Andrea Cabral

The Globe reports Gov. Patrick plans to make Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral his new public safety secretary.

And that means he gets to choose a new sheriff to fill in for Cabral until a special election in 2014.

Hmm, you think Steve Murphy will try for the soon-to-be-vacant post?

Jane Swift appointed Cabral sheriff in 2002 after she agreed to turn Republican. Six months later, though, she became a Democrat again.

The war of words pitting Sheriff Andrea Cabral and DA Dan Conley against Suffolk Criminal Court Clerk Maura Hennigan over the mistaken release of a murder suspect continues. Up this week: Conley and Cabral.

Mike Ball listened to 'BUR's Deborah Becker grill Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral on Philip Markoff's suicide and thinks Becker ran amok:

Becker started out like a real journalist and quickly went tabloid on Cabral. She clearly came in with her conclusions and was not about to let truth or knowledge interfere.

Judge for yourself.

Wicked Local Roslindale reports.

A federal judge today ordered the federal government and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department not to move two detainees at the South Bay House of Corrections as the daughter of a third man prepares a lawsuit over the way he died last month.

Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral violated the First Amendment rights of a nurse working with the FBI in 2003 to investigate possible guard violence against inmates at the Suffolk County House of Corrections, a federal appeals court ruled today.

The Sheriff of Suffolk launches her bid for reelection in 2010 tonight with a fundraiser at the Hampshire House.

Possibly of more immediate concern to Cabral is a Massachusetts Appeals Court ruling today that says she has to submit to arbitration when making shift changes among prison guards due to layoffs. The ruling (which Cabral could appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court) stems from her decision in 2002 to re-assign some workers after layoffs. The union objected, saying any such changes had to go to arbitration first.

Channel 4 catches a bunch parking in handicap spots at the neighboring Spaulding Hospital. Repeatedly. Through a mouthpiece, Sheriff Cabral says she isn't responsible for where employees park their own cars.

At-large City Council candidate Felix Arroyo says he's won the endorsement of Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral.

Arroyo said he's also picked up endorsements from the Greater Boston Labor Council, Painters District Council 35 and the Gay and Lesbian Labor Activist Network.

Arroyo, son of the former at-large councilor, is running for one of four open seats in the fall elections.

Complete statement:

Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral today endorsed at-large City Council hopeful Ayanna Pressley:

The perspective she will bring to the Council as a woman of color is tremendously important, and one that the Boston City Council, in its l00 year history, has never had. Ayanna has great political and constituent service experience and knows this landscape well. I especially like that she wants to bring greater accessibility, greater accountability and strong advocacy to the Council. She knows the Council is strongest when it is collaborative and working together to identify and serve the needs of Boston residents. Ayanna is a well-respected, smart, dynamic woman whose contributions as City Councilor will bode well for the future of the City of Boston.

Pressley is one of more than a dozen candidates seeking one of four open at-large seats this fall. A September preliminary will whittle the field down to eight for the November final election.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department had the right to get out of a ten-year lease seven years early because of a clause in a separate city document that the landlord didn't get canceled in writing - and which was not attached to the lease it did sign.

This is the second time in two years the sheriff's office has managed to get out of a lease because of language in documents not directly tied to leases.

At issue was a lease on office space on Morton Street in Jamaica Plain. In 2000, the sheriff's office signed a ten-year lease for the space, but then canceled the lease three years later when state funding for the program it had housed there ran out.

The landlord sued under a clause in the contract that specified the sheriff would have to continue to pay the lease even if it wanted out. The sheriff's office, however, argued that a city form, which was referenced in an appendix to the lease, but not attached to it, specified the sheriff could get out of the lease with just seven days' notice.

The court noted that the landlord's agent noticed this at the last minute, looked up the city form and told the sheriff's office he could not sign the lease unless that clause were stricken. Whoever negotiated the lease for the sheriff basically told him it was just boilerplate to keep the lawyers happy. The agent signed the lease but attached a letter noting that conversation.

The court, however, ruled, tough, it's not the sheriff's fault the landlord failed to follow through and get the cancellation in writing, as part of the lease, so the sheriff wins.

The complete ruling follows:

The Globe (well, technically, a University of New Hampshire survey group hired by the Globe) is surveying Boston residents to try to discern who might put up a good fight against Tom Menino next year.

The list of potential challengers, as seen by Globe survey takers: City Councilor at Large Michael Flaherty, West Roxbury/JP City Councilor John Tobin, Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley, successful businessman and unsuccessful candidate Chris Gabrieli and, of course, 1-800 Joe 4 Oil Kennedy, who, by law, has to be included in every single poll taken in Suffolk County.

Among the basic questions are how satisfied residents are with everything from education and crime fighting to street cleanliness and the state of public transportation and taxi service in their neighborhoods (taxi service as a big issue next year?).

Terry Klein reports on an only-in-Boston case involving the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department successfully weaseling out of a 10-year, $7-million lease for some office space.

Seems the lease contained a clause that said it would only go into effect when the city auditor approved the contract. Fair enough, right? Except the auditor, God only knows why, added this to his imprimatur:

APPROVED AS TO AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATION OR
PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 12.2 OF THE GENERAL CONDITIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $0.00.

Which then called into play another section of the contract, reading:

"[w]hen the amount of the City Auditor's certification of available funds is less than the face amount of the Contract, the City shall not be liable for any claims or requests for payment by the Contractor which would cause total claims or payments under this Contract to exceed the amount so certified."

In other words, by signing the lease, Bradston Associates, LLC, agreed to release the sheriff's office from the lease with no penalty if the city auditor stamped it with some dumb clause and Andrea Cabral then decided to take her office needs elsewhere, according to the decision by the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

Larry Davidson is watching Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral on "Greater Boston," when she claims that half of all Boston dropouts become criminals - based on inmate interviews that show half are dropouts. Davidson reports:

Barbara thinks I'm a geek because I exclaimed, "fallacy of the converse!" as soon as I heard Cabral's claim while we were watching her on TV. ...

He explains why the fact that half of inmates are dropouts doesn't mean that half of dropouts become inmates.

Carpundit casts a pox on both their houses:

... On one hand, Cabral is a two-faced, manipulative, probable criminal. On the other hand, the deputies are total hacks, feeding like sows at the public trough on totally unnecessary details. ...