Martha Coakley

Martha Coakley (2014)

Martha Mary Coakley (born July 14, 1953 in Pittsfield , Massachusetts ) is an American lawyer and politician . From 2007 to 2015, the Democrat was Attorney General and thus a member of the government of the state of Massachusetts. As her party's candidate for the US Senate in 2010 and the office of governor in 2014, she lost to the Republican candidate.

Life

Born in Pittsfield, Martha Coakley grew up in North Adams , where she attended school until 1971. After a BA from Williams College , Williamstown in 1975, she moved to Boston University School of Law , where she received her JD in 1979 . Coakley first worked in private law firms before joining the Middlesex County prosecutor in 1986 . In 1991 she became the head of in Cambridge housed unit for the prosecution of child abuse (Child Abuse Prosecution Unit) appointed the prosecutor's office. Coakley became known in this position through a lawsuit against a British au pair who was accused of causing the death of an eight-month-old boy.

In November 1998, she applied for the district attorney's post and was elected. She held this position until she won the election to Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts on November 7, 2006 and was sworn in on January 17, 2007 as the first woman to this position. In that capacity, she filed a lawsuit in Boston District Court on July 8, 2009, against the Defense of Marriage Act , which challenged the constitutional compliance of the 1996 definition of marriage - Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriages in 2004 .

In November 2010 , Coakley was elected for a further term.

Candidate for US Senator in 2010

After the death of Edward Kennedy , who had represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate since 1962 , Martha Coakley announced her candidacy for the Senatorial by-election and won the Democratic primary on December 8, 2009. In the election on January 19, 2010 , she then lost 47% of the votes against the Republican candidate Scott Brown , who received 52% of the votes. Coakley was accused of insufficient campaign engagement and criticized for "one of the worst state-wide election campaigns" ever.

Candidate for governor in 2014

On September 15, 2013, Coakley announced that he was running in the Democratic primary for the office of governor of their state, which took place in 2014 to succeed the no longer-running Deval Patrick . After their failed Senate campaign in 2010, their chances in a broad field of applicants were viewed as open with good popularity ratings; in the first surveys, however, it led clearly. At the Democratic Party Conference in June 2014, she only came second behind State Treasurer Steven Grossman in the membership vote . However, this survey only served to determine the candidates in advance of the primary.

On September 9, 2014, Grossman, Coakley and third-placed Donald Berwick faced the actual election. Coakley won the primary in an extremely narrow decision. So she was nominated as a candidate for the Democrats. The Republicans put up the rather moderate to liberal-minded Charlie Baker , who had been nominated by his party in 2010 and was a member of the state government in several positions. Observers classified the race as completely open after polls saw both candidates take turns up front. The gubernatorial election on November 4, 2014, however, Coakley lost 46.7 against 48.5 percent of the vote. Coakley's second election campaign in 2014, unlike her first in 2010, was perceived as committed and combative; Although it had significantly fewer resources than its Republican competitor, the previous Democratic Governor Deval Patrick had left behind some political difficulties and the Democratic Party was not unanimously behind it, it missed a victory by only 40,000 votes. Some political observers therefore spoke of Coakley leaving the political stage "redeemed". Coakley received a lot of approval for her work as Attorney General, even if she never achieved high popularity ratings personally and was often perceived as cold and humorless.

She was succeeded as Attorney General on January 21, 2015 by the Democrat Maura Healey .

According to politics

After retiring from politics, in October 2015 she joined the Boston-based company DraftKings , which offers online sports management games, as a legal advisor for consumer protection issues in claims for damages and legislative proposals. Coakley continues to go public on certain legal issues; In January 2016, for example, in front of the Massachusetts State House , she declared her support for a law that gives rape victims more rights.

Web links

• Biography on the Massachusetts State website ( October 22, 2011 memento on the Internet Archive ).
• Patricia Wen: Protecting Children Became a Turning Point for Coakley. In: The Boston Globe , January 8, 2010 (portrait, English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Patricia Wen: Protecting Children Became a Turning Point for Coakley. In: The Boston Globe , January 8, 2010.
2. ^ Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley Files Constitutional Challenge to Federal Defense of Marriage Act. In: Mass.gov (press release), July 8, 2009 (English).
3. ^ Special State Primary Results. In: Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (website).
4. ^ Special State Election Results. In: Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (website).
5. ^ ^{A b} Frank Phillips: Coakley's Entry Will Add to Crowded Gubernatorial Field. In: The Boston Globe , September 15, 2013.
6. ^ Ed Kilgore: Not Another Coakley Campaign. In: Washington Monthly , May 1, 2013; Matt Viser: Coakley Aides Paint Portrait of Missteps on Campaign Trail. In: The Boston Globe , January 21, 2010.
7. ↑ Frank Phillips: Trepidation Remains Over Martha Coakley. In: The Boston Globe , September 13, 2013.
8. ↑ Tom Jensen: Coakley, Markey Ahead in 2014 races. ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Public Policy Polling , September 24, 2013. 
9. ^ Garrett Quinn: 2014 Results For Massachusetts Democratic Convention. In: Mass Live , June 14, 2014 (English).
10. ↑ Michael Levenson, Frank Phillips: For Governor, it's Coakley vs. Baker. In: The Boston Globe , September 10, 2014.
11. ↑ Joan Vennochi: Martha Coakley Gets Political Redemption. In: The Boston Globe , November 5, 2014.
12. ↑ Ron Chimelis: Viewpoint: Martha Coakley's Redemption Theme Never Resonated with Voters. In: Mass Live , November 5, 2014 (English).
13. ^ Gintautas Dumcius: DraftKings Hires Former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley as Adviser. In: Mass Live , October 20, 2015 (English).
14. ^ Martha Coakley: Rape Survivors Need their own Bill of Rights. In: Boston Herald , January 13, 2016 (English).