Healey, Patrick pick up steam
Exchange barbs over immigrants
The race for governor moved into high gear yesterday as Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey outlined new proposals on immigrants and sex offenders and Democrat Deval L. Patrick lined up a well known Republican Party figure as a supporter.
Hours after Patrick won the Democratic primary, Healey released a 50-point plan that staked out moderate and conservative positions on a host of issues. She said the state should make sure that immigrants lose their driver's licenses if their visas expire and called for lower taxes and tougher restrictions on sex offenders.
She sought to draw a contrast with Patrick, who has said he supports legislation that would grant driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. ``Driver's licenses are the things that make us legitimate in our society," Healey said. ``They allow us to not only drive on the roads, but also board an airplane. And they allow us to establish our identity in a number of ways."
Patrick turned the argument around, saying he sees the issues as one of national security. ``I want to know the names and addresses of all the people who are here," he told reporters while campaigning in Marlborough. He also said Healey was ``nervous and surprised" by his victory on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Patrick and his campaign worked behind the scenes to ensure a high profile endorsement.
Gloria Larson, a lawyer who held a top government post under Governor William F . Weld, has agreed to head a committee of Republicans supporting Patrick, campaign strategists told the Globe yesterday. Two months ago, she changed her voter registration from Republican to unenrolled in order to vote in the Democratic primary. She donated $200 to the campaign of Democrat Thomas F. Reilly in March.
Larson, who three years ago was number one on Boston Magazine's list of the 100 most powerful women in the city, said in an interview that she believed that Patrick had far more private and public-sector experience than Healey.
``Deval Patrick wants to reach out and will build an administration that's inclusive of Democrats, Republicans, and independents representing the best and brightest," Larson said. Among Republicans joining her in backing Patrick is Francis W. Hatch Jr., the former GOP House minority leader and the party's 1978 nominee for governor.
Democrats hope that Larson's decision to join the Patrick campaign will insulate him against Healey's strategy to paint him as a left-leaning liberal who espouses antibusiness policies. ``This speaks volumes of Deval Patrick's commitments to economic development," said Democratic Party chairman Philip W. Johnston, citing Larson's prominent role in Boston's development affairs and her stature in the business community.
Patrick succeeds in getting Larson to join his campaign as Healey is trying to draw a sharp distinction between herself and what she says are Patrick's strongly liberal positions.
Today, Healey, with Governor Mitt Romney out of state, will use her power as acting governor to sign a bill that extends the statute of limitations for sex offenses to 27 years.
Romney has rarely given her a chance to sign a significant piece of legislation. The last time she signed a bill was in December 2005. That act dealt with an obscure Medicare issue involving senior citizens receiving emergency prescription drugs; the governor's press office never released a statement about its becoming law.
With her running mate, Reed Hillman, by her side yesterday, Healey continued to walk a fine line of trying to appeal to Romney's base of suburban moderates while distancing herself from some of his perceived shortcomings. She said she plans to campaign with the departing governor, but she added that, ``I am very happy to be establishing my campaign and my candidacy on my own." In her primary night speech, she never mentioned Romney.
``I think there are meaningful differences between my record and the record of the governor, but there are also things that we agree upon," she said yesterday. ``And whenever I ask him, he will be there."
Her tone and criticism of Patrick yesterday was mild compared to her primary election night attack on him, in which she charged that, as governor, he would raise taxes, increase spending, and weaken the state's anticrime programs.
Instead, she focused on her own plans yesterday.
``We have a lot of big ideas about how to make Massachusetts a better place to live," she told a room full of reporters at her campaign headquarters.
She said she wants to require voters to present a state-issued identification at polling stations to prove citizenship, an issue that has been controversial in other states because it could discourage people who don't have identification cards from voting.
On Tuesday, a Superior Court judge in Georgia ruled that such a restriction was unconstitutional in that state.
Patrick, who went to Marlborough to campaign with his new running mate, Mayor Timothy P. Murray of Worcester, struck back at Healey's attempt to position him on immigration, particularly her statement that his support of driver's licenses for immigrants would pose a security risk.
``She claims that. She claims a lot of things. She's wrong," Patrick told reporters.
He also dismissed Healey's assertion that he would raise taxes. Patrick opposes an immediate rollback of the state income tax rate and has said a cut would result in an increase in property taxes, because it would rob cities and towns of state money.
``I don't have a plan to raise taxes," Patrick said.
He also went on the attack on taxes. ``Kerry Healey and Mitt Romney are responsible for fiscal policy that has, in fact, raised taxes and other fees," Patrick said.
Meanwhile, independent Christy Mihos, said immigration will be a ``big issue in this election."
``As things get tougher here in this country and in the Commonwealth, that issue is going to percolate to the top," said Mihos, who spent the day campaigning in Boston, Milton, and Cape Cod.
Lorrie Hall, chairwoman of Massachusetts Citizens for Immigration Reform, said she supported Healey's proposals and said she was glad Healey was bringing up immigration issues.
``People have to talk about it, and the candidates should talk about it," she said. ``This political correctness is our undoing sometimes."
Megan Tench of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 