David E. Harrison

Harrison was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1963 to 1971, representing the 16th Essex District from 1963 to 1965{{cite book |title=1963-1964 Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts | url=https://archive.org/stream/publicofficersof19631964bost#page/190/mode/2up }} and the 1st Essex District from 1965 to 1971.{{cite book |title=1969-1970 Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts | url=https://archive.org/stream/publicofficersof19691970bost#page/182/mode/2up }}

On December 7, 1968, Harrison was unanimously elected Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.{{cite news|last=Lydon|first=Christopher|title=Democrats Swiftly Elect Harrison as Chairman|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1931558732.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|access-date=28 May 2011|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=December 8, 1968|archive-date=6 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106203138/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1931558732.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead}} He stepped down as Chairman in May 1971 after an attempt to solve the committee's heavy debt.{{cite news|last=Ellis|first=David|title=Harrison to step down as state Democratic chairman|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1933060862.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|access-date=28 May 2011|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=February 26, 1971|archive-date=6 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106203231/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1933060862.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI|url-status=dead}}

Following his departure from the House, Harrison worked as a lobbyist on Beacon Hill. In 1972 he was the highest paid lobbyist at the Massachusetts State House.{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Steven A.|title=Highest-Paid Mass. Lobbyist to Head McGovern NE Drice|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CkcpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AGgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5633,1913903&dq|access-date=28 May 2011|newspaper=Associated Press|date=August 16, 1972}}

During the 1972 United States Presidential Election, Harrison served as George McGovern's New England Campaign Coordinator.

Harrison was sworn in as a district court judge on July 27, 1988.{{cite news|title=David Harrison, 54, Sworn in as Judge|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8072419.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525193850/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8072419.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 25, 2009|access-date=28 May 2011|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=July 27, 1988}} He served in the Lowell District Court{{cite news|title=Judge denies bail for Lowell couple|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/17251089.html?dids=17251089:17251089&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|access-date=28 May 2011|newspaper=Boston Herald|date=January 25, 1996|archive-date=6 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106203511/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/17251089.html?dids=17251089:17251089&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|url-status=dead}} and later was the First Justice of the Gloucester District Court.{{cite news|last=Rabinovitz|first=Barbara|title=The trials and tribulations of David Harrison, former Gloucester District Court First Justice|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-146362580/trials-and-tribulations-david.html|access-date=28 May 2011|newspaper=Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly|date=May 29, 2006}}

Harrison resigned from the bench in 2006 after the Office of Bar Counsel filed a petition for discipline against him. The petition alleged that Harrison had interfered with the Commission on Judicial Conduct's inquiry of him and that he had assisted a Commission member and another judge in violating the laws protecting the confidentiality of the Commission's proceedings.{{cite web|title=In Re: David E. Harrison|url=http://www.mass.gov/obcbbo/bd06-016.htm|work=Mass.gov|publisher=Board of Bar Overseers. Office of Bar Counsel|access-date=28 May 2011}}

In 1999, the Commission on Judicial Conduct investigated Harrison's conduct during a zoning board hearing in Gloucester, Massachusetts. During the investigation, Harrison discussed the Commission's investigation of him with Commission member Gerald Cook and he received and read a copy of the Commission's confidential memorandum.

On February 13, 2006, the Board of Bar Overseers voted to recommend that Harrison's resignation be accepted as a disciplinary sanction. On March 1, 2006, the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County entered judgment accepting the respondent's affidavit of resignation as a disciplinary sanction. A month later, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered that Harrison's name be "stricken from the Roll of Attorneys".

Harrison is a graduate of Gloucester High School, Tufts College, and Portia Law School.{{cite news|title=Profiles of 10 Award Winners|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=March 12, 1967}}

In 1970 he married Michelle Holovak, the daughter of former Boston College and Boston Patriots head coach Mike Holovak.{{cite news|title=Miss Michelle Holovak Betrothed|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/22/archives/miss-michelle-holovak-betrothed.html|access-date=28 May 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 21, 1970}}

Outside politics Harrison worked in insurance and real estate sales and also as a high school football and lacrosse referee.

Harrison died on December 1, 2019, in Danvers, Massachusetts.{{cite web |title=DAVID E. HARRISON |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=david-e-harrison&pid=194627425&fhid=5669 |publisher=The Boston Globe |access-date=12 January 2021}}

{{reflist}}

{{S-start}}

{{S-ppo}}

{{succession box | before = Lester Hyman | title = Chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party | years=1968–1971 | after =Robert Q. Crane | }}

{{S-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, David E.}}

Category:1933 births

Category:American lobbyists

Category:Disbarred Massachusetts lawyers

Category:Massachusetts Democratic Party chairs

Category:Massachusetts District Court judges

Category:Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Category:New England Law Boston alumni

Category:People from Gloucester, Massachusetts

Category:Tufts University alumni

Category:2019 deaths

Category:20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court