By Erin Tiernan — Erin@concordbridge.org
Concordian Mara Dolan is poised to take over the District 3 seat on the Governor’s Council with what she calls a “brand-new perspective” and a desire to “make the judiciary more just.”
“Change comes through the Governor’s Council,” the 61-year-old Democratic public defender told The Concord Bridge.
Dolan unseated longtime Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney of Watertown in last Tuesday’s Democratic primary, winning 46,250 votes to Devaney’s 42,580, per the Massachusetts secretary of state’s office.
According to certified Concord results, Dolan won her hometown handily with 2,282 votes to Devaney’s 595.
Dolan faces no Republican challenger in the November election. Once sworn into office in January, Dolan will be the first public defender ever to serve on the eight-member body. She will continue her courtroom work in addition to her new duties.
It’s a perspective Dolan said has been missing from the Governor’s Council, which serves as a check on the governor’s power to appoint judges; grant pardons and commutations; appoint clerk-magistrates, public administrators, members of the Parole Board; and more.
An ‘enlightened judiciary’
Dolan is already rolling up her sleeves and thinking about how her forthcoming work on the Governor’s Council can rectify longstanding problems she sees within the state justice system.
“My hope is really to have a more enlightened judiciary,” Dolan said in an interview after her primary win.
On the campaign trail, Dolan said she would address racial disparities in state court verdicts, which she said are worse than national averages. She also said she would focus on what she termed “harmful” convictions for substance users dealing with relapse and what she called “a clear disconnect” in how people with disabilities are treated in the criminal justice system.
Dolan called the Governor’s Council “the gateway to the judiciary.”
“Just as we make sure that the executive branch, the governor, and the legislature are following the will of the people, we need to make sure that the judicial branch does as well,” she said.
She looks forward to a partnership with Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who made targeting inequities in the state criminal justice system an early focal point of her administration.
A congratulatory call
Healey called Dolan to congratulate her last Wednesday, the councilor-elect said.
“We had a really good conversation,” said Dolan. “She works really well with people, and she’s very well informed. I think it will be a pleasure to work with Gov. Healey.”
Dolan said she aligns with the governor on using clemency to address inequity and bias in the justice system.
“Clemency is an important executive tool that can be used to soften the harsher edges of our criminal justice system,” Healey said last fall in issuing “groundbreaking” new guidelines on pardons and commutations.
Dolan said she would focus on commutations in particular. Per the state Constitution, the governor’s clemency powers help ensure that judges apply sentences fairly and equitably. Pardons erase a criminal conviction, while commutations reduce a person’s sentence.
The Governor’s Council has so far approved 15 of Healey’s 16 pardon recommendations, as well as her nation-leading blanket cannabis pardon. Healey has yet to propose any commutations, which is work Dolan said she hopes to do in tandem with the governor.
Healey also made history earlier in her term, becoming the first governor in 30 years to recommend pardons during her first year in office.
A spokeswoman for the governor said Healey “will continue to use clemency as a tool to right the wrongs of the past and make our state stronger and safer, in keeping with her new clemency guidelines, and will continue appointing qualified judges.”
A new era
Dolan will enter at a time of change — not only for the Governor’s Council but also for the entire state judiciary.
The November ballot will decide who fills four other Council seats. Two of those are open races that could elect the first-ever women of color to the body.
“To have a public defender on for the first time, to have a woman of color on for the first time, to really have change — there is no question that this is a whole new era for the Governor’s Council,” Dolan said. “We will be able to work toward having a more enlightened judiciary, which is what the voters of this district have made very clear that they want.”
