Political Career
Reilly left the law firm in 1983 to work in Middlesex County District Attorney Scott Harshbarger's administration as First Assistant District Attorney. In 1990, Reilly was elected Middlesex County District Attorney. He was reelected for a second term.
Reilly ran for attorney general in 1998 against state Senator Lois Pines and won the Democratic Primary. He defeated Republican Brad Bailey in the November election. He was reelected for a second term in 2002.
On November 30, 2005 Reilly said that he was conducting an investigation of Sony BMG over their use of the XCP Digital Rights Management DRM on Sony audio CDs. See 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal.
In January 2006, Reilly came under fire for allegedly impeding an investigation into an October 2005 automobile crash which left two Southborough, Massachusetts teens dead, and another teen injured.
Reilly has come under fire from gun rights advocates for allegedly abusing his regulatory authority for political purposes (see Gun Owners Action League article).
On January 24, 2006, Reilly officially kicked off his first gubernatorial campaign in Springfield at his alma mater American International College (see Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2006). He finished third in the primary on September 19, 2006. His opponent, Deval Patrick, went on to win the general election.
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