Candidates for Suffolk County Register of Deeds Stephen Murphy and Katie Forde introduced themselves to community members at the May North End Residents’ Association (NEWRA) meeting.
Current Register Stephen Murphy spoke first, reminding attendees about his background and the work he has done as Register of Deeds over the past two years.
- Improved the Suffolk Register of Deeds website, which had 3,000 visitors when Stephen took office and now has 14,000 per month (2:30).
- Implemented “Traveling Tuesdays” to bring the Registry to different neighborhoods in Suffolk County (4:28).
- Successfully lobbied for the first office budget increase in 18 years (4:44).
- Hired the first Spanish speaking employees and the first employee to speak Mandarin and Cantonese to translate at the counter (5:06).
- Will be rolling out a fraud prevention program in July (5:42).
Candidate Katie Forde then spoke about why she’s running for Suffolk County Register of Deeds.
Katie presented information about the Boston housing crisis, saying Massachusetts has the second widest homeownership gap nationwide (00:30). She talked about her own background and her work as a paralegal representing working families facing foreclosure (1:15).
She presented her goals if elected to promote homeownership and protect and advocate for seniors and veterans (3:26). Katie emphasized the need for the Register to do more than record deeds, but to be a consumer protection agency to protect everyone who wishes to own or does own a home.
Following these introductions, each candidate made a few subsequent remarks.
Stephen Murphy reiterated the responsibilities of the Register of Deeds and named other state and city departments that focus on promotion and creation of affordable housing (00:41). Katie responded saying she wants to use the office as a pulpit to promote home ownership and advocate for veterans and seniors (1:40).
The Register of Deeds position will be part of the state primary elections on Tuesday, September 4.
