The last vestiges of some of Massachusetts’ most colorful and bizarre politics are found in county governments — and Plymouth County does not fail to meet those standards.

The latest episode was a strange and convoluted flare-up in the election battle to fill two of three county commissioner posts. It involved a bipartisan legal fight to deny a ballot position to a GOP candidate who had suddenly moved his address from a nice suburban home in Pembroke down the road to a rooming house in Whitman.

Here’s what happened: This week, just after the primary, a Democratic nominee for one of the two seats, Lincoln Heineman of Scituate, and a sitting commissioner seeking reelection, Republican Daniel A. Pallotta of Hanover, asked the state Ballot Law Commission to throw another GOP commission candidate, Anthony T. O’Brien, off the general election ballot.

The critical issue is that O’Brien hails from the same town as a fourth candidate, Democratic incumbent Gregory M. Hanley. State law mandates that not more than one county commissioner can be chosen from the same town.

If two are elected from the same town, the top vote-getter gets the post.

And the rub for O’Brien is that Hanley, who topped the ticket in 2012, is expected to lead it again this year.

So, a few weeks before the primary, O’Brien claimed he left his family and home in Pembroke and took up residence — and re-registered to vote — at a rooming house one town away.

Pallotta and Heineman say in their complaint that O’Brien admitted to Hanley he was faking his new address to avoid the statutory requirements that two commissioners cannot represent one town. And that he would claim marital problems for his move.

“There’s not one shred of evidence that he actually resides in Whitman,’’ the complaint claims.

One piece of evidence against him: The process server for the complaint went to the Whitman address and found someone else living there.

Reached by phone early in the week, O’Brien said he’d need to talk to his lawyer before commenting. By mid-week, with his opponents threatening to seek a perjury probe over his voter registration, O’Brien decided to pull the plug and filed for withdrawal from November ballot.

All this kerfuffle for a $15,000-per-year post.

Frank Phillips

Whither the Berniecrats?

Earlier this year, the winds of change seemed to be blowing through the occasionally musty orchard that is the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

Bernie Sanders backers huffed and puffed, calling the party ineffectual and lazy, and pulling their candidate to a surprisingly close second in the primary, which could have emboldened the movement.

But since the state party chairmanship opened up this week, no Bernie backer has sallied forth to carry his standard.

Five candidates or potential candidates have emerged to succeed state Senator Thomas McGee, who said Sunday he would not seek a second term. All of them, party officials said, were supporters of eventual nominee Hillary Clinton during the presidential primary or stayed on the sidelines.

Whither, then, the Berniecrats?

“There are certainly people that supported Hillary Clinton that are very clearly in the progressive category,’’ said state Senator Jamie Eldridge, a Sanders backer who sent a controversial e-mail last month challenging like-minded Democrats to challenge some of his colleagues in the Legislature and “take over’’ the party.

Eldridge said Wednesday that some Sanders backers could get behind a Clinton supporter as chair, as long as that candidate was geared up to test the establishment.

“Is there room to have a chair to push for what’s in the platform versus what is or isn’t popular on Beacon Hill?’’ Eldridge asked rhetorically.

And he did not foreclose the possibility of a Berniecrat eventually throwing his or her hat in the ring. “It’s certainly possible that someone tomorrow who’s a Sanders person decides to run. I just haven’t heard of such a person,’’ he said.

Jim O’Sullivan

For UIP, a single primary success

Evan Falchuk’s dreamy plan to get his United Independent Party to emerge as a player in Massachusetts is crashing on the realities of state politics.

The UIP will have only one endorsed candidate on the state’s general election ballot, and that’s for a legislative seat — one out of the 200 House and Senate seats. Dan Fishman of Beverly had gathered enough signatures — 150 certified UIP registered voters — to qualify to have his name on last week’s primary UIP ballot as a state representative candidate.

Another UIP state representative hopeful, Keri Thompson of Cohasset, was pumped up as the party’s write-in candidate for her local state representative seat, but she fell short getting the necessary 150 votes on primary day.

