Friends,
Conservatives are making a comeback in Massachusetts, and it has been a blessing to watch it happen. Conservative legislators have found their voice, and have not been shy about speaking up for their principles, even crossing party lines to do so as was the case with 63 representatives calling on Governor Deval Patrick to shut down the MariaTalks.com website.
This conservative rebirth has also reached the Governor’s Council, an executive branch body that is charged with approving Deval Patrick’s judicial nominees. Last week, a hearing was held on Patrick’s choice of Barbara Lenk to the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), and councilors Cipollini, Manning and Petitto peppered her with questions about her objectivity when it came to homosexual and lesbian issues.
Manning specifically chastised her for an “oversight of huge proportions” for Lenk’s failure to inform other judges or prosecutors about her relationship with her now “wife,” attorney Debra Krupp, a public defender, when she appeared before her court. Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr expanded on some of the criticism in a recent column about Lenk’s part in an appeals court decision that interpreted the state’s incest laws as only pertaining to heterosexual intercourse.
“This is doubly perplexing,” writes Carr, “because during the debate over so-called ‘gay marriage,’ we were endlessly told that marriage had nothing to do with procreation. But then, that argument suited the gay agenda. Now Barbara Lenk seems to be putting procreation front and center.”
The Governor’s Council is right to be wary of allowing this nominee to serve on the state’s highest court. For too long the Governor’s Council has simply been a rubber stamp. Now that they are speaking up and actively challenging nominees, they are being accused of “playing dirty.”
Though Lenk may still be confirmed this week, it is refreshing to see principled conservatives speaking up, whether on the Governor’s Council or in the halls of the State House. These are exciting times indeed, and we look forward to continuing to build on our relationships in the coming weeks and months.
For our families,
