Healey keeps up attack; Patrick toughens his ad

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey plans to begin airing a new television ad today that attacks Democratic rival Deval L. Patrick for his advocacy on behalf of a convicted rapist and also attempts to capitalize on his missteps over the last week in explaining his role.

The ad focuses on the case of Benjamin LaGuer, a convicted rapist whose case became a distraction for Patrick last week after the Globe disclosed he had written two letters seeking his parole and contributed money to help pay for a DNA test. The disclosures forced Patrick to backtrack from his initial assertion that his ``sole involvement" in the case was a letter he wrote more than a decade ago.

``What kind of person defends a brutal rapist?" the narrator in the new ad says. Patrick then is seen at a press conference last week, saying, ``He is eloquent, and he is thoughtful." A DNA test linked LaGuer to the crime, but he still proclaims his innocence.

The new ad is the second crime-related commercial Healey has aired in the last week that portrays Patrick as coddling criminals. Yesterday, the GOP candidate appeared at a press conference in Worcester with the family of the woman who was raped by LaGuer.

``The bottom line is Deval Patrick wanted Ben LaGuer out of jail and back on the street," said Robert Barry, whose mother-in-law was raped by LaGuer in 1983. ``The only way he could have reached that conclusion was to dismiss the evidence and ignore the victims."

Yesterday Patrick launched his toughest campaign advertisement yet. With photos of Healey and Governor Mitt Romney, the ad recites ``crushing property taxes," rising crime and police layoffs, the Big Dig tunnel collapse, and job losses. ``All they have left to offer are misleading negative ads," the narrator says, with a dark image of an earlier Healey ad, linking Patrick to the defense of a Florida police killer.

The messages were aired as strategists from both campaigns weigh the risks and rewards of launching negative advertisements. Patrick held a 20 to 25 percentage point lead over Healey in two public polls. Healey had a high negative rating among voters surveyed in a Globe poll, which also found Governor Mitt Romney in poor standing among voters.

Patrick's advisers, who would not speak for attribution because they do not publicly discuss strategy, said polling data from the weekend showed that Healey's attack ads have backfired by hurting her own standing among voters more than Patrick's. The advisers said Patrick and his aides decided not to launch a negative counteroffensive.

``Our polls show that the overriding issue is that voters believe that the Romney-Healey administration has taