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Healey under fire: Hit on schools, attack adsRemark on charter schools draws criticism of local aid cuts by Romney administration
Patriot Ledger State House Bureau / Oct. 20, 2006
BOSTON — Her opponents and other critics quickly jumped on Republican gubernatorial candidate Kerry Healey’s call to turn all public schools into charter schools. “Let’s make them all charter schools,” Healey said last night as the four candidates for governor clashed in a televised debate about the merits of publicly financed experimental schools that incorporate elements of private schools. In arguing for raising an existing state cap on the number of charter schools, Healey added: “It is critical that we don’t give in to teachers’ unions on this issue.”
Democrat Deval Patrick, Independent Christy Mihos and Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross each accused the Romney-Healey administration of abandoning public schools by cutting local aid by more than $2 billion. Charter schools “That’s why everyone is lining up to go to charter schools, because you’re killing public education,” Mihos said. Asked to elaborate following the debate at Faneuil Hall, Healey said she was trying to make the point that the state needs more charter schools because they are less regulated and less beholden to teacher unions than traditional public schools. “I’m just saying that charter schools are public schools,” Healey said. “Why be prejudiced against one kind of public school over another?” But Democrats say Healey’s comment smacked of a “let them eat cake” attitude. “It implies that she doesn’t understand that people cannot all go to charter schools, that most people who are middle class and come from working families go to regular public schools,” said Phil Johnston of Marshfield, chairman of the state Democratic Party. “Those are the schools we need to support.” Attack ads Her opponents chastised Healey for recent attack ads, including one released Wednesday that linked Patrick with accused rapist Benjamin LaGuer. The question of the hour was whether Deval Patrick would take the bait of Healey’s low-blowing ads depicting the Democrat as a supporter of rapists and “cop-killers.” Patrick said he would respond with dignity to the Healey ads and was unapologetic about his record as a defense attorney. He said the bigger threat to public safety is the loss of 700 street cops forced by Romney-Healey cutbacks in local aid. “When it comes to crime, I’m the only one up here who’s actually ever sent anyone to prison,” Patrick said. “I was a federal prosecutor, not a criminologist, a prosecutor.” The Democrat accused Healey, a trained criminologist, of lacking real experience in the field. “If you’d come down off that high horse of yours sometime and see how it actually works in the street, I’d be happy to show you around,” Patrick said. Mihos called on his opponents to stop the negative ads and added a humorous quip. “You know I thought my ad was a little bit offensive,” Mihos said, referring to his Big Dig ad featuring cartoon characters of Beacon Hill politicians. Healey returned to her message painting Patrick as a liberal who would increase the commonwealth’s spending and raise taxes. At one point, Healey was asked if she would call on Romney to stop knocking the Bay State’s image as he travels the country exploring a presidential bid. Romney’s effect Healey avoided directly answering the question, and when pressed a second time for an answer she said: “I think he’s probably heard your message loud and clear,” prompting loud booing from the audience. Mihos chided Romney and Republican predecessors by saying: “I’m not one of these drive-by governors that’s going to just take off. I’m not running for anything else.” Last night was the third debate for the four gubernatorial candidates and the first time Patrick responded to Healey face-to-face after a slew of attack ads connecting him with a convicted rapist and a “cop-killer.” Patrick frustrated At an AARP-sponsored debate held earlier yesterday, Patrick voiced his frustration to reporters about Healey’s attack ads. “The Healey campaign is on my last nerve,” Patrick said. Patrick refused to alter his tone to match Healey’s but others have taken up the fight for him. A coalition of law enforcement and elected officials began a campaign across the state this week countering Healey ads that depicted Patrick as “soft on crime.” Martha Coakley, Democratic candidate for attorney general, and a political organization called The Patriot Majority have also aired ads in Patrick’s favor. New polling suggests that the slew of Healey attack ads have not drastically affected Patrick. A Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll released yesterday showed a slight drop in the Democratic candidate’s lead by three percentage points, from 25 to 22.
