit of experience with criminal justice um but before we get any further into this

004interview perhaps it would be helpful for our viewers if you were to explain exactly what Governor's council is and what they do and then specifically why you're running for this particular office well Governor councils what they do is they nominate judges parole board members they listen to computation pardons uh they nominate other public administra administrators such as notary public industrial act board members um Justice of the piece they do a variety of things but what they are mainly known for is nominating judges and providing advice to the lieutenant and the governor um when it comes to the judicial system so why are you specifically running for Governor's Council well I'm running for Governor's Council one I have the experience working in the trial court for the last 10 years and I understand the impacts I

005understand what people go through when they go to court um I work with judges eight hours of eight hours a day 40 hours a week and I can tell you I can see the good ones and I can see the bad ones and judges have an immense amount of power so they can turn your life to good and they also can turn your life upside down and that's speaking from personal experience but my professional experience is that I work with people from all walks of life in court when judges put them on probation it is my job to supervise them to not only make sure that they are contributing members into society but making sure that the condition that the judge have provided them to do that they successfully complete it uh we know that

006substance abuse is a disease we need to make sure that judges that sits on the bench understand that and that we need to be putting people into treatment programs instead of incarceration because I can I can tell you now a lot of my clients they tell Tamisha if I go to jail now I'll just come out worse so we know that incarceration is not the answer what the answer is is to make sure that judges understand what people are going through in the community we need to make sure that judges understand that substance abuse is a disease and we need treatment programs and we need to be able to make sure that judges have a relationship with these organizations that provide those kind of treatment to make sure that when someone goes into there uh

007for treatment that they are successful and that they can battle this disease that they're going and personally I have a a cousin of mine who spent 27 years in jail for a crime he did not commit in the city of Boston and in 2021 he was exonerated from all his charges so with my professional experience and working with people from all walks of life I turned my family's experience into a positive by giving back and working with people that have been incarcerated but to make sure that families who are impacted by uh the criminal justice system or legal system uh that they have the support they need but that this kind of incident doesn't happen to anyone regardless of whatever reason that they're in uh uh they're going into the the judicial system for and

008we want to make sure that we have fair and impartial judges and because I work with them because I know what they what what how they think and their temperament and I also work with clerk magistrates police officers defense attorneys and clerk magistrates those are the people that make the court around and I have a personal relationship because it it all these people make the courtroom and I have that experience working with them as well as judges so this would make me a a great candidate um and not only that I'm qualified but I have the education and I have the experience to make me the best person to be on the council and for 244 years there's never been a person of color to represent the council and or the council in general and

009if we want to bring diversity into the council to make sure that everybody's voices are heard and that everybody's rights are not impacted we want to make sure that we have a diverse Council to make sure that we are represented the way that we should Miss civil I wanna I wan to thank you for giving us a little bit about your background I wanted to zoom in on on the governor's Council itself so you mentioned it's been in existence for 244 years over over 244 years um Massachusetts is very unique Governor's councils do not exist in many of the states at all um and I think for some of our viewers they're very familiar with several editorials that have running the Boston Globe and other other local uh media establishments questioning the utility like why

010do we need to have a governance Council you know and and because other states don't do it some folks think it's kind of a redundant serves a redundant purpose some some folks honestly feel like it's a rubber stamp uh on on a Governor's decision or around you know judges and such i' I'd love to get your viewpoint on that particular take my viewpoint is that that this council is important if we want to have transparency if we want to be fair um the council is set up of eight districts and it's eight councils representing uh the the state of Massachusetts and if we want to make sure that we have uh the right judge to sit on the bench we need people to be on that Council and to vet those judicial nominees seeking to

011serve the people in the community so for me I think it is vital I think the council is important but we want to make sure that we get the right people with the right experience and the understanding that it's a People's Court and that we get the right judges on the bench that are aligned with the principles that reflecting the community so your position on Governor's council is that it serves that purpose I in my opinion it serves that purpose okay before you were talking about a lot of reasons why you want to serve and you talked about the issue of addiction quite a bit that sounds like that's one of your top policy issues i' like you to go a little bit more into depth why you think this is something that as in

012your capacity on Governor's Council you can impact policy on and and and uh perception on uh in in the court system but I'm also curious about you named some other policy issues too like to get your top two policy issues as you see them you know serving on governers Council what would you want to be most active in well so we I have an agenda and what I would like to see through these judicial nominees is that one they understand what these issues are and what have they contributed throughout their careers in working with organization and to make sure that they're educated um in these issues um and I have three restorative justice and the second would be U mental health and substance abuse and the third would be domestic violence uh can you I'm

013I'm Sorry Miss civil I wonder if many of our viewers know what restorative justice is that's a phrase that's that's kind of thrown around a lot and I think there's some uh not a lot of clarity on what that really is could you explain that absolutely so we have we want to make sure we apply we want to make sure we have judges that understand uh to address the root cause of the criminal and to and the over incarceration that is happening so according to Harvard the most populated people in prison are black and Latinos we know that so restorative justice kind of gives you an overview on how there is implicit bias how some of the how the uh black and brown folks don't get the same treatment as their uh counterparts they don't

