Maura Hennigan

Maura A. Hennigan is an American politician who currently serves as the Clerk Magistrate of the Suffolk County, Massachusetts Superior Court Criminal/Business Division. She is a previous member of the Boston City Council and was a candidate from Mayor of Boston in 2005.

Early life

Hennigan graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy, an all-girls, Roman Catholic college preparatory school in Boston. She attended Salve Regina College, but did not graduate. She later earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.[1]

After college she became a registered dietician, interning at Boston Lying-In Hospital.[1] She was a teacher in the Boston Public School system for seven years until she lost her job as a result of cuts following the implementation of Proposition 2½.[2]

Political career

From 1982 to 2006, Hennigan was a member of the Boston City Council. She was the first woman to chair Boston Ways and Means Committee.[2]

In 1986 she was a candidate for Massachusetts Auditor. She finished second in a three way Democratic primary to A. Joseph DeNucci.[3]

Hennigan unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Boston in 2005. She was defeated by incumbent Thomas Menino, who garnered 67% of the vote.[4]

In 2006, Hennigan was elected Clerk of the Criminal/Business Court of Suffolk County, after defeating Assistant Clerk of Court Robert Dello-Russo. She is the ninth elected official to hold this position and the first female.[2]

Television

Hennigan hosts a weekly television show on Boston Neighborhood Network Television.[2]

Personal life

She is the daughter of former register of probate, State Senator, State Representative, and Boston School Committee member James W. Hennigan, Jr.. She has two siblings: a brother, James W. Hennigan III, and a sister Helen. Her grandfather James W. Hennigan, Sr. was a State Senator and the namesake of the James W. Hennigan School in Jamaica Plain. She is the grandneice of William O. S. Hennigan, a member of the Boston Common Council in 1900.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Rivas, Maggie (November 5, 1981). "Hennigan: Too Much Patronage". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Zagastizábal, Andy (January 19, 2007). "Hennigan 1st female clerk". Jamaica Plain Gazette. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  3. Massachusetts Election Statistics 1986.
  4. "City of Boston Municipal Election - November 8, 2005: Mayor" (PDF). City of Boston. Retrieved 5 June 2011.


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