Gov. Deval Patrick, who signed a transgender protection bill into law last November, is going to fight a judge’s ruling that the state must pay for a sex-reassignment surgery for an inmate who was convicted of murdering his wife.
Patrick made no comment about the appeal on Wednesday, letting his Department of Correction handle the announcement. (There had been some confusion earlier on whether Patrick would be involved in the decision on whether to appeal, but his aides said he would.)
In announcing plans to appeal, the Department of Correction said it was providing adequate medical treatment to address the inmate’s gender identity disorder. The agency also said US District Court Chief Judge Mark Wolf’s decision ignored safety concerns that will come into play if the surgery is performed.
Wolf ruled earlier this month that Robert Kosilek, who now calls himself Michelle Kosilek, required the surgery to address the underlying cause of his gender identity disorder. To deny the operation, Wolf ruled, would be denying the inmate medical treatment, which the judge regarded as unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. The Department of Correction’s own doctors had prescribed the surgery.
The decision sparked outrage, but most people thought it was a solid legal opinion. The Globe, in an editorial, called the decision “persuasive.” But Globe columnist Lawrence Harmon wrote that Wolf’s ruling “flies in the face of common sense and our better instincts.” Harmon went on to say: “By giving Kosilek a vagina, Wolf could be giving a heart attack to the judiciary.” Surprisingly, the Herald’s coverage of the issue has been fairly muted.
The Globe quotes the niece of the woman Kosilek strangled as saying she was pleased the state was appealing the ruling. “Everybody focuses so much on Robert; and it’s a male, it’s not a female. I don’t care what it calls itself. My aunt was a beautiful woman and she didn’t get a say in anything.”
–BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
The chemist at the center of the state drug testing scandal admitted to investigators that she “messed up.” Do you think? The Herald interviews one of the inmates released from prison after his drug charge was tossed out.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua sidesteps the City Council by giving a temporary Licensing Board appointment to a teacher that council members had rejected previously, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, concerned about a “growing problem with street people,” in the city’s downtown area, is moving some services for the homeless and indigent away from City Hall and the library.
The mayor of Leominster removes his longtime Inspections Director, the Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise reports.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Bill Clinton tells Piers Morgan on CNN that he could, theoretically, run for president of Ireland or France, but Foreign Policy debunks the claim.
ELECTION 2012
Radio Boston does separate interviews with Richard Tisei and US Rep. John Tierney. Tierney releases several years of tax returns — finally. In an editorial referring to this afternoon’s Tierney-Tisei debate sponsored by CommonWealth, the Globe says candidates shouldn’t be able to control the content of debate questions.
Quin Hillyer of the American Spectator says despite Mitt Romney having “the emotional depth of Hymie the robot from Get Smart,” he has the potential to be a better president than a candidate.
US News & World Report has a sampling of athletes donating and supporting candidates, with most of the list favoring President Obama. One notable exception is golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, who has campaigned for Romney and donated big to him and other Republicans.
The Weekly Standard wonders if a Republican candidate can lose the debate on tax policy and still win the presidency.
The Globe reports that President Obama’s support for natural gas drilling by “fracking” is turning off environmentalists in some states.
The New Republic wonders how the Massachusetts Senate contest became “2012’s nastiest race.”
Cherokee Nation chief Bill John Baker criticizes Scott Brown after a video surfaces of Brown staffers mocking Elizabeth Warren with a “tomahawk chop.”
Tickets are hard to come by for Monday’s Brown-Warren debate at UMass Lowell’s Tsongas Arena, the Herald reports.
Democrats are getting in on the SuperPAC game, the New York Times reports.
Some anti-gay money is flowing into this year’s Massachusetts ballot question campaigns on physician-assisted suicide and medicinal marijuana, The Phoenix reports.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Staples, the Framingham-based office supplies retailer, plans to reduce the number of its brick- and-mortar stores in favor of a more robust online presence.
In the National Review, Scott Winship from the Brookings Institution says “The Lost Decade” and the decline of the middle class is a myth and, generally, those folks are doing fine, thank you very much.
EDUCATION
Another top lieutenant to Boston schools superintendent Carol Johnson is leaving town.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
A new report indicates climate change is killing 400,000 people a year, The Daily Beast reports.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Willie Sutton once infamously said he robbed banks “because that’s where the money is.” A Rhode Island man apparently took that to heart when he was arrested and charged with stealing copper fittings from the Home Depot in Somerset.
A former Brockton woman was arrested in Alabama on manslaughter charges in the 2009 death of a disabled resident at a state-funded group home in Milton, where she was a staffer.
MEDIA
The Bay State Banner analyzes the racial biases in media coverage of the Harvard cheating scandal.
Time raves about J.K. Rowling’s new adult novel, The Casual Vacancy.