Patrick sold off stocks of tobacco companies, Healey investment firm

Faced with a deadline to publicly disclose his holdings, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick dumped stock he held in the country's two largest tobacco firms and in the high-flying investment firm that is headed by the husband of his potential Republican rival.

Patrick spokesman Doug Rubin said yesterday that earlier this year Patrick sold off $3,200 in stock he held in the world's largest tobacco company, Altria Group Inc. He also sold $4,400 worth of shares in Reynolds American Inc, the second largest cigarette manufacturer in the United States.

In addition, Patrick also sold off his stock holdings in Affiliated Managers Group, a Beverly-based firm whose chief executive officer is Sean Healey, the husband of Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the GOP's candidate for governor. The stock was worth $1,400.

Amid a public clamor last fall over a special state tax break the company got in 2001, AMG returned $1.2 million to the state treasury.

One critic of the tax deal was Patrick.

``Deval's stocks have been purchased by a private financial adviser," Richard Chacon, director of communications for the Patrick campaign, said in a statement. ``When Deval saw these stocks were part of his portfolio, he asked that they be sold, and they were sold earlier this year."

At the time AMG agreed to return the funds last October, Patrick complained that the firm had taken advantage of a tax program meant to persuade firms to locate in economically distressed locations.

AMG located in a wealthy neighborhood in Beverly.

``The idea of sponsoring tax breaks to encourage investment in Prides Crossing is silly, and everybody knows that," Patrick said in October.