Quick Facts
Biography
Martha Mary Coakley (born July 14, 1953) is a former Attorney General of Massachusetts. Prior to serving as Attorney General, she was District Attorney of Middlesex County, Massachusetts from 1999 to 2007.
Coakley was the Democratic nominee in the 2010 special election to fill the United States Senate seat long held by Ted Kennedy (and held in the interim by Paul G. Kirk). Coakley was defeated 52% to 47% by Republican Scott Brown in what was widely considered an upset. She won reelection as the Attorney General in the 2010 general election. Coakley was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, but lost to Republican Charlie Baker.
Early life
Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Edward J. and Phyllis E. Coakley. Her father was a World War II and Korean War veteran and small business owner. Her mother was a homemaker. When she was a year old, she and her parents moved to North Adams. There she attended St. Joseph's School and Drury High School, graduating in June 1971.
Early career
Coakley received a B.A., cum laude, from Williams College in 1975 and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1979. In the summer of 1978, while a law student, Coakley clerked for the law firm of Donovan and O'Connor of Adams, Massachusetts. After graduating from law school Coakley began work as an associate at the law firm of Parker, Coulter, Daley & White, and later practiced at Goodwin Procter – both in Boston, Massachusetts.
Assistant District Attorney
She joined the DA's office in 1986 as an Assistant District Attorney in the Lowell, Massachusetts District Court office. A year later, she was invited by the U.S. Justice Department to join its Boston Organized Crime Strike Force as a Special Attorney. Coakley returned to the District Attorney’s Office in 1989 and was appointed the Chief of the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit two years later.
In 1997, while serving under Middlesex County, Massachusetts District Attorney Tom Reilly, she and Gerry Leone led the courtroom prosecution of then 19-year-old English au pair Louise Woodward who was later convicted in the shaking death of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen of Newton, Massachusetts.
Run for State Representative
In 1997, a special election was held for Boston's 16th Suffolk district to replace James Brett, who was resigning. Five candidates entered the race, including a "thoughtful, but unknown assistant DA named Martha Coakley," who all lived in the same Ward 16 neighborhood. Coakley lost the race to Marty Walsh receiving 11.7% of the vote.
District Attorney
In December 1997, Coakley resigned her position, in order to campaign for District Attorney in Middlesex County.
In 2001, Coakley successfully lobbied Acting Gov. Jane Swift to deny clemency to Gerald Amirault, a defendant in the Fells Acres Day Care Center preschool trial, whom many regarded as a victim of day care sex abuse hysteria. Prior to this, clemency for Amirault had been recommended unanimously by the Massachusetts Parole Board,. Amirault's co-accused mother and sister had already been released from custody. Wall Street Journal editorial board member Dorothy Rabinowitz cites Coakley's pursuit of the case despite lack of corroborating evidence as an example of questionable judgment on Coakley's part.
Coakley's actions as District Attorney in the sexual abuse case of a 23-month-old girl in 2005 have drawn sharp criticism. Coakley, who oversaw the grand jury for the case, did not immediately indict Keith Winfield, a Somerville police officer. On August 1, 2006, after a criminal complaint was threatened to be filed by Larry Frisoli, attorney for the victim's single mother and the Republican candidate running against Coakley for Attorney General, she did indict Winfield. She requested that he be released without cash bail. The DA succeeding Coakley subsequently secured a conviction. Winfield was given two life sentences for the crime. Coakley later defended her actions in this case, saying she acted appropriately given the evidence that was available at the time. Steve Audette, a film producer, is currently making a documentary film about Winfield’s prosecution and conviction. The film will examine the evidence and Winfield’s continued assertion of innocence.
Attorney General
Coakley was elected Massachusetts Attorney General in the 2006 general election as a Democrat, defeating Republican Larry Frisoli with 73% of the vote. She was sworn in on January 17, 2007. Coakley is the first woman to serve as Attorney General in Massachusetts.
During the Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare in January 2007, Coakley was widely quoted in the press defending the reaction of Boston's emergency services. Small electronic signs advertising a cartoon had been mistaken for bombs; Massachusetts authorities halted traffic on two bridges and closed the Charles River before realizing the signs were harmless. Coakley defended the precautions because the LED signs had looked suspicious: "It had a very sinister appearance, it had a battery behind it, and wires."
Both of those accused of putting up the signs which caused the bomb scare were given plea bargains, received community service and apologized publicly.
In May 2007, Coakley testified before the Massachusetts State Legislature in support of the passage of a "buffer zone" law that created a 35-foot buffer around entrances and driveways of reproductive health care facilities that offer abortion services. The law was signed into effect by Governor Deval Patrick on November 13, 2007 and was subsequently challenged by opponents.
In September 2008, Coakley worked with Apple Inc. and the National Federation of the Blind to have Apple redesign the popular iTunes software so it complies with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as the Massachusetts Equal Rights Act.
In November 2008, Coakley unsuccessfully argued the case of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts before the United States Supreme Court.
On February 5, 2009, she led an 18-state coalition, as well as the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York and the City Solicitor of Baltimore, urging the Environmental Protection Agency to take action in response to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA. Though the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA did have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, the Agency had yet to make an official decision on whether it believes that greenhouse gas emissions pose dangers to public health or welfare.
