where the woman who resided there took her in. Pratt testified that it was Sullivan's idea to have him drive her home and her idea to stop in the woods. When they stopped, Sullivan got in the back seat and he followed. Pratt admitted to mutual petting, but when she put her arm around his shoulder, he then ceased and never laid a hand on her. He also told the court that he had heard a couple days before the incident that his political enemies were "out to get him" and would trap him by planting a woman in his car. Pratt was found guilty of simple assault on October 25, 1928. On October 31, a judge fined him $100, but opted not to impose a prison sentence. County Commission Pratt was an Essex County Commissioner from 1939 to 1943 and again from 1944 until his death in 1968. He would be the last Republican to serve as an Essex County Commissioner until Everett C. Hudson was elected in 1984. During his first year on the commission, Pratt fought with fellow commissioners Frederick Butler and James D. Bentley. He felt that Butler kept all of the patronage and made all of the major appointments himself "aided and abetted by his own political appointee, Bentley". In the 1940 election, Pratt supported Butler's opponent for the Republican nomination, Tom Longworth. Butler was reelected, but Bentley lost to J. Fred Manning in the general election. After Manning took office, he voted to make Pratt chairman and sided with him on a number of issues, including making Commission meetings public. Pratt lost to Bentley in 1942 after a recount. He was elected in 1944 and was seated early after Commissioners Manning and Arthur Thompson appointed fellow Commissioner Bentley to the post of Essex County treasurer. Thompson, whose term was expiring, was then chosen to succeed Bentley on the Commission and Pratt was appointed to Thompson's seat. In his final years on the commission, the body was criticized for making nepotistic appointments. Pratt had as many has seven family members employed by the county at one time. To address this, Pratt filed a bill with the state legislature that would have extended civil service to county employees. The legislature turned it down. Congressional campaigns Pratt ran four times for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district seat. He lost the general election in 1934 and 1936, the nomination