014get fair treatment they get over incarcerated they get overcharged so by educating people of restorative justice we want to make sure that it's fair and it's just for everyone and that it's not being it it it's we want to make sure that everyone is getting the the the justice that they need it's I'm Sorry Miss Cil when you say over incarcerated and overcharged what what do you mean by that could you just provide some clarity around that absolutely so when you go to court the assist district attorney um will will ask the judge for uh for say a sentence on a crime that someone has committed black and brown folks often sometimes get punished more than their counterpart which would be Caucasian um for example the War on Drugs we have um we have marijuana

015it it it has affected a lot of people from getting jobs and the most population that has been uh affected by is the brown and black folks and those are the people that I supervise in court they come to me and I require them to get a job they say I can't because I have a u i have an offense in my in in my record that won't allow me to so there's a diversion some people get diversion programs so that their records could be uh preserved or there's some that pay the the a higher cost for a penalty for having that on their record so when I say that that's what I mean and then when you have domestic violence women need to be heard when they come in and they ask for a

016restraining order judges need to understand what that means it means they need protection and domestic violence have been rapid rapid in our community ities where women are being impacted by a domestic partner or a family member that they live with and we want to make sure that women are being heard at the first time they come in into court and I want to make sure that judges understand the totality of uh of domestic violence and assault and battery charges that someone picks up against another person and I work as a legal advocate for domestic violence homeless shelter and I cannot tell you how many women that come to me and and and they're so they have to start over they have to live their life over because they have to leave a partner that is

017that is abusing them and sometimes when they seek a assistance in court they don't always get it so we want to make sure that judges are un uh understand the impacts of domestic violence and the impacts that it has on a woman mentally emotionally and and physically and I work with clients all day that um impacted by by Substance Abuse and Mental Health incarceration is not the key some judges they may incarcerate someone so that they can sober up thinking that it's okay but the point is is that we want to make sure there's an alternative and judges are aware of that and that's providing them a treatment program for them to go into in order to get the help that they need I want to Circle back to uh something that you said around

018domestic abuse piece and you said do you want the judges to understand the totality of the charges around that particular person I I could you could you explain like is there a situation where a judge would not be privy to previous charge I'm just trying to get some clarity on on what what that what that means domestic abuse situations so the woman that I have helped I educate them on a restraining order and what the restraining order is for so some women say for example if they come into this country by a person that they're with or married they are afraid to get a restraining order because of their legal status and you know there is a piece that judges need to understand to educate other women who comes in that when you come for

019a restraining order a judge doesn't care about where you're from or what your legal status is your job is to protect them there's another reason when women come from it restraining orders you could uh a courtroom is a public place so a woman may not articulate exactly how she was feeling due to embarrassment or what other people might say so it may not come clear so and you have to have clear evidence of a person abusing you so there are multiple ways a woman can ask for a restraining order or a man but if doesn't articulate up to the statute then I feel like the judge can find other ways to make sure that they understand the seriousness of The Plea of the person that is requesting for the restraining order I see well thank

020you for that clarification uh and then you you talk about substance abuse as well um you know and and I guess I'm I'm not clear on on what precisely from a policy standpoint can be done around substance abuse um you know in that disease when you know folks commit a crime or crime is committed you know on Governor's Council Are there specific remedies that you would suggest around this or is or is it really more of a focus in on the issue and to figure out what some of the best practices around policy uh would be around that issue so Governor's Council don't deal with policies we simply nominate judges that that want to um sit on the uh trial court or trial court of Massachusetts but what we do want to do is there's

021a vetting process and we want to make sure that the judge that we're vetting that wants to be a judge understands the impacts and what happens in a community when someone is impact by substance abuse and um someone who is battling that disease and need help often times some judges may not have an educated understanding of substance abuse and may choose incarceration because you can tell on a person's record if they're com if they're picking up um Larsen charges in to me I can see that that this person has an addiction they're stealing and they're feeding their addiction by picking up some crimes that are on their record now when someone gets arrested the judge has the discretion to ask questions why are you picking all these charges are you fueling it with uh because

022you have an addiction are is this what is the problem so judges have discretion but you can read through uh the signs and and can read through a person's U um criminal record to see what is fueling these kinds of uh criminal activities now if if someone is doing these things what do you do do you put them in jail so that they can just when they come out to get worse or are you going to put them in a treatment to battle this disease that they have so that they won't reoffend again because if you don't have treatment you don't have a solution well thanks for clarifying that because I think again I I think the governor's council is you know something that people sort of circle the dot in whenever there's an election

