By Bob Katzen

This bill would require that when candidates for Governor’s Council are listed on a voter ballot, the office they are seeking be listed as Governor’s Council. Under current law, the listing says simply “Council.”

Supporters said that using the word “Council” is too vague and many voters have no idea about the office for which they are voting. They note that the Governor’s Council is a very important and powerful 8-member board which according to its website “meets weekly to record advice and consent on warrants for the state treasury, pardons and commutations, and recording advice and consent to gubernatorial appointments such as judges, clerk-magistrates, public administrators, members of the Parole Board, Appellate Tax Board, Industrial Accident Board and Industrial Accident Reviewing Board, notaries and justices of the peace.”

Reps. Simon Cataldo (D-Concord) and Carmine Gentile (D-Sudbury), the co-sponsors of the proposal, did not respond to repeated requests by Beacon Hill Roll Call asking them to comment on their bill and its approval.