John Buonomo

Return of the smoke-filled room: how we'll pick the next Middlesex Register of Probate

Ron Newman — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:30:59 +0000

John Buonomo, the indicted and disgraced Middlesex County Register of Probate, still managed to win Tuesday's Democratic primary against a slew of lesser-known opponents running sticker and write-in campaigns.

Buonomo has until Monday at 5 pm to decline the nomination, but hasn't yet done so, according to the Somerville Journal. I expect Secretary of State Galvin will give him a strong push in that direction, especially since Buonomo has already been forced to resign his office. UPDATE: Buonomo officially withdrew on Friday 9/19, according to reports on Blue Mass. Group

So what happens next? We go back, way back, to the smoke-filled days before primary elections were invented. Every Democratic ward and town committee must meet next Monday or Tuesday to elect delegates to a huge county-wide Democratic caucus. That caucus will occur next Wednesday at 6:30 pm at Waltham High School, and will go through as many ballots as necessary until someone gets a majority vote. With (potentially) over 600 delegates trying to choose among five or more candidates, that could take a while.

To learn more about this process, I recommend Kate Donaghue's post and sco's post at Blue Mass Group.

I'll be at Somerville Ward 6's caucus on Monday, and will probably run for a delegate slot. If elected, I will be uncommitted to any candidate, as I need to learn a lot more about both the office and the people who want it.

Court workers mystified by DVDs

adamg — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:24:58 +0000

David Harris reports on the fun he had trying to get a copy of the DVD with those videos of an allegedly coin-mad John Buonomo from Cambridge District Court on Friday.

Coin corruption

adamg — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:24:57 +0000

The Globe reports that John Buonomo, Middlesex County registrar of probate, was arrested for stealing money from county copiers and change machines at the Registry of Deeds.

Why are registrars of probate still elected officials again? What great policy decisions are they expected to make? Apparently, whether to bring those coins to the bank or dump them all into a CoinStar machine.

NECN report featuring surveillance video allegedly showing Buonomo taking money from a copier:

Buonomo's official Web site. He is up for re-election this fall, but faces no opposition.

Innocent, etc.