Thursday, 4:30 PM
Romney makes lame-duck appointments
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondent
Governor Mitt Romney announced four more judicial nominations today despite pledging before last month's election that he would not make a flurry of lame duck appointments.
The announcement of the new judicial nominees included statistics from the governor's office that showed that there are now just four vacancies out of the 473 positions in the judicial branch. According to figures provided by the governor's office, there have been 12 judicial nominations since Nov. 1, the day Romney told the Governor's Council that he would not flood it with last-moment appointments.
"My plans are to have all nominees who have made it through the process on your desks" by Nov. 8, Romney told the Governor's Council at the time. "I don't intend to bring you a lengthy list of nominees."
Communications director Eric Fehrnstrom today defended the nominations and pointed to a statement Romney made in November that there would be a handful more judicial appointments to come.
"As the Governor said last month, we only processed those that were in the pipeline, and long ago stopped accepting new applications," Fehrnstrom said in an e-mail.
The eight-member Governor's Council must approve all judicial nominations by the governor.
The four appointments Romney made today are: Robert C. Cosgrove to the Superior Court; Michael A. Uhlarik to the District Court; Robert E. Powers as Clerk Magistrate of Barnstable District Court; and Mark R. Jeffries to the Southeast Division of the Housing Court.