Lt. governor candidates take stage1st joint appearance echoes issues
raised by Healey, Patrick Associated Press / Oct. 18, 2006
NEWTON - The four candidates for lieutenant governor sparred in a freewheeling debate last night, with Democratic and Republican hopefuls clashing on the same issues as their running mates. Republican Reed Hillman, Kerry Healey’s choice to succeed her as lieutenant governor, said voters concerned about crime should be concerned about the Democratic team of Deval Patrick and Tim Murray. Hillman, an ex-state representative and the former head of the State Police, said “people who understand crime understand how important it is to have a law-and-order team in the corner office instead of two defense attorneys.” Murray, who worked as a defense attorney before becoming mayor of Worcester, reminded Hillman that the Massachusetts Constitution was written by John Adams, who also was a defense attorney. Murray criticized Healey’s pledge to veto a funding mechanism in the recently passed universal health care bill, saying it would hurt uninsured poor people while helping big companies like Wal-Mart and Dunkin’ Donuts. Hillman interjected: “You’re going to drive all those businesses over the border to New Hampshire.” Murray shot back: “I don’t know about any Dunkin’ Donuts or Wal-Marts that are moving.” Hillman and Murray also differed on how to reduce the high school student dropout rate. Hillman said he favors raising to 18 the age when students can quit school. Murray said Worcester public schools cut the dropout rate by working more closely with the students’ families. The debate, taped at New England Cable News studios in Newton and aired last night, also gave independent candidate John Sullivan and Green-Rainbow candidate Martina Robinson a chance to publicize their positions. It was the first debate among the lieutenant governor candidates. Sullivan, who is running with Christy Mihos, said, “We say the solution to the problem is to elect an independent team and let us throw some good ideas out of the box and onto the table.” Robinson said, “Of course, there might be some difference between the Democrats and Republicans, however they all follow the same pattern and move to the tune of the corporations.” Murray recently came under attack from the Healey campaign for accepting court-appointed cases to represent sex offenders in detention hearings. Murray said he accepted the appointments when the court was having trouble finding lawyers for the indigent defendants. Democratic Party officials, in turn, rapped Hillman, for advocating for a governor’s pardon for a man arrested three times for drunken driving more than 20 years ago. Hillman acknowledged that drunken driving is a serious offense, but said he also recognizes “that people turn themselves around.” An activist for the rights of disabled people, Robinson has cerebral palsy. She uses a wheelchair and employs an aide to repeat her campaign speeches, which sometimes are difficult to understand because of a speech impediment. Sullivan is the chairman of Winchester Cooperative Bank and the Winchester town moderator. He has said he is personally opposed to abortion, but supports abortion rights. He has pledged to advocate for the elderly and municipal government programs if elected. ^ top |
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Healey finds herself on the defenseAttacked at debate over user fees, property taxes, Big DigLedger State House Bureau / Sept. 26, 2006 DEDHAM - The four candidates for Massachusetts governor are making no apologies for the divisive and biting tone of their first debate. Get used to it, they say, it’s what you’re going to get from now until the Nov. 7 election. “I’m not going to be reticent; I’ll speak truth to power,” said Christy Mihos, an Independent candidate and former Republican who repeatedly attacked GOP candidate Kerry Healey in their live televised debate, the first of four scheduled debates. “I’m just glad we’re getting this all out.” Healey, the lieutenant governor for the last four years, found herself under frequent attack from Mihos, Democrat Deval Patrick and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Grace Ross, particularly for the administration’s failure to crack down on shoddy Big Dig construction and fraud. Mihos, who was fired from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board for his outspokenness on Big Dig mismanagement, challenged Healey’s statement that she and Gov. Mitt Romney had no control over the project until a ceiling collapse killed a motorist in July. “I’m just not going to take this intentional indifference where they had all the documents, they paid all the bills on this project, they got elected on this project that they were going to take over, and they run away from it from day one,” said Mihos, a Brockton native now living on Cape Cod. “They only come into it so they can get into this crisis management mode that they like all the time.” Healey was attacked over Romney-proposed increases in state user fees, record property tax increases and lax Big Dig oversight. Mihos, however, refused to say he was targeting Healey and later said he took issue with Patrick on some issues as well. “I don’t think it was piling on at all,” Mihos said. “I answered the questions as the questions were posed.” Patrick, a Milton resident and former assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration, joined in the criticism of the Romney-Healey administration for supporting an income tax cut while forcing what he said was $1.8 billion in property tax hikes and proposing close to $1 billion in user fee hikes. “This is an administration that says one thing and does another, it says one thing on taxes and then it’s responsible for $985 million in proposed tax and fee increases,” Patrick said after the debate. He also faulted Healey for focusing much of her campaign on attacking a proposal to charge in-state college tuition fees to the children of illegal immigrants, saying only