I am not a candidate for anything and I do not intend to be. I left the Governor’s Council in January 2023 after three terms, by my own choice. I have no race to win here, which is exactly why I am going to be direct rather than diplomatic. I do not believe the current councilor for District 8 is meeting the standard this office requires, and I think voters should take a hard look before Sept. 1.

I spent 19 years as a judge in Chicopee District Court, and two terms as mayor of Springfield before that. I ran for the Governor’s Council in 2016 because there were an incredible number of vacancies in our courts in western Massachusetts. Cases stack up. Continuances pile onto continuances. In my first three years, we seated more than 20 new judges and clerks in this region.

My concern is not about any single vote. It is the fact that, over the past four years, vacancies for two District Court judges and one Superior Court judge in Berkshire County have gone unfilled. As a result, judges from outside the region must be brought in to hear cases, despite not having the same familiarity with the community and the people who live there. The failure to fill these vacancies promptly creates serious problems for everyone involved because justice delayed is justice denied.

For example, the lack of three Superior Court judges in our region for a significant period of time became such a serious problem that it made front-page news.

There is also a concern when candidates are not evaluated and voted on based on their education, experience, reputation and overall demeanor, but instead on the type of law they practiced. For example, a candidate may be voted against simply because they were a prosecutor. Tara Jacobs voted against Gov. Maura Healey’s nomination of Vincent DeMore to the Parole Board. She also voted against a subsequent nominee who was ultimately approved by the council, again apparently because of the candidate’s background as a prosecutor.

In my view, this is the wrong approach. Candidates should be evaluated based on their qualifications and their ability to serve effectively, not on a political or personal philosophy about the type of lawyer they once were. The focus should be on properly vetting each candidate and determining whether their education, experience, reputation and temperament make them qualified for the position.

A category of career should not, in itself, disqualify a person. When we start reading a résumé as a label rather than a record, we stop evaluating the candidate, which is our responsibility as Governor’s Councilors. Having a prosecutor on the Parole Board is vitally important to protecting the public and victims of crime from being further victimized, while helping ensure that people who should remain incarcerated do not get released and go on to commit additional crimes.

The job of a Governor’s Councilor also includes recruiting qualified candidates for judgeships, clerkships and other judicial positions. Councilors should support qualified attorneys who apply and make it a priority to stay in regular contact with the judiciary and courts to ensure vacancies are filled as quickly as possible. Tara Jacobs has not done this, which has created serious vacancies throughout the four counties in District Eight.

We need a voice on the Governor’s Council who will speak up for western Massachusetts when it comes to appointments to Superior Court, District Court, Juvenile Court and Probate Court, ensuring we have judges and clerks who will serve the public, as well as a Parole Board that will protect the public. I suggest to you that Tara Jacobs is not that choice because she has failed to fulfill her responsibilities as a member of the Governor’s Council.

We can no longer settle for less than the best.

Mary Hurley of East Longmeadow served as a judge of the Chicopee District Court from 1995 to 2014 and represented District 8 on the Massachusetts Governor’s Council from 2017 to 2023. She was mayor of Springfield from 1989 to 1991. She supports Michael Fenton for Governor’s Councilor because she believes Massachusetts needs new leadership and that he brings the experience, energy and approach needed to do the job effectively.