In response to the recent guest column by my predecessor Mary Hurley on the Governor’s Council, allow me, the incumbent, to offer some corrective context.

The principal role of the Governor’s Council is to advise and consent to the governor’s appointments of judges, clerk magistrates, and other posts. There is an intense vetting process before the governor ever brings nominees to the Governor’s Council. Most applicants do not make it through to the governor’s desk — a fact which Ms. Hurley knows well, but fails to describe fully.

And political context matters. The council’s veto power is a check and balance on the governor. Because of the council’s power over appointments that can involve political patronage and influence, this has long been a coveted role by those who would use it for their own political or professional advantage. Four years ago, Mary Hurley selected my current primary challenger to be her successor. Since my upset victory, the Springfield political establishment has wanted to regain this seat.

While Hurley claims to be dispassionate in offering her opinion on this primary race, that is a mischaracterization. In reality, she has donated $1,000 directly to my opponent’s campaign this year. Additionally, she produced and ran TV and radio attack ads under her own name against my reelection, in an attempt to win an election for her hand-picked successor.

I have re-envisioned this role since taking office in 2023. I dedicate more than full-time hours to this work in a way that is active, engaged, and present. Wherever I go to connect with the community, including the courts, I consistently hear how I am the first governor’s councillor to ever show up and participate. I have visited and observed in every type of court in the state. I have visited every jail in western Massachusetts, and most of the prisons. I engage with a diverse array of those involved in and impacted by our justice system, because I am passionate and focused on working towards a fairer system of justice. I take the work seriously.  I vet the governor’s nominations thoroughly and deliberately. My focus is not who a nominee knows, but on choosing the right people to be judges.

Western Mass. has always struggled to fill its judicial vacancies. While in eastern Mass. there are regularly hundreds of judicial applications, in western Mass. the number of applicants is usually in single digits. Our courts deserve local judges to sit on the bench. I dedicate enormous energy and attention to generating judicial applications from attorneys across the five counties I serve. My efforts have paid off.

For the first time ever, the western Massachusetts region has no vacancies for the Superior Court. That is an achievement that I am very proud of. When we experienced a critical shortage of Superior Court judges in our region in July 2024, I stood up at the Governor’s Council Assembly, and called on the governor directly to nominate the four Superior Court judges we urgently needed. My plea was joined by legislators from across western Mass.

Within months the governor filled every vacancy. Of those nominees, applicants I had recruited and whose nominations I supported through the process, three of them have prosecutorial backgrounds. My record demonstrates my support in confirming a diverse array of nominees from a wide spectrum of legal experience.

I have voted to confirm over 300 nominees during my two terms as councillor. In most cases I have voted “yes,” enthusiastically to confirm the governor’s selections. However, in a small handful of cases, by my recollection fewer than a dozen, I have not voted to confirm, after careful deliberation. By my math, that represents around 3% where my opinion has differed from the governor’s. The Governor’s Council is often accused of being a “rubber stamp,” but I take the role and the impact on our justice system that each appointment represents seriously.  

Despite my work to increase awareness and transparency of the Governor’s Council, it remains little known and easily maligned by those who wish to foster a narrative that doesn’t hold up to the facts.  I have dedicated myself to serving District 8 in a way that is present, engaged, transparent, and accessible. My focus remains on working towards dismantling the systemic injustices in our justice system.  

I hope the voters in the District 8 Governor’s Council primary election will recognize the political context surrounding this race, and vote to keep an independent voice as their representative in council chambers.

Tara Jacobs of North Adams is the Governor’s Councillor for District 8.