Rep. Kaprielian named motor vehicle registrar

State Representative Rachel Kaprielian has been appointed registrar of motor vehicles, Governor Deval Patrick's office announced yesterday.

Kaprielian, a Democrat representing Watertown and part of Cambridge, is in her seventh term. She will replace the outgoing registrar, Anne Collins, who accepted a senior staff position in the Executive Office of Transportation. Kaprielian will have to give up her House seat.

The appointment was met with criticism from the state Republican Party, whose spokesman said Kaprielian lacks experience.

"I don't see how a career politician and state representative is qualified to manage a multimillion-dollar state agency, considering we finally seem to have streamlined the RMV and made it more efficient," Barney Keller, state Republican Party spokesman, said last night about the appointment to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Kaprielian has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and is a lawyer.

"I've been in public service for 15 years," she said. "I have a long record of service and accomplishment."

Kaprielian praised her predecessor and said there is always room for innovation, initiative, and positive change.

Kaprielian's husband, John Gannon, a Somerville city solicitor, has been charged three times with operating under the influence. Two counts were combined, and he was convicted on both.

"Any personal matter of any friends and family to me will not have any bearing whatsoever on my capacity as registrar," she said.