William F. Galvin
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William Francis Galvin (born ) is an American politician who serves as the 27th
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the Corporations Division, the Elections Division, the ...
.


Early life

Galvin was born and raised in the Brighton neighborhood of
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. He was taught by the Christian Brothers at Saint Mary's High School in
Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...
, class of 1968. He attended Boston College and graduated '' cum laude'' in 1972. He received a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1976.


Career

Galvin began his political career in 1972 as an aide to the
Massachusetts Governor's Council The Massachusetts Governor's Council (also known as the Executive Council) is a governmental body that provides advice and consent in certain matterssuch as judicial nominations, pardons, and commutationsto the Governor of Massachusetts. Counc ...
after graduating from Boston College, thanks to his connection with councilor Herb Connolly, whom Galvin had campaigned for. Galvin worked part-time at the council while attending Suffolk Law School full-time. Galvin won a special election to the open seat in the
Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from th ...
in 1975, after State Representative Michael Daly departed from office; the race had nine candidates. Galvin became the Massachusetts state representative from the
Allston Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was named after the American painter and poet Washington Allston. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most pa ...
- Brighton district, the same year he graduated from law school. He was the Democratic nominee for
Massachusetts State Treasurer The Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts (commonly called the "treasurer") is an executive officer, elected statewide every four years. The Treasurer oversees the Office of Abandoned Property, escheated accounts, the State Retirement ...
in 1990, but was defeated by Republican
Joe Malone Maurice Joseph Malone (February 28, 1890 – May 15, 1969) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre. He played in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Canadiens, and Hamilto ...
. It was during this election that he was given the nickname "The Prince of Darkness", in reference to his habit of working late into the night and making legislative deals behind closed doors. He was first elected Secretary of the Commonwealth in
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
, and has retained this title longer than any other politician in Massachusetts history, second only to his last Republican predecessor, Frederic W. Cook, who held the office for 28 years. Galvin has been an active participant in the
National Association of Secretaries of State The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), founded in 1904, is the oldest non-partisan professional organization of public officials in the United States, composed of the secretaries of state of U.S. states and territories. Currentl ...
, serving first as Chairman of the Standing Committee on Securities, then as co-chairman of the Committee on Presidential Primaries. At one point during the administration of Gov. Mitt Romney and Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, Galvin became the Acting Governor of Massachusetts when both Romney and Healey were out of the state. During the administration of former Acting Governor
Jane Swift Jane Maria Swift (born February 24, 1965) is an American politician and nonprofit executive who served as the 69th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2003 and, concurrently, as acting governor from April 2001 to January 2003. She wa ...
, Galvin automatically became Acting Governor whenever Swift left the state, since there was no lieutenant governor in office at the time. When Swift gave birth to twins in 2001, she chose to keep full executive authority and did not hand over the governorship at any point to Galvin.


2006 election

While it had been widely rumored that Galvin would run for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006 as a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
, he announced at the end of 2005 that he would instead seek reelection as Secretary of State. Voting rights advocate John Bonifaz had already declared that he would run for the office, and stayed in the race to challenge Galvin for re-election. However, Galvin defeated Bonifaz in the September 19 Democratic primary. Galvin defeated
Green-Rainbow Party The Green-Rainbow Party (GRP) is the Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party of the United States and a political designation in Massachusetts officially recognized by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Up until 2020, it was a ...
candidate
Jill Stein Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and former political candidate. She was the Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections and the Green-Rainbow Party's candidat ...
, a medical doctor and environmental health advocate who ran for Governor in 2002, in the November general election. The Democratic primary race received relatively little attention or press coverage for most of 2006, but in the last few weeks before election, a controversy over Galvin's refusal to debate his opponent broke into the news with a front-page story in ''The Boston Sunday Globe''. This is the first time a front-page story appeared about this race in any major Boston paper.


2018 election

In November 2017,
Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no ...
member
Josh Zakim Josh Zakim (born December 16, 1983) is a Boston politician, attorney, and community activist. He formerly served on the Boston City Council representing District 8, which includes Boston's Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hi ...
announced that he would run for Secretary of the Commonwealth, challenging fellow-Democrat Galvin in the 2018 election. Amid the primary challenge, Galvin came out in favor of same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration. Previously, Galvin had expressed skepticism of automatic voter registration, and had appealed a Superior Court ruling which struck down a state law requiring that voters be registered 20 days prior to an election in order to vote in it. On June 2, 2018, Zakim won the endorsement of the Massachusetts Democratic Party at its state convention, defeating Galvin, 55% to 45%. Galvin subsequently defeated Zakim in the Democratic primary on September 4, with 67% of the vote. On November 6, Galvin won re-election as Secretary of the Commonwealth.


Notable lawsuits


2008 UOCAVA violation settlement with Department of Justice

Galvin, as the Massachusetts' Secretary of State, was found to have violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act passed in 2002. The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, since the law had been enacted, had failed to report and collect the number sent and the number returned of absentee ballots from overseas Military personnel registered to vote in Massachusetts. After an investigation by the
US Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
, a settlement was reached, requiring Galvin to comply with the law. The law requires each state (or commonwealth) to report on the ballots no later than 90 days after the date of each regularly scheduled general election for federal office. Each state must also make such a report available to the general public. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division enforces the UOCAVA and the Voting Rights Act.Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Massachusetts Secretary of State for Noncompliance with Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
Press Release. (October 22, 2008) United States Department of Justice


2009 lawsuit against stockbroker Robert Jaffe

On January 14, 2009, Galvin filed suit against
Robert Jaffe Robert Loren Jaffe (born May 23, 1946) is an American physicist and the Jane and Otto Morningstar Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was formerly director of the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics. Biograp ...
to compel Jaffe to testify about his role in the
Bernard Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the NASDAQ ...
investment scandal. Jaffe, who lives in
Weston, Massachusetts Weston is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, about 15 miles west of Boston. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, the population of Weston was 11,851. Weston was incorporated in 1713, and protection of the town's historic resourc ...
, and in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, counters that he is actually one of the victims of Madoff. Jaffe is married to Ellen Shapiro, daughter of Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro. Jaffe reportedly convinced the elder Shapiro to invest $250 million with Madoff about 10 days before Madoff's arrest.


2021 Regulatory action against MassMutual in GameStop affair

In September 2021 the Massachusetts regulators fined MassMutual $4m for failing to supervise the trading activity of their employee
Keith Gill Keith Patrick Gill (born 1986) is an American financial analyst and investor known for his posts on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets. His analyses of GameStop stock, and details of his resulting investment gains—posted on Reddit under the usernam ...
, a leading player in the GameStop short squeeze which led to hedge funds losing billions. Galvin characterised Gill as a professional trader/dealer, citing his 1700 trades on behalf of 3 other individuals. However, Galvin failed to disclose that the 3 individuals were all members of Gill's family and that less than 5% of the 1700 trades were for GameStop.


Electoral history


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts official page

Galvin Campaign website
* * * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Galvin, William F. 1950 births 21st-century American politicians Boston College alumni Living people Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives People associated with the Madoff investment scandal Politicians from Boston Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Suffolk University Law School alumni