"I only appointed her before I asked her to resign"
Posted on 11/26/2007, 12:30:30 AM by Clintonfatigued
Twenty months after he put a career prosecutor on the Massachusetts Superior Court, confident in her law-and-order credentials, Mitt Romney called today on the judge to resign because she released without bail a convicted killer who went on to allegedly kill again.
more stories like this Thompson: New York City isn't representative of America High school student elected to town post in Branford On the road, Giuliani loves his diner stops Romney disagrees with Gregg on Iowa N.H. slates primary Jan. 8, earliest ever Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman, said that Judge Kathe M. Tuttman should never have freed Daniel T. Tavares Jr. on personal recognizance in July, after he was charged with assaulting two prison guards. Tavares, 41, was near the end of a 16-year sentence for stabbing his mother to death in 1991 and had threatened in a letter —- intercepted by prison officials in February 2006 — to kill Romney and other state officials, Fehrnstrom said.
On Monday, after five months in hiding, Tavares was arrested for allegedly shooting to death Brian Mauck, 30, and Beverly Mauck, 28, newlyweds who lived near him in a rural area south of Tacoma, police said.
Romney is now seeking the Republican presidential nomination, touting his record as governor. Some of his female supporters have highlighted the number of women he appointed to the judiciary.
"‘There was a system-wide failure in this case starting with the judge," Fehrnstrom said in a statement. "Her decision represented an inexplicable lapse in judgment and was inexcusable. Unless there are facts unknown to us, Governor Romney believes Judge Tuttman should resign."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Romney is not Michael Dukakis.
But he is trying real hard to be.
Shades of Willie Horton!
Except that Dukakis supported the furlough system even after Horton killed again. Romney is trying to get rid of the judge who facilitated this crime.
Ruh Roh....Trouble in Mittsachusetts
...now that it's a political issue, after APPOINTING her in the first place. Of 36 judges Romney appointed as Massachusetts Governor, 23 were DEMOCRATS.
You're counting on this guy to appoint conservative judges as PRESIDENT?
"I only appointed her before I asked her to resign"
It looks ugly, not good for Mitt. However, you are very correct. Unfortunatly the Governor’s Council, the body that approves judicial appointments is 100% Democratic. Romney only managed to get 1/3 of his nominees as Republicans. However, this record is no different than that of the preceeding Republican Governors. I am pretty sure, if Romney were picking nominees with a Republican Governor’s Council, he would be able to vet his nominees further. And as you stated, Romney does not support the furlough system that Michael Dukakis supported. Hopefully this won’t get too much traction because he really doesn’t deserve it.
Mitt could spin this the following way: This judge is an example of the judiciary gone bad. This woman was what I had to choose from for an appointment to a judgeship in Massholechusetts.
By (rightfully) trashing the judiciary, Mitt can point the finger at the judge, where the blame lies.
The real victims of this killer of course, will still remain dead.
Can judges be sued for paroling these vermin?
An official from the Massachusetts Republican Party said yesterday that the affiliations of the nominees have no bearing on their abilities. ... Romney has argued that political views don't matter when it comes to enforcing the law.from post 23 of MASS. KILLED MY GIRL (Victim's Father Rips Mass. 'Stupidity'). See also post 43 in that thread that sheds light on the judge's relative lack of qualification.
Romney by his own statement doesn't understand how a judge's political leaning would color their judgment??? OK, let's say the RATs keep the Senate and suggest a slate of "qualified" liberals for the Federal bench ... Romney says "sure, what's the diff???"
“Agreed! Could G. Bush Sr. predict how Souter would turn out? Could Gerry Ford have predicted Stevens veering to the far left?”
Neither one of those guys are popular with conservatives, but appointing a liberal democrat that gives money to ultra liberal candidates shows that Romney knew what he was doing.
“But a closer look at old Office of Campaign and Political Finance records would have shown contributions in 2002 to Robert Reich, a far-left Harvard prof and Bill Clinton cabinet secretary who almost caught the Deval moonbat lightning in a bottle when he entered that year’s governor’s race.
“Mitt should have caught it,” said one GOP operative.”
No and no. However, Romney went further than either of them did -- two thirds of the judges (23 out of 36) Romney nominated as Governor were actually Democrats. Souter and Stevens at least were registered Republicans... now imagine if BUSH had dominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg!
There’s another aspect, one that’s not typical of most states. The Executive Council, an elective body, has to approve of judicial appointments. And every member of the Executive Council is a Democrat. That gave Romney a weak hand.
1. It's the Governor's Council, not the Executive Council.
2. So?
In 1990, George H. W. Bush was up against a solidly Democrat Senate. Did he nominate a DEMOCRAT to the Supreme Court? No, he nominated Clarence Thomas. What does it say about a man like Romney who surrenders BEFORE he the fight even begins?
“In six years how many of Clinton’s bad judicial picks did the then GOP majority senate not confirm?”
Don’t know, don’t care. Romney is in a primary to be president and he has a history of appointing liberal judges, and this appointment has deservedly bit him.
We have to stop this liberal 1 term Governor from stocking the Supreme Court with appointments like this Robert Reich supporting liberal that got those people killed.
Romney hired a liberal judge to do exactly what a liberal judge will do.
Why is he trying to deflect blame when she did exactly what one would expect and he wanted her?
I’m sick and tired of “the buck stops anywhere but here” with him.
I hold Romney responsible as this was foreseeable.
Romney should not be held responsible because he is not a mind reader!
This is not even close to the same thing as Dukakis. He was weak on crime. Mitt has always been a tough law and order guy.
Governor Romney filed a bill enabling Massachusetts prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases of first-degree murders that were committed as an act of political terrorism, assassination of law enforcement officials, or multiple killings. Massachusetts is one of only 12 states that do not have a capital punishment sentencing option. (Office of Gov. Mitt Romney, Relying on Science, Romney Files Death Penalty Bill " Press Release, 4/28/2005) • (Read the Death Penalty Testimony of Governor Mitt Romney given on 7/14/2005)
This judge Tuttman was also a tough prosecutor and received awards from Victim's Advocate groups etc.... Mitt had no reason to believe she would not continue to be tough on crime. She made a human error. That is not Mitt's fault or responsibility --- nor anything he could have foreseen given her stellar record as a tough prosecutor. .
Isn't it true that the justices appointed by Reagan and George H W Bush (O'Connor, Kennedy and Souter) have been responsible for FAR MORE deaths than this Mitt judge??? Is it a valid argument to argue that we should hold Reagan and Bush responsible for all the deaths of fetuses because THEIR judges turned out to be RINOs or LIBERALS and failed to overturn Roe v Wade?? Are Bush and Reagan responsible for those bad decisions too? What say you the crazed Mitt haters.
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