Restraint, governor
“We had at first thought that Gov. Deval Patrick was serious about his reticence regarding the Market Basket family feud, but the governor on Friday sent a letter to the company’s board of directors offering to assist in negotiations.
That offer is unlikely to be accepted given that the warring factions in the Demoulas family are already conducting around-the-clock negotiations, spiced with plenty of sniping at each other. So Mr. Patrick is now in the position of having abandoned principle and gotten nothing for his trouble.
But matters could be worse. The governor could adopt the suggestion of former Market Basket board member Nabil El-Hage and use the state’s power of eminent domain to seize and sell the company.
It should be clear to anyone with even a casual acquaintance with the U.S. Constitution that exercising eminent domain powers in the Market Basket case would be a serious abuse of power.
The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution reads, in part, “…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Some, including New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, have argued that Market Basket’s economic reach — 71 stores and thousands of employees — is such that its fate is a matter of public interest, even to the point of justifying some form of state intervention. “
Telegram 12 August 2014.