William F. Galvin

William Francis Galvin (born September 17, 1950(1950-09-17)) is the 27th and current Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth (U.S. state of Massachusetts' Secretary of State).

Early life and career

Galvin was born in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts and educated in Boston public schools. He attended Boston College and graduated cum laude in 1972. He received a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1975. Galvin resides in Brighton with his wife, Eileen, and their teenage daughter, Bridget.

He began his political career in 1972 as an aide to the Massachusetts Governor's Council while an undergraduate, and won a special election to the Massachusetts General Court as Massachusetts state representative from the Allston-Brighton district the same year he graduated from law school. He was the Democratic nominee for Treasurer, but was defeated by Republican Joe Malone. He was first elected Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1994.

Galvin has been an active participant in the National Association of Secretaries of State, 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 Gov. Jane Swift, 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, he announced at the end of 2005 that he will 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 candidate Jill Stein, 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.^[1] This is the first time a front page story appeared about this race in any major Boston paper.

2008 UOCAVA violation

Galvin, as the Massachusetts' Secretary of State, was found to have violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act passed in 2002, in which he 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, a settlement was reached to force Galvin to comply with the law.^[2]

Lawsuit against stockbroker Robert Jaffe

On January 14, 2009, Galvin filed suit against Robert Jaffe to compel Jaffe to testify about his role in the Bernard Madoff investment scandal. Jaffe, who lives in Weston, Massachusetts and in Florida, counters that he is actually one of the victims of Madoff.^[3] 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.^[4][5]

References

External links

• Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth official page
• Bill Galvin campaign web site
• Video of TV interview with Galvin - "Meet Democratic Secretary Of State Candidates" on WCVB-TV Channel 5 Boston