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LISA BÜL/The Patriot Ledger |
| Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey speaks with the Patriot Ledger editorial board. |
“The Brewster Island proposal has the virtue of not being around a population center and not being in a fishing ground,” Healey said. “Does that mean it’s my favorite? It means that it’s the least objectionable of the four proposals which I have seen so far.”
Healey’s support for an LNG terminal in Boston Harbor, as proposed by Arlington, Va.-based AES Corp., puts her at odds with her three opponents in the governor’s race. Democrat Deval Patrick said putting an LNG terminal on Outer Brewster, which is part of the the Boston Harbor Islands National Park and Recreation Area, would set a “terrible precedent.” Independent Christy Mihos supports offshore LNG terminals farther removed from population centers. Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross wants to import LNG instead from Canada or elsewhere instead of building terminals in Massachusetts.
With the race increasingly heated as election day approaches, Healey defended her criticism of Patrick for his work as a defense lawyer, which involved representing a cop killer in Florida.
Despite Patrick’s additional work prosecuting crime - he led the investigation into church burnings in the South in the 1990s as the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights enforcer - Healey said Patrick hasn’t worked enough on behalf of victim’s rights.
“Both Deval Patrick and his running mate have consistently worked on the side of the accused and the offender, as opposed to working on behalf of the victim and victim’s families,” Healey said. “It shows a perspective, it’s just one aspect of his priorities.”
Healey defended her decision not to release a questionnaire she filled out for Gun Owner’s Action League, a group working to liberalize state gun restrictions that endorsed Healey’s candidacy. Healey said some police chiefs are too restrictive about granting licenses to individuals to carry firearms. She added she would consider easing restrictions on granting firearms licenses to people with criminal records.
“Really, this is a constitutional right,” Healey said. “To have one police chief applying it entirely differently than another police chief does not seem like a good situation.”
Responding to criticism that the race for governor is too negative, Healey blamed the three Democrats running in the September primary for setting the tone.
“This is a strategy that began during the Democratic primary when their whole focus was to attack me and to use very negative and distorted views of our administration’s record,” Healey said.
Healey said she expects to oppose a question on the Nov. 7 ballot that would allow wine to be sold in grocery stores, saying it will hurt small businesses and make alcohol more available to minors.
“I’m leaning toward thinking that it’s a bad idea,” Healey said.
Healey said Romney’s rightward shift on issues such as abortion and stem-cell research, and his waning interest in remaining in the governor’s job, has made it easier to set herself apart from the outgoing governor. Healey supports abortion rights and stem-cell research.
“One of the biggest challenges for lieutenant governor is to move out of the shadow of the governor, whoever the governor is, and distinguish themselves,” Healey said.
Tom Benner may be reached at tbenner@ledger.com.
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Governor’s race zeroes in on women
MetroWest Daily News / Oct. 18, 2006
There is a new battleground in the race for governor: the women’s vote.
Recent polls show Democratic candidate Deval Patrick with more female supporters than the Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.
Healey, who hopes to be the first woman elected governor in Massachusetts, said last week that she would bring more women and men to her side on issues such as making the state more affordable.
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Associated Press |
| The Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund, the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women and NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts all endorsed Deval Patrick. |
Patrick, a former federal civil rights enforcer who is leading in the polls, credited his “issue-specific and constructive and positive campaign” for his support among female voters.
Former Natick Selectman Erica Ball, a Democrat, said Patrick is doing better among women because his campaign has been “issue-driven,” while Healey is running commercials attacking Patrick.
“I think her negativity strikes women the wrong way,” Ball said. ...
But Jeanne Kangas of Concord, vice chairwoman of the state Republican Party, said she believes party preferences are the main reason for Patrick’s lead among women voters.
“The women generally tend to vote more heavily Democratic than Republican ... and I think that tendency is certainly in effect in this particular case,” Kangas said.
Kangas also said she believes “there are a small but significant percentage of women who find it difficult to support a woman candidate.”
“Our culture teaches women to compete with each other for the attention and affections of men,” Kangas said. “And some women find because of these cultural pressures to not be fully supportive of other women.”
In addition, Kangas said, “Some women are envious of anyone, especially another woman, who is too thin or too rich, and that may be part of the explanation.”
“It’s difficult for women to run for public office,” said Ann Murphy, vice president of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, which has endorsed Healey.
Female candidates often struggle to build a fund-raising base, Murphy said, and worry about appearing confident but not too harsh.
“They want to be seen as aggressive and have the capacity to lead, to be a leader, (but) they also want to not appear too aggressive and not to turn anyone off,” Murphy said. “And it’s a very fine line sometimes.”
The Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund, the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women and NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) Pro-Choice Massachusetts all endorsed Patrick last week.
Healey made light of the endorsements Patrick received from the three women’s groups, saying at a press conference in Framingham last Thursday that the groups are partisan. Healey also sought to distinguish herself from Romney.
Asked about her lagging poll numbers among women, Healey noted that she has been endorsed by the National Republican Pro-Choice Women and the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus.
“People are just starting to get engaged in this race. ... When we really start hearing more about the issues, I’ll bring people over to my side,” Healey said.