about 100 or so students would benefit. “When you think about all the issues facing the people of Massachusetts, people worried about getting - and if they have one, keeping - a good job, or educating families, or health care, that’s where the emphasis ought to lie,” Patrick said. “On the very serious issue of immigration, the emphasis there ought to be on employers who hire illegal workers, and coming down hard on them.” Ross, a Worcester social worker, also made no apologies about the criticisms heaped on Healey. “She’s got a lot to explain about unless she’s going to step away from what Romney did,” Ross said. “So we have a lot of contention about that, not surprisingly.” Despite finding herself on the defensive, Healey sought afterward to put a good face on her debate performance. “I think it’s very important when we have this opportunity to lay out these differences, and a good healthy discussion is just that,” she said. “I’m going to work to lower taxes, and Deval Patrick won’t say that he won’t raise them. He certainly isn’t going to cut them, and it sounds like he is going to raise them. He has very expensive proposals,” she said. Healey sought to minimize the effect that Mihos, whom she once considered as a potential running mate when he was still a Republican, will have running as an Independent. “I think we all know that it’s clear that either Deval or I are going to be the next governor of Massachusetts,” Healey said. “So it’s important that when we have these debates, that people have the opportunity to see where Deval stands and to see where I stand so they can make an informed choice.” After repeated criticisms that the administration increased user fees in lieu of raising taxes, Healey said following the debate that she supports reversing some of those increases. “It would be a high priority for me,” she said. “This is something that was done way back in the year 2003 when we were trying to close a budget gap.” Last night’s debate was broadcast live from WFXT-TV in Dedham. |
PATRICK’S BOLDNESS PAYS OFF He got people excited, Milton state senator says BOSTON — Voters picked the political unknown who said he wanted to tell them the truth about tax cuts, over the wealthy technocrat who promised results and the seasoned politician with lunch-bucket appeal. Deval Patrick took potentially risky positions on issues such as taxes and immigration in winning the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in the party primary over challengers Chris Gabrieli and Tom Reilly. “He got people who hadn’t been engaged and had been turned off by politics excited again,” said Sen. Brian A. Joyce, a Milton Democrat and Patrick’s next-door neighbor. “Even those of us that are in politics were inspired and engaged.”
Patrick struck a hopeful, everyman note with slogans such as “Together, we can.” His campaign included 8,000 volunteers and 20,000 donors, which Patrick called a testament to his grass-roots approach to politics. “A candidate who wanted a truly grass-roots operation was able to find the people to do that, motivate the people and spread the word through a very positive, disciplined, issues-based campaign,” said Patrick press secretary Richard Chacon. “He did that by drawing people in and not necessarily talking at them either in 30-second sound bites or insider connections.” Patrick built his campaign from the bottom up, making personal connections with voters across the state, said his media adviser, Doug Rubin. “It was the candidate’s belief in the grass roots, and the willingness to go talk to people one and one and listen to them that really built this campaign,” Rubin said. Patrick told voters that an income-tax cut - popularized by his Democratic rivals and Republican candidate Kerry Healey - was a “shell game” that would lead to higher property taxes. And he backed in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants. Some Republican operatives speculate that Patrick is the easiest Democrat to portray as a spend-happy big-government liberal. But Patrick supporters say voters won’t be so easily fooled. “People want somebody they can trust and who understands them,” Patrick supporter Sam Kelley of Cohasset said. “Deval wants people to get ahead in life; I’m not so sure Kerry Healey understands that concept.” Gabrieli, a successful venture capitalist turned policy wonk, stressed his ability to get results working for expanded after-school programs and promoting stem-cell research. He sunk about $10 million into the race, - and another $10 million on two previous, unsuccessful runs for Congress and lieutenant governor. Gabrieli lost a 1998 congressional primary to U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Somerville, who called Gabrieli a good Democrat who has trouble connecting with voters. “He has a difficult time connecting with people who live in two-family houses,” Capuano said of Gabrieli, who lives in a Beacon Hill mansion. “The whole ad with him taking the trash out was a good idea. It was his attempt to try to show he’s an average guy, but people never believed he took out his own trash.” Reilly entered the primary contest as the presumed front-runner, with formidable backing and a massive war chest, but a series of missteps presaged his third-place finish in the race. “It was his nomination to lose,” said George Serra, chairman of the political science department at Bridgewater State College, adding that Reilly’s admission that “Politics aren’t my strong suit” sealed his fate. Some analysts said Gabrieli and Reilly didn’t lose the race so much as Patrick won it. “The victory by Deval Patrick was so overwhelming that I think it doesn’t lend itself to the notion that either of the other candidates could have done much in the face of a very well-organized campaign,” said Paul Watanabe of Weymouth, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Tom Benner may be reached at tbenner@ledger.com. Leslie Friday may be reached at spoels@bu.edu.
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