Harshbarger endorses Patrick, turns away from former deputy

Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger threw his support behind Democrat Deval L. Patrick in the race for governor yesterday, turning his back on his former deputy, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly.

Gubernatorial candidate Christopher F. Gabrieli said yesterday he favors expanding casinos. B4.

At a press conference, Harshbarger cast Patrick as the candidate who most closely shares his vision of government as a vigilant protector of the people against corruption, injustice, and violence and as a force for improving their lives.

In his remarks, Harshbarger said that although he has known Reilly for a long time and would support him in the general election if he becomes the Democratic nominee, he believes that Patrick would make a superior governor.

``There are good choices we have in the Democratic Party," Harshbarger said. ``But what we have in Deval is a great choice, an opportunity to have a great leader and a great governor."

Harshbarger also said he wished Reilly had done more to provide aggressive oversight of the Big Dig. Instead, he said, Reilly devoted little attention to the Central Artery Oversight Committee, which was established by Harshbarger and others as an independent panel of state and federal officials to oversee the project, and the committee did little to supervise the megaproject.

``I saw a role for the attorney general as a leader of this state effort to focus on this," he said. ``This was the largest construction project in history."

Though it is debatable whether voters pay much attention to endorsements, the news of Reilly's endorsement stirred interest among Democratic insiders yesterday.

The Reilly campaign shrugged off the news and tried to focus attention on a public safety plan that Reilly released yesterday. The plan listed the names of four district attorneys, five sheriffs, and three large public safety officers unions that have endorsed Reilly.

``Tom respects Scott, but this is not a surprise," said Corey Welford, a spokesman for Reilly. ``Tom has devoted his career to protecting the public and knows what it takes to keep our communities safe, and that is why he has the overwhelming support of the people who are on the front lines of law enforcement: DA's, sheriffs, firefighters, and police."

For Reilly, the rebuke was not entirely unexpected. Relations between the two men have been strained for several years, and Harshbarger told the Globe last spring that he was considering endorsing Patrick.

The relationship between Harshbarger and Reilly dates to 1983, when, as Middlesex district attorney, Harshbarger hired Reilly to serve as his first assistant. They prosecuted crimes as a team until 1990, when Harshbarger made the jump to attorney general and Reilly replaced him as Middlesex District Attorney. Eight years later, they parted ways: Harshbarger lost his race for governor, while Reilly won his bid to replace his old boss once again, this time as attorney general.

Since then, the relationship has atrophied. In an interview with New England Cable News this spring, Reilly named Governor Paul Cellucci, the Republican who beat Harshbarger in the 1998 governor's race, as one of his political role models. Harshbarger said yesterday that he was shocked by Reilly's remarks. He said Reilly called him twice to try to smooth things over and said Reilly told him he had not understood the question.

Harshbarger said yesterday that that episode was not the reason he decided to support Patrick, but he said it seemed to him that Reilly had either embraced the legacy of Cellucci, ``who stands for everything that is the opposite of what I believe in and what I believe Tom believes in," or had chosen a politically motivated response that Harshbarger found disappointing.

Patrick and Harshbarger also have known each other for years. They met in the early 1990s, when Patrick served as a mediator on a series of housing cases that Harshbarger was pursuing. Harshbarger said he even considered hiring Patrick as his deputy before the Clinton administration recruited Patrick to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Patrick and Harshbarger worked together on hate crime task forces and other civil rights issues. In 1998, Patrick cochaired Harshbarger's gubernatorial campaign.

``He supported me consistently, even during tough and losing times," Harshbarger said.

Asked if he had told Reilly about his plan to endorse Patrick in advance of the announcement, Harshbarger said he had left a phone message for him yesterday.

``In some respects, this is a difficult personal decision," he said. ``But in a way it was, if not easy, it was clear."

The endorsement of one of the state's best-known Democrats was a welcome development for Patrick, who as a newcomer lacks the organizational muscle provided by mayors and other local elected officials. It was also a chance for some media attention for Patrick, who has been left mainly on the sidelines as state politicians, including Reilly, grapple with the aftermath of the ceiling collapse inside the Big Dig.

Jeffrey M. Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University, said he doubted the endorsement would help Patrick much. He questioned how many voters remember Harshbarger, who has not been a public official for eight years.

But he also said it was probably a small, but unwelcome, setback for Reilly. ``It's a small dig at Reilly's competence," he said. ``. . . This again calls into question where this campaign is going."