By Patrick McGroarty
News Editor

Road signs peppering lawns across the Dorchester for both incumbent Supreme Judicial Court Clerk of Suffolk County Maura Doyle and her challenger Peter Walsh indicate that there is a battle brewing in the neighborhood that both call home. Both candidates- who share the same Ward 16 address but must win votes across Suffolk County next month- say they are gaining momentum in the days leading up to the primary election on September 19.

Walsh said that he has a clear vision for the office that Doyle has held for 10 years.

"I will implement a 'best practices' approach, implementing the best practices I've experienced in my work in state, county, and city government," he said.

Walsh worked for 13 years in various capacities for the Suffolk Superior Criminal Court before taking a position as an aide to City Councillor John Nucci.  After losing to Nucci in the 1994 race for Clerk of Superior Court for Civil Business, he spent five years as the Community Affairs Representative for the Massachusetts Archives.

In 2000 he became Assistant Register of Deeds for Suffolk County, a position he held until the arrival of a Republican sheriff in 2004 heralded a series of department lay-offs. Walsh retired with a pension from the state after more than 25 years of public service, and currently works for the Trade Show division of Teamsters Local #82. 

Walsh's only previous run at elected office was in 1994, when he faced Nucci, then an incumbent Boston City Councillor, and two other challengers in a race for Clerk of the Superior Court. Walsh finished a distant second to Nucci in that race, but is quick to point out areas where he finished strongly such as Winthrop, where he lost to Nucci by only 231 votes.

Walsh also draws optimism from the results of Doyle's two previous bids for reelection. In unopposed races in 1998 and 2000, Doyle received between fifty and sixty percent of the votes cast, while all but a handful of the remaining voters chose to leave their ballots blank.

"The incumbent doesn't get a big majority of the vote," said Walsh. "There's no referendum here that shows this is a race where the people have given her their full endorsement."

Walsh said that as he's met voters over the past five and a half months of his campaign, he's discovered that voters are largely unfamiliar with the office.

"They don't know who the incumbent is. They don't know anything about the office. They keep saying she's been an elected official for ten years, and we don't know who she is. This race is about giving voters a choice."

Doyle says that facing a challenger has not changed her campaign strategy from the plan she employed for her two previous bids at re-election. She has made the rounds at public meetings, walked in parades and visited community celebrations throughout the summer. She has also placed approximately 700 yard signs throughout the county (Walsh said his campaign has placed approximately 275 signs, the largest contingent being here in Dorchester).

She also challenges Walsh's assessment that she and the office are unfamiliar to voters.

"I can't tell you how many times people have approached me and said, "I remember you, you made my swearing-in the most memorable day in my life.' The fact that there are some people who may not know about the clerk's position is an indication that they haven't been tied up in the court system, which is a good sign."

According to the court's website, the Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County, "is responsible for the single justice caseload of the Supreme Judicial Court and serves as a liaison between parties and the single justice." The clerk also maintains the court's docket and schedules hearings, and swears in all new attorneys for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Doyle, the first female to serve as Clerk in the court's 300-plus year history and the first female to hold elected county-wide office in Suffolk County, said that her experience as a lawyer was crucial to her work as clerk.

"As the clerk of the court of last resort, it's very important that you be able to assist citizens and attorneys who come to the court for help with procedure. That's why in my opinion it is tantamount that you be an attorney at the Supreme Court level, because you have to have a sound knowledge of the entire system."

Doyle received her law degree from Suffolk University in 1981 and worked as a trial lawyer for 11 years before becoming Assistant Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court. When Richard Rouse vacated the clerkship in 1996, the court unanimously voted Doyle to take his place.

Doyle has garnered a robust of list of political and labor endorsements, including City Councillor Maureen Feeney, state Representatives Linda Dorcena Forry and Marty Walsh, State Senator Jack Hart, and U.S. Congressmen Stephen Lynch. She also has the support of 17 unions and trade councils.

Walsh, too, has sought the endorsement of labor unions, but said avoiding the political mainstream has been intentional.

"My campaign is focused not as much on political insiders, but on the people," said Walsh. "The vast majority of people who live in Ward 16 or Ward 13, they're not involved in the political process."

Walsh has support of at least six labor unions, including three Teamsters groups and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local Union 17, here in Dorchester.

He said he would pursue grants to create educational programming on the court system for students in public schools throughout the county, and that he would spearhead the creation of a community coalition to garner feedback on peoples' experience with the working with the court system.

Doyle said that her vision for the next six-year term as Clerk is similar to the philosophy she's embraced in the past. Doyle cited the storage of records electronically and the creation of an informational website about the court as progress made during her ten-year tenure.

"I intend to make the court more accessible, to continue to do youth outreach, and to expand programs like the judicial youth core," she said.

With less than three weeks until primary voters will decide the outcome of the race, both candidates said they are confident in the momentum they have achieved.