Coakley inherited litigation of the fatal 2006 Big Dig ceiling collapse from outgoing Attorney General Tom Reilly in 2007. On March 26, 2009 she settled the final lawsuit pertaining to the incident. Through eight lawsuits attached to the incident, Coakley's office recovered $610.625 million on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Coakley declined to conduct a criminal investigation of an aide to Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston, for allegedly violating laws regarding the destruction of public e-mail records, describing the request as politically motivated.
On July 8, 2009, Coakley filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. The suit claims that Congress "overstepped its authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people." Massachusetts is the first state to challenge the legislation.
In 2009, Coakley won settlements of $60 million from Goldman Sachs and $10 million from Fremont Investment & Loan for their abuse of subprime loans and lending.
In 2010, Coakley helped draft a Massachusetts law regulating obscenity on the internet. In a decision celebrated by civil rights advocates, the law was overturned by a federal judge after a coalition of booksellers and website publishers sued, claiming the new law was unconstitutional and would hold criminally liable anyone who operates a website containing nudity or sexual material including subjects such as art or even health information such as pregnancy or birth control. They said the law failed to distinguish between open websites and obscene material. Federal Judge Rya W. Zobel stated that the plaintiffs demonstrated “without question’’ that the law violated the First Amendment by infringing on and inhibiting free speech.
Political campaigns
1997 Massachusetts state representative campaign
Martha Coakley finished third with 12% of the primary vote in her first run for office against future Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (33%), neighborhood activist Charles Tevnan (16%) and Edward Regal (10%).
1998 District Attorney campaign
Martha Coakley won the Democratic primary (48%) against Michael A. Sullivan (28%) and Timothy Flaherty (25%), and coasted to a general election win against Republican Lee Johnson, 71%-29%.
2010 U.S. Senate campaign
On September 1, 2009, Coakley was the first candidate to take out nomination papers to run in a special election to succeed the late Edward M. Kennedy in the United States Senate in the special election in 2010. Two days later, on September 3, Coakley officially announced her candidacy on her website. She won the Democratic primary on December 8, 2009. Her opponents were Republican Scott Brown and Libertarian Joseph L. Kennedy (no relation to the Kennedy family). Coakley was endorsed by The Boston Globe on January 14, 2010. In her last television debate January 11, 2010 at the University of Massachusetts Boston, when asked about the prospects of victory in Afghanistan, Coakley stated, "I think we have done what we are going to be able to do in Afghanistan. I think that we should plan an exit strategy. Yes. I'm not sure there is a way to succeed. If the goal was and the mission in Afghanistan was to go in because we believed that the Taliban was giving harbor to terrorists, we supported that. I supported that. They're gone. They're not there anymore. They're in, apparently Yemen, they're in Pakistan. Let's focus our efforts on where Al Qaeda is." This statement drew criticism from Scott Brown and his supporters, including Rudy Giuliani.
Coakley committed a number of gaffes during the campaign. When criticized for leaving the state for a Washington fundraiser instead of campaigning, Coakley responded saying "as opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?" Barack Obama, in reflecting on his Presidency, cited this comment as an instigating factor for Coakley's election loss, as well as a hurdle for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Coakley also referred to Red Sox star pitcher and Brown supporter Curt Schilling as "another Yankee fan," making her a butt of jokes by late-night comedians, including Jon Stewart.
Coakley admitted to making a mistake while filing the financial disclosure forms for her senate run claiming to have no personal assets when in fact she had an account under her husband's name with over $200,000 and a personal IRA containing approximately $12,000.
On January 19, 2010, Coakley was defeated by Brown 52% to 47% in the special election. Brown received 1,168,107 votes, Coakley received 1,058,682 votes, and independent Joseph L. Kennedy received 22,237 votes.
2010 Attorney General campaign
Coakley successfully ran for reelection, defeating her main challenger, Republican nominee Jim McKenna.
2014 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign
On September 15, 2013, WCVB-TV learned of Coakley's intention to run for the Massachusetts governorship when incumbent Democrat Deval Patrick retired in 2014. Coakley was set to formally announce her entry into the race the following Monday. She won the Democratic nomination on September 9, 2014. On November 4, 2014, she was narrowly defeated in the general election for governor by Republican Charlie Baker, who was endorsed by the Boston Globe despite the Globe having endorsed Coakley four years prior in her Senate campaign.
After the election, the Globe wrote that Coakley had been "redeemed, even in defeat", saying that she had been "haunted" by her failed bid for the U.S. Senate four years earlier and had been a "relentless, and frequently terrific, campaigner. Coakley worked her heart out meeting voters across the state. She arrived at the rationale for her candidacy that eluded her four years ago: She had proven she cares about the state's most vulnerable citizens." The Globe added that "this person of remarkable accomplishments, grace, and resilience looks to be leaving public life. That's a big loss."
Personal life
Coakley currently resides in Medford. She is married to retired police Deputy Superintendent Thomas F. O'Connor, Jr.