Murphy of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus said the group liked Healey’s pro-choice stance and what she had to say about child care, domestic violence and helping promote equality in the workplace.
The group endorses only female candidates, Murphy said, adding that an endorsement is not a given for a female candidate not facing another woman.
Asked about his support among women last week, Patrick said: “I think it has been that issue-specific and constructive and positive campaign that explains the reason we have built as broadly and successfully as we have among women and men.”
Patrick had been leading Healey by a larger margin in earlier polls. Pundits attribute his narrowing lead to Healey’s running ads critical of Patrick’s past criminal justice work.
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Presidential assist:
Clinton helps raise $2M for Patrick
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 17, 2006
BOSTON — Deval Patrick isn’t Bill Clinton, but he is close, say his supporters and converts to his candidacy.
“I’m voting for him,” said Al Saunders, 42, who was working as a bartender at the Westin Hotel in Copley Square, where former president Clinton was the major draw at a fundraiser to raise money for Patrick’s campaign for governor.
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Associated Press |
| Former President Bill Clinton, left, applauds as Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick approaches the microphone during a Democratic fundraising event at a hotel in Boston. |
Saunders, who lives in East Boston, said he had heard Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey’s pitch for support and was ready to vote for her in the general election next month.
He said he changed his mind after listening to Patrick.
“After hearing what (Patrick) had to say, he’s different,’’ Saunders said.
Saunders’ reaction is just what the Patrick campaign was hoping for.
More than 1,200 people paid $1,000 or more Oct. 16 to hear Clinton on stage with Patrick, who had been head of the civil rights division of the Justice Department during the Clinton administration. In all, campaign officials said they expected to raise more than $2 million.
With a little more than two weeks left in the campaign, Patrick supporters said Clinton’s speech was right on time.
During the last few weeks, Patrick has come under fire from the Kerry-Healey campaign for his activities in support of a cop killer in Florida and a rapist in Massachusetts.
Patrick made no excuses and no apologies, and said he would stick by his pledge not to run negative advertisements against Kerry Healey.
“As long as she keeps lying, I’ll keep telling the truth about her record,” Patrick said to a hail of applause.
The combination of a Patrick fundraiser and Bill Clinton brought out the state’s Democratic Party heavyweights, including Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy and former presidential candidate John Kerry, who praised Patrick for his service and integrity.
U.S Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, said he stayed out of the primary, but once Patrick won the nomination on Sept. 19, he had to support him for reason that go beyond just the fact that Patrick is a Democrat.
“He’s something special,” Delahunt said. “When he speaks there is something visceral, something human. Something I haven’t seen since Jack Kennedy.”
L.E. Campenella may be reached at lcampenella@ledger.com.
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JEFF LOUGHLIN/The Patriot Ledger |
Republican candidate for governor Kerry Healey meets with supporters at the Egg and & I Too on Hancock Street in Quincy. |
Healey: I’ll lower taxes, fight crime
She campaigns in Quincy, says she’ll boost housing
The Patriot Ledger / Oct. 16, 2006
QUINCY - Kerry Healey outlined the differences between Deval Patrick and her at a campaign stop in Quincy, telling supporters she would push for lower taxes and mandatory sentencing for some criminals.
Healey began the discussion at Egg & I Too by criticizing Patrick’s opposition to decreasing the income tax and what she says are his plans to increase state spending by $8 billion.
“His spending policies are out of touch with working families,” she said. “It’s very hard for me to understand how he’ll meet (his pledges) without a tax raise.”
She then asked about a dozen South Shore residents - many of them small-business owners - what they worry about most.
Amid concerns about the cost of workers’ compensation, unemployment and health insurance for employees, Healey said she would focus on making Massachusetts a more affordable place to live.
“The expense of living here is driving people out,” she said. “It’s a tragedy.”
Jami Campbell of Weymouth talked about how difficult it was to buy a bigger house for her growing family.
“The most important thing is to build more housing,” Healey said, adding she would work to make the permit process easier. Doing so, she said, will attract residential and commercial developers.
“That’s what the people in business and construction want to hear,” she said. “When can they get the shovel in the ground.”
On higher education, Healey said the state should offer incentives to students who study for “jobs of the future,” such as engineering, forensic science and nursing. If students get a degree in those fields and stay to work in Massachusetts, she said, their student loans should be forgiven.
She criticized Patrick’s proposal to grant in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants and allow them to obtain licenses to drive.
A license is the “key I.D. in our society ... to prove you are who you say you are,” she said, and it is “extremely wrong” for illegal immigrants to have them.
Healey said she wants to require identification to vote. Otherwise, she said, no checks exist on who goes to the polls.
“We could have our policies and laws impacted by people who are not even citizens of this country,” she said.
Outside the diner, she talked to reporters about Patrick’s defense of Benjamin LaGuer, who was convicted of rape.
Patrick “wants to return to Dukakis-era sentencing,” Healey said, adding Patrick is “lenient” on convicted felons.
“I’ll fight for mandatory sentences for our most dangerous sex offenders,” she said, touting her work on Ally’s Law, which broadened the definition of sexually dangerous crimes.
Rachel Slajda may be reached at rslajda@ledger.com.
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