Candidate accused of shifting CORI law stance
Democrat Deval L. Patrick and Republican Kerry Healey both say they support changing the Criminal Offender Record Information law, but according to Healey, that's where the similarity ends.
Currently, more than 11,000 employers have access to criminal records under CORI; many of the businesses serve vulnerable populations such as nursing home residents and schoolchildren.
To Patrick, CORI reform means limiting the criminal record information available to employers. Healey says her idea of CORI reform is making more information available, not less.
Richard Chacón, Patrick's deputy campaign manager, said that he believes Healey has only recently come to that position. He cited comments she made last year that suggest her stance has been remarkably similar to Patrick's, supporting changes that make it easier for criminals who have done their time to reenter society without being haunted by their pasts.
``We are trying to promote the successful reentry of nonviolent offenders, and CORI laws are having an impact on their ability to find housing and employment, two of the most significant factors in postrelease success," Healey said last year during a State House hearing.
And the Patrick campaign points to comments Healey made last year at a forum sponsored by The Boston Foundation. At that meeting, Healey said she was concerned about ``the impact of CORI on offenders' ability to get housing and employment," which she called ``these key legs of the stool . . . to postrelease success."
Her public comments have not been more specific, a Globe review found.
Healey aides say that her position has been consistent for years: She has been against restricting the release of CORI information. She has said the system should be changed so that records are more accurate and easy to read.
Healey aides said she made most of her remarks about CORI while pushing legislation that would require mandatory supervision of felons after their release.
``Each year in Massachusetts, approximately 20,000 inmates return to cities and towns without the supervision and support necessary to lead a productive and crime-free life," she said when she filed the bill in February 2005.
``Offenders often leave jail unprepared to overcome obstacles, such as drug and alcohol addictions as well as finding employment and housing."
CORI reform emerged in the governor's race during the Democrats' final debate before the primary, when Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly accused Patrick of embracing the proposed Public Safety Act of 2006, which would make it easier for offenders to have their records sealed or expunged and allow drug dealers to cut time off their sentences. Patrick said he doesn't support the bill, but backs changes that will ensure CORI ``doesn't defeat their every second chance."
Independent candidate Christy Mihos said he favors limiting the information disseminated about people's criminal pasts.
``While it is important to identify criminals that may pose a threat to public safety, we do not want to use these criminal background checks to prevent people from the opportunity to reenter society and to become productive and selfsufficient citizens," he said.
Grace Ross, the Green-Rainbow candidate, said the CORI law should be revamped so that people with minor offenses would not be penalized when applying for jobs.
``The distribution should be limited, and the law probably needs to be revised if [records are] given to the general public," she said. ``It doesn't make sense to include arrests and not just convictions. If someone got picked up for shoplifting at 17 and now they are 54, it should not even be a factor in whether they're hired."
