AT THE COUNTY LEVEL, Massachusetts specializes in forgettable elected positions held by forgettable officials.

Remember the former Boston city councilor who became the Suffolk register of deeds? Or the one that went on to get elected clerk of Suffolk Superior Court for criminal business? Steve Murphy and Maura Hennigan may be forgotten, but they’re not gone. 

Voters are often surprised to see their names at the bottom of the ballot, where the obscure county contests appear. But occasionally races for such positions become the most intriguing campaigns available to voters, particularly as most incumbents in the state Legislature coast to reelection.

That’s the case south of Boston, where a spicy race is unfolding for Norfolk County register of deeds. In the September 3 Democratic primary, a Quincy city councilor, Noel DiBona, who was once employed by the registry, is now facing off against his former boss. Bill O’Donnell hasn’t faced a challenger for the little-known position in nearly 20 years.

After initially pledging to the Patriot Ledger to run a positive campaign, O’Donnell sent out a mailer this week to voters that goes after DiBona, referring to him as a “landscaper” first and foremost, due to his family-owned business, followed by “gym membership consultant” and then his 11 years as a councilor.

The mailer also notes that DiBona has no “major” administrative experience and that he previously had an unsuccessful campaign for register of probate, a different but similarly obscure elected office.

In the O’Donnell mailer, the incumbent notes that he is a former assistant district attorney and has degrees from Georgetown University and Boston College Law School, while DiBona has a sociology degree from UMass Boston. O’Donnell also modernized registry records and transcribed old handwritten deeds. A low bar in 2024, to be sure.

While DiBona may not come across as a particularly formidable opponent, he is getting support from some of Quincy’s power players, including Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey and Mayor Tom Koch. Quincy is the largest city in the county, which also includes Brookline, Cohasset, Braintree and Randolph.

DiBona, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote on his campaign website that his “main objective is to work with attorneys, title examiners and employees to allow the best customer service experience to the users.”

The issues page of the website is otherwise blank, as is the page suggesting photos from the campaign trail, underscoring the obscurity of the post he’s running for.

Cambridge rep makes for strange bedfellow with “Free Karen Read” crowd 

The case of Karen Read, the woman who was accused of killing her Boston cop boyfriend, drew a lot of interest, notably among conservatives, who rushed to her defense claiming she was framed. The mundane case – which ended in a mistrial and again thrust ongoing State Police corruption and misconduct into the spotlight – was the focus of intense media coverage and people with free time on their hands showing up outside the Norfolk County courthouse in Dedham. A retrial is set for January.

But one of the most left-wing members of the Massachusetts House is apparently part of the “Free Karen Read” supporters. On Beacon Hill, as legislative formal sessions wound down, Mike Connolly, a state representative from Cambridge and a self-described democratic socialist, stepped out to get some tea and wound up posing for a photo with Read’s supporters outside the State House. He posted the photo to the site formerly known as Twitter, saying, “I would have voted not guilty on all charges.”

Connolly told CommonWealth Beacon afterwards that he had followed the trial “closely” and was “particularly impressed” with her defense attorneys, and dismayed with the State Police misconduct on display. One of the state troopers who testified acknowledged he had sent vulgar and misogynistic texts about Read as he was investigating the case. “I think it’s a reminder of why we created that POST Commission, to address some of the bad acts that we’ve seen that have been admitted to in this matter,” he said, referring to the law enforcement oversight panel.

Connolly, an attorney himself, added that he didn’t consider himself part of the Karen Read movement, as some of her supporters have claimed exists. “I just think I’m just sympathetic to the defense in this matter. Which is something I’ve naturally gravitated towards over the years. I’m someone who really believes in ‘innocent until proven guilty.’”

He was quick to add that John O’Keefe, the victim, appeared to be a “saint” by all accounts, and he declined to indulge in the conspiracy theories obsessed over by Read’s supporters. Her attorneys established reasonable doubt by pushing back on the evidence provided by prosecutors, he said. “But I can’t say I would go into a specific theory or not.”

Super PAC focused on boosting Latino candidates shuts down

A super PAC that jumped into local races from Springfield to Boston last year in a bid to elect more Latinos has closed up shop after state regulators said it violated campaign finance laws.

Called Hispanic Latino Leaders Now, the super PAC was primarily funded by Cesar Ruiz Jr., who served as the Springfield School Committee’s first Hispanic member in the 1980s before he turned to the world of finance.

Ruiz, currently the CEO of a home health provider, ended up pouring nearly $200,000 into the super PAC, and mainly sought to boost state Rep. Orlando Ramos’s unsuccessful campaign for mayor of Springfield. The super PAC also supported Boston city councilors Ricardo Arroyo and Kendra Lara, who became the first incumbent councilors to lose a Boston preliminary election in 40 years after they became enmeshed in separate scandals.

Nearly a year later, regulators with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance reached an agreement with the super PAC after finding multiple violations. Hispanic Latino Leaders Now directly donated money to political candidates in Holyoke and Worcester, which super PACs are not allowed to do because they are not traditional political action committees.

In a statement that accompanied the OCPF agreement, the super PAC said the “minor and unintentional missteps were made in initially funding the organization, which led to a clerical error made by the founder.”

Under the agreement, Ruiz will donate $189,500 to charities and OCPF won’t refer his violations to the state attorney general. The super PAC also filed to shut down its operations after the screw-up.