023but don't really understand what role the governor's Council plays in judge selection or you know through that you know um that that that that is an execution of of of policy basically but like who these judges are and and how they operate is basically key to one of your key responsibilities on on govern Council so I think that's important for folks to understand so thanks for clarifying that um we are getting very close to the end of our conversation so uh there are a couple of more questions that I have for you um you talked earlier about some of your qualifications um but specifically and some of your experience um but specifically out of your qualifications that you've stated uh and the experience that you've [Music] stated makes you uniquely qualified to serve on Governor's

024Council as opposed to uh maybe other folks who who may have run for the position in the past or may be currently running well a lot of people like you stated doesn't know anything about the governor's Council and as long as you have an understanding of the criminal and legal system you can be part of the councils there are different types of of counsel that have different backgrounds there's school committee members there's mental health professionals but for me because I work with judges on a daily basis and I've been working in the tri court for the last 10 years I'm able to see the I'm able to see the judges that come in and and go and I'm able to see how they think I'm able to see their temperament I'm able to work with

025them and see what they like and what they don't like and I see first and foremost how they uh how they um sentence people whether it's in jail or whether it's giv probation and probation has a vital um part into this because when you're when you're um uh when the when the assistant district attorney is writing up a sentence the assistant district attorney writes what they're proposing the defense attorney is writing what they're proposing and then probation needs to sign off on the Green Sheet they would call it to make sure that this person is a candidate to be on probation and if this person can complete what the judge is looking for them to do and it is important that we have someone not only be on the council with a diverse perspective but

026also working with a lot of different people people that make the courtroom Go Round And also having experience working in different uh court systems and Court divisions uh I worked for the suffa County District Attorney's office and I worked in the major felony unit where all types of crime Major Crimes comes in I work with victims I I I'm a legal advocate for domestic violence homeless shelter so I know what it means when women are impacted by domestic violence and homelessness and I help people reenter into society that has been impacted in many different ways and and encounter the criminal justice system entering them back into the community safely making sure that they have the resources and access that we need so I understand that the trial court is a People's Court and it's not

027only about criminal we know judges listen to all types of cases they listen to civil cases they listen to divorces but for me what makes me St what stands me out is that I have an understanding how the court operates because I'm in the courtroom day in and day out and I've worked with wonderful judges and because of my experience and because of my knowledge and my education and personally people want to know that you personally relate to them and you understand um you understand what an average person goes to when you going to court it could be very intimidating going into court whether it's your first time or whether it's your second or third time it could be very intimidating but my job is is is for me to make sure that judges are

028fair and impartial and that anyone who encounters the courtroom that they are being heard and and and they're being justly served and I speak another language fluently so we know how important it is to make sure that we have interpreters in the courtroom to service people that come in that need the help so we want to make sure that no one is Left Behind when they come in the judicial system but we also want to make sure that our judges understand what it means to protect lgbtq rights we want to make sure that judges understand that substance abuse is a disease we want to make sure that judges have used their discretion to help people instead of incarcerating them we want to just make sure that everyone is felt welcomed and being heard in when

029they go into the courtroom well M civil you've you've given a pretty full picture of yourself and by the way you said you speak another language what languag is left I speak haian Creole okay um so um so and talking about the importance of bilingual services for folks in court as well we are coming up literally on the last couple of minutes here uh on the views expressed I just want to know if there's anything else you'd like voters to consider uh as they're making their decision for uh Governor's Council and then we'll wrap up well I first of all Mita I would like to say thank you very much for giving me the opportunity and I would like to thank the community of Ashlin for those who were tuning in and watching this interview

030and I would ask you that you vote for me September 3rd the primary and I would ask that you support me because I'm running a grassroot campaign you can find and learn more about all my endorsements um and you can read about my accomplishments you can visit ww. Tamisha cv.com and I bring a diverse perspective to the council because for 244 years there's never been any representation of a person of color a person who is highly educated a person who has experience working with the community and knows that it's a People's Court and that everyone deserves to to be heard and to be fairly uh to be fairly uh um Justified when they come into the court and that they deserve a judge who is fair and impartial that listens to cases that understands the

031cases that they are they are reviewing and that they make sure that they're using discretion when discretion is needed and to make sure that we do not leave anyone who is impacted by substance abuse get the treatment that they need and with my experience working with various different divisions in the court veterans court senior uh working with our seniors from Financial exploitation um juvenile substance abuse court and mental health court and especially our veterans we want to make sure that we value their presence and for them serving our community and our country we want to preserve their record and provide them the great resources that they deserve to be contributing members back to society when they leave their post Tamisha civil thank you so much for joining us on the views expressed um you've given

032your contact information uh we'll be able to put that up on screen hopefully as well but again uh thank you so much for speaking with with us and once again when is the date of the election September 3rd September 3rd Ashlin go out make your voice be heard and vote for all of us here at waca Ashlin and the views expressed thank you so much for tuning in and again thank you Miss civil for joining us today for having me thank you [Music] oh [Music]