Shawn Dooley

Shawn C. Dooley is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the 9th Norfolk district, succeeding Dan Winslow. The 9th Norfolk District constitutes all or parts of the Towns of Medfield, Millis, Norfolk, Plainville, Walpole, and Wrentham. A member of the Republican Party, he was sworn in January 29, 2014. In 2022, he vacated the seat to run for the Massachusetts State Senate, he was defeated by incumbent Becca Rausch.

Personal life Dooley received his bachelor's degree from Auburn University, and a master's degree from Anna Maria College. He is married to Family Law Attorney Carolyn (CiCi) Van Tine and they have four children.

Political career Prior to his election to the state house, he served as the elected Norfolk Town Clerk as well as the Chairman of the Norfolk School Committee.

Dooley was elected to the Norfolk School Committee at the May 11th, 2010 town election. That year he was also appointed to the town's zoning board of appeals by the select board. In 2011 he elected as Norfolk's town clerk and was appointed to Norfolk's Board of Health and the School Building Committee. According to Norfolk's 2011 Annual Report, Shawn Dooley was also appointed a Justice of the Peace by Governor Deval Patrick and performed numerous marriage ceremonies in 2012, many of which were held at the gazebo on Town Hill. On Tuesday, April 30, 2013 he was reelected to the Norfolk School Committee. Upon his election to the state house, Dooley resigned his school committee seat.

Dooley made national headlines for his bill on preventing Chinese owned and other non-market economy nations from participating in the state bid process for critical infrastructure such as rail. The impetus of this bill was when China's government owned CRRC gained the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority contract for manufacturing orange lines cars. His original opinion piece sparked national coverage including Bloomberg, NPR, Washington Post and NBC radio. Similar bills were filed in both the U.S. House and Senate and passed in a bipartisan fashion.

In August 2020, the conservative website New Boston Post published an excerpt from Representative Dooley’s nightly Facebook post on the pandemic criticizing Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and calling him "King Charles" for implementing COVID-19 restrictions without consulting the legislature and issuing numerous executive orders under the guise of a state of emergency, after a spike of cases rose in Massachusetts.

On January 3, 2021, Dooley challenged Trump supporter Jim Lyons for the Chairmanship of the Massachusetts Republican Party in an effort to "capture that middle ground as opposed to going far hard-right". Dooley lost to Lyons with a vote of the Republican State Committee 39-36.

In 2022, Dooley ran for the Massachusetts State Senate. He was defeated by incumbent Democrat Becca Rausch, 55-45.

Post State House Career Rep. Dooley resigned from his seat on December 27, 2022 at 5:00pm, a week before his term was set to expire. Following the resignation, outgoing Governor Charlie Baker appointed Dooley to the position of Commissioner of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission.

Electoral history

Dooley faced no opposition in the 2014 General Election.

2013 Annual Town Election, Norfolk School Committee For Three Years

2011 Annual Town Election, Norfolk Town Clerk For Three Years

2010 Annual Town Election, Norfolk School Committee For Three Years