And Jessica Lambert of Falmouth, who ran in both the Democratic primary and as a UIP write-in candidate, failed in both contests. Despite some shout-outs from the party, she got the support of only one of the 28 UIP voters who cast ballots in that district — and also lost the Democratic race.

That’s not very impressive.

Even worse: UIP has an ugly situation on its hands in Worcester, where a hugely unwanted guest has gained the party’s nomination in a state representative district. John Fresolo, a former Democratic state representative, will be squaring off against Democratic incumbent Dan Donahue.

Fresolo was forced to vacate his seat in 2013 amid threats from House leaders, who, claiming there were “serious violations’’ of House standards, were threatening to release a House Ethics Committee report about his travel reimbursements and his alleged inappropriate use of a computer.

An angry Falchuk has disavowed Fresolo’s candidacy

Still, Falchuk says he is not discouraged because he always figured it would “take years’’ to build his party into a significant political player.

Frank Phillips

From DeLeo, one last payment

For House Speaker Robert DeLeo, the long ordeal seems to be over. Records surfaced this month showing that he made another — and apparently final — $100,000 payment from his political committee to settle the heavy bill he racked up when federal prosecutors targeted him in the state probation scandal.

DeLeo, with his ability to raise huge sums of campaign funds from special interests, was able to hire one of the most expensive legal talents in Boston: Robert Popeo, who has for decades successfully defended Beacon Hill figures when federal subpoenas for documents and grand jury appearances landed on their desks.

Ever since the probation scandal attracted the attention of the US attorney’s office, DeLeo’s political committee has paid $675,000 to Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, & Popeo. No charges were ever leveled against him, but he was named an unindicted coconspirator in what prosecutors said was an illegal hiring scheme that essentially made the probation department a patronage dumping ground.

Popeo would not comment on the specifics of the latest bill that paid last March 30, other than to signal it is not for any recent legal work.

“There is nothing current; this was for past services,’’ he said.

Frank Phillips

Council preps for pot legalization

Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressleyhas not decided how she will vote on the November referendum on legalized recreational marijuana, but this week she pressed city officials to begin thinking about ways to equitably implement the measure, should it pass.

Pressley wants the council to hold a hearing to discuss strategies that would give historically disadvantaged people, including nonwhites, women, and low-income residents, priority in marijuana licensing. As she puts it, these are the same people who were disproportionately hurt by punitive jail sentences that criminalized the drug, so these people should be the first to make money from its legalization.

“We are finally addressing, culturally, socially, and through policy reform, the impacts of the war on drugs,’’ Pressley said. “Righting these wrongs can happen through collective will and intentional legislation.’’

The council remains split on the ballot question. City Council President Michelle Wu supports recreational marijuana legalization, as does Roxbury City Councilor Tito Jackson. Other city officials, including Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Councilor Frank Baker, who represents portions of Roxbury, the South End, and South Boston, oppose legalizing the drug.

Even with that opposition, Baker said he supports Pressley’s measure because he believes it is good, proactive governance.

“This is good work here. We need to make sure the discussion comes through this hall because this would be in our neighborhoods,’’ Baker said. “If it comes, and it’s all just made legal fast, we run the risk of being flooded in our neighborhoods.’’

According to recent poll released by WBUR, a majority of Massachusetts residents supported legalizing recreational marijuana.

Astead W. Herndon

New role for casino proponent

Erik Balsbaugh, a longtime political operative who helped lead the successful campaign to uphold the state’s casino law in 2014, will become vice president of public affairs of the American Gaming Association, a Washington, D.C., trade group that represents the casino industry.

For the past five years, Balsbaugh has managed public relations, and electoral and issue campaigns for corporate and nonprofit clients at Dewey Square Group in Boston, according to the AGA. He is the former executive director of the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters and a veteran of the John Kerry and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns, the group said.

Sean P. Murphy