Maura A. Hennigan (born 1952) is an American politician who currently serves as the Clerk Magistrate of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Superior Court Criminal/Business Division.[1] She is a former member of the Boston City Council and was a mayoral candidate in 2005. From 1987 to 1993, she was known as Maura Hennigan Casey.

Maura Hennigan
Hennigan in 2012
Clerk of the Suffolk County Criminal Courts
Assumed office
January 2007
Preceded byJohn A. Nucci
Member of the Boston City Council
In office
January 2002 – January 2006
Preceded byPeggy Davis-Mullen
Succeeded bySam Yoon
ConstituencyAt-large
In office
January 1984 – January 2002
Preceded bydistrict created
Succeeded byJohn M. Tobin Jr.
ConstituencyDistrict 6
In office
January 1982 – January 1984
Preceded by
Succeeded bynumber of at-large seats reduced
ConstituencyAt-large
Personal details
Born1952 (age 71–72)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater

Early life

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Hennigan graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy, an all-girls, 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.[2]

After college she became a registered dietician, interning at Boston Lying-In Hospital.[2] 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.[3]

Political career

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Hennigan (second from right) with Mayor Raymond Flynn (center) and several Boston City Council members (ca.1984–1987)

From 1982 through 2005, Hennigan was a member of the Boston City Council. She was first elected in November 1981, the final election when all seats were at-large. She was subsequently re-elected to nine two-year terms as the representative for District 6 (Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury). In November 2001, she successfully ran for an at-large position, and was re-elected in November 2003. She was the first woman to chair Boston's Ways and Means Committee.[3]

In 1986 she was a candidate for Massachusetts Auditor. She finished second in a three way Democratic primary to A. Joseph DeNucci.[4] In 1997, she lost the party primary for the Democratic Party nomination in the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat in the Suffolk and Norfolk District -placing third behind Brian A. Joyce and Maureen Feeney. In both 1984 and 1996, she was elected to the Massachusetts Democratic Party State Committee.[5] She unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Boston in November 2005, being defeated by incumbent Thomas Menino (who garnered 67% of the vote).[6]

In 2006, Hennigan was elected clerk of the Criminal/Business Court of Suffolk County, defeating assistant clerk of court Robert Dello-Russo. She became the ninth elected official to hold this position, as well as the first female official.[3] She was reelected in 2012, 2018, and 2024.[5][7]

Personal life

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Hennigan in the 1980s

As of 2007, Hennigan hosted a weekly television show on Boston Neighborhood Network.[3] She is the daughter of former register of probate, state senator, state representative, and Boston School Committee member James W. Hennigan Jr. She has 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 grandniece of William O. S. Hennigan, a member of the Boston Common Council in 1900.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Suffolk County Superior Court". mass.gov. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Rivas, Maggie (November 5, 1981). "Hennigan: Too Much Patronage". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2011 – via pqarchiver.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e Zagastizábal, Andy (January 19, 2007). "Hennigan 1st female clerk". Jamaica Plain Gazette. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  4. ^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1986. 1986.
  5. ^ a b "PD43+ » Candidate Profile: Maura A. Hennigan (D)". electionstats.state.ma.us. PD43+ (Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  6. ^ "City of Boston Municipal Election - November 8, 2005: Mayor" (PDF). City of Boston. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  7. ^ Multiple sources:

Further reading

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