North of Boston voters will decide a three-way race for an open seat in the 5th District on the Governor’s Council in the Nov. 5 general election. The winner will succeed Eileen Duff, who is stepping off the council to run for Register of Deeds in Southern Essex County.
Eunice Zeigler
After a campaign that sent her across the North Shore and the Merrimack Valley, Eunice Zeigler said the people she hopes to represent want access and information.
Zeigler, a former Methuen City Councilor, is the Democratic nominee for a seat on the more than 200-year old elected body known as the Governor’s Council. In visiting all 36 communities in the 5th District, she often encountered a lack of understanding of the position.
Zeigler said she wants to shed light on the council’s role and activities, and show voters the council can serve as another method for advocacy.
Zeigler works as the vice president of strategic planning and administration at Emmaus Inc., a homeless shelter in Haverhill. She served on the Methuen City Council from 2018 until she hit the council’s six-year term limit in 2024.
She is responsible for Methuen’s Economic Development Committee and served while the city navigated itself out of financial uncertainty.
She points to her career in economic and community development work advocating for marginalized communities like victims of domestic violence or the housing insecure, who in many cases find themselves “court involved.”
“They deserve a fair judge,” she said.
Zeigler said she hopes to make the role more public and introduce prospective judges, who in Massachusetts serve until they are 70, to the communities they serve.
“When we are approving judges we have one chance,” she said.
“We have to get it right the first time.”
Zeigler said she would vote to appoint judges who follow the constitution. She said the state’s Supreme Judicial Court had ruled state judges could not honor ICE detainers, as it was a federal matter. Judges are also legally barred for making pledges to rule one way or another, said Zeigler.
“I will not support a judicial nominee that is willing to break the law,” she said. “That is the cornerstone of the job.”
Youngest of the 5th District candidates at 36, Zeigler — if elected — would be the first woman of color on the council.
“I don’t waste time when it’s something that is important to me,” she said.
Anne Manning-Martin
Peabody Republican Anne Manning-Martin, 58, is a longtime Peabody City Councilor and former School Committee member.
Having worked in the state’s criminal justice system for more than three decades, Manning-Martin said she is uniquely qualified for the 5th District seat on the Governor’s Council. She’s a deputy superintendent with the Department of Correction and has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s in criminal justice administration.
“I’m the only public safety expert in this race,” Manning-Martin said.
“I have attended Governor Council’s meetings over the years. I know what the Governor’s Council does and what they should do and what they don’t do… and also with my 25 years as an elected municipal official, I know how government works.”
The eight-person council provides advice and consent on gubernatorial appointments, pardons and commutations, and warrants for the state treasury. The councilors serve two-year terms and are paid $36,000 a year.
The most important power of the council is to act as a check and balance system to the governor in her appointments for judges and other judicial positions; something Manning-Martin will do fairly and transparently, she said.
She promises to evaluate nominees based on their qualifications for the job, not their politics.
“With my philosophy and perspective, my open and transparent government style, the whole state would benefit,” she said.
Manning-Martin made it a point of her campaign early on that she will only confirm judges who vow to cooperate with ICE. She has called on her challengers to promise the same.
She cited a case in Rockland where a Haitian national accused of raping an underage girl was released on $500 bail in June, despite prosecutors requesting a bail of $25,000.
Plymouth Superior Court officials also did not honor an immigration detainer placed on that suspect by ICE in March.
“We have radical, activist judges who are letting their sympathies for the possible deportation of these alleged criminals, violent criminals take precedence over sympathy for the victims or any possible future victims,” Manning-Martin said.
Manning-Martin has been endorsed by former Gov. Charlie Baker, former Peabody and Salem Superintendent Herb Levine, Democrat primary candidate for Southern Essex Registry of Deeds Joseph Gentleman and elected officials in Haverhill, Salisbury and Lawrence.
Jody Elliott
Jody Elliott, 66, is an Independent candidate from Salem who is a retired therapist and former small business owner.
Elliott has a master’s degree in science, psychology, and an associate’s in business administration. If elected, she said she will thoroughly research and interview candidates who are before the Governor’s Council.
She will also focus on keeping her constituents informed on what the council’s powers are, who’s being nominated and if she has concerns about those nominees, she said.
“I’m not a politician…,” Elliott said. “ I like to think that bringing in new eyes would be a good idea, instead of somebody who’s already been doing it for a period of time.”
Elliott wants to ensure approved nominees have no overt prejudices or conflicts of interest that could allow them to profit from their position, she said.
She also aims to implement a code of ethics for the council and discourage lawyers sitting on the council from arguing cases before judges they have approved.
“That’s such a blurry line when you start saying you can nominate judges and you can go before them,” Elliott said. “(Then) you say, ‘Oh, well, you’re ethical people. We trust you. Judges will recuse themselves, you’ll recuse yourself,’ but basically, you’re putting a heck of a lot of temptation on the table that even good people might be tempted by.”
As for Manning-Martin’s challenge to Elliott and Ziegler to only confirm judges who promise to cooperate with ICE, Elliott said it’s important for judges to look at each case individually.
Elliott hasn’t received any formal endorsements. She said that’s likely due to being an Independent.
“Organizations aren’t as welcoming when I say I’m an independent…” Elliott said. “We’re not being taken very seriously, so we don’t have those supporters right now. I have to give credit to some organizations who have interviewed me, who have given me validity.”
Elliott said she will not be driven by party politics when considering nominees, a benefit in a state that is largely run by one party.
“Being Independent is just not having a party and just being for the people,” she said.
Editor’s note: Jody Elliott filed a defamation lawsuit against The Salem News in 2016 that has since been dismissed.