There's no crying in politics
WHO ELSE can count on Tom Reilly to make a helpful call on their behalf?
The question deserves answers, not tears, from an attorney general who wants to be the next governor of Massachusetts.
Unfortunately, it arises from the brutally sad story of two teenage sisters, Shauna and Meghan Murphy, who died in a car crash last October. The girls' father, Christopher Murphy, of Southborough, is a friend and political donor of Reilly's. In mid-November, Reilly called Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte to urge him not to release the victims' autopsy reports -- which are not public record -- to the media.
A police report on the car crash says that the driver, 17-year-old Shauna Murphy, was drinking at a party just before the accident. Northborough police chief Mark Leahy believed his investigators had a case, which he described as ''allowing" a minor to consume alcohol. However, police closed the case after Conte determined there was insufficient evidence for criminal charges.
During a misty-eyed press conference last week, Reilly confirmed that he advised Conte not to make the blood-alcohol report public, but said he never tried to block police from obtaining that information. During a telephone interview, Reilly said he ''understood" the family had some concerns, but the family did not ask him to make the call to Conte.
Here is the key question for Reilly: Would he do for the average citizen what he did for a friend -- remind an experienced district attorney that an autopsy report is not a public record?
Reilly insists that over the course of his career he made similar calls to protect the privacy of families. When pressed for details, he said that people often call on behalf of neighbors and that he intercedes even if he does not know the victims or their families.
During the press conference, the attorney general's eyes welled up with tears as he suggested that Governor Mitt Romney and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey are using the matter for political gain.
This is the time for Reilly to get tough, not teary, and he should get tough, first, on himself.
From a prosecutor's perspective, how would Reilly, a former district attorney, feel about a call like the one he made to Conte? The job demands the ability to separate emotion from fact, the willingness to investigate without fear or favor, and an assumed knowledge of state law regarding the release of autopsies. Would a call from an attorney general lead a district attorney to conclude that perhaps this investigation was not one he should pursue?
Beyond that, Reilly needs to toughen up as a candidate for governor. If he can't take it now, how will he weather the pressure that will build? Romney recently announced he is not seeking reelection; Healey is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Reilly also faces a fight for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination from Deval Patrick, a former official in the US Justice Department.
Political their intent may be, but the two Republicans raised legitimate public policy questions, as well as legitimate political concerns about Reilly.
Painting a Democratic gubernatorial nominee as one of the gang is the strongest argument Massachusetts Republicans have in their quest to retain the governor's office. Over the years, Reilly worked to cultivate an outsider image, with high-profile, if low impact, investigations into the Catholic Church and Big Dig. The call to the Worcester district attorney is an echo of business as usual, the ability of those in the loop to get special treatment.
No one denies the Murphy family suffered unimaginable horror and continues to suffer unimaginable pain. As family members wrote in a statement Reilly read at his press conference, ''We hurt every minute of every day."
A friend embraces them, cries with them, does their best to console the inconsolable.
An attorney general and would-be governor considers how best to help police enforce the law and send a message that can save the lives of other young people.
Can you be both friend and public official?
Sure, but when you choose as a public official to extend yourself on behalf of a friend, you accept the political consequences without tears; and you are prepared to face the political question that follows logically:
Where do you draw the line on doing favors for a friend?
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.
