I disagree. In my town you have to be a friend (supporter, contributor) of the mayor and have the endorsement of your Alderman, as well as a majority vote of the town council. Those generally unpaid positions are coveted and carry a lot of power over who gets hired and who stays hired. If there is a union involved, it can mean negotiating on salaries and work rules. The mayor is likely to be very involved and very careful of who gets the appointment.
It's not the same as being precinct committee member which means actual work organizing the polls and getting out thel vote.
Braintree didn’t have a mayor back then. They had the classic New England style town government. This committee wouldn’t be negotiating union contracts they most likely would higher a professional for something like that.
Look if she was powerful enough to get her daughter off on a murder charge then she really set her sights low on the job front. Also she was one of 24 on the personel committee. Hardly a last word or deal breaker on anything.
My guess here is that Delahunt got divorced in 1986. His age range for girlfriends at the time was 18-20 years old. Mrs. Bishop had some dirt on him.
If the Bishop family carries big political power then this is the first I or any one else around here have heard it.
I don’t know Judith Bishop’s maiden name and this may be the wild card. We’ll see.