MR. GIBSON: With me now is someone who knows Kerry very well, the Republican governor of Kerry's home state of Massachusetts, Governor Mitt Romney.

So, Governor, do you buy the sincerity of Kerry's apology today? Sort of late, but there it is.

GOV. ROMNEY: Well, it's awful late, to begin with. And secondly, ask yourself, why couldn't it just be a straightforward apology? I'm happy to get any apology. I think our men and women in uniform deserve an apology. But what came out seems like kind of an attack apology. He's attacking people for misinterpreting supposedly what he said, but what he said was as plain as plain could be. And he really ought to issue an apology that's as plan as plain can be, but you know, he's done what he's going to do now. And unfortunately, the damage is done. What he's communicated is that somehow that old idea that our military is not up to the national standard is underlined, and frankly, it's wrong. The military that serve from our state -- active duty, Reserve and National Guard -- are bright, capable, professional people. We ought to be proud of them, not denigrating them. ...

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November 1, 2006

GOVERNOR ROMNEY MAKES THREE JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

Governor Mitt Romney today nominated three individuals to serve in the Massachusetts Judicial Branch: David W. Cunis was nominated to the Ayer District Court; Maureen B. Hogan to the Superior Court; and William J. Meade to the Appeals Court. The nominations must be approved by the Governor’s Council.

Cunis, of Holliston, has served as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County since 1993 under both District Attorney Thomas Reilly and his successor, Martha Coakley. While working in the office’s Trial Bureau, Cunis tried numerous jury and bench trials at the District Court level. As deputy chief of the office’s Appeals Bureau, he represented the Commonwealth before the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court and trained police officers in criminal law and practice. Cunis began his career as an attorney in the Department of Revenue’s Child Support Enforcement Division. He is a graduate of Boston College and the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America.

Hogan, of South Boston, is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Office of U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. A member of the U.S. Attorney’s Office since 2002, she has prosecuted a range of economic crime and narcotics trafficking cases. As regional coordinator for the office’s Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force, she supervised investigations into drug trafficking and money laundering operations across New England. From 1998 to 2002, Hogan served as a deputy and then a deputy chief in the Governor’s Legal Office under Governor A. Paul Cellucci. From 1993 to 1998, she worked as an Assistant District Attorney under Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph C. Martin II. She is a graduate of Boston College and Boston College Law School.

Meade, of Melrose, has been legal counsel since 2005 to the Massachusetts District Attorney’s Association, a non-partisan organization representing all of the state’s district attorneys. The current editor-in-chief of the Massachusetts Law Review, Meade was former deputy chief in Governor Mitt Romney’s Legal Office from 2003 to 2005. Prior to that, Meade served for 11 years in the Office of Attorneys General Scott Harshbarger and Thomas Reilly. As chief of the Appellate Division within the Attorney General’s Criminal Bureau, he supervised attorneys and coordinated civil, criminal and appellate litigation in state and federal courts. Meade is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Western New England College School of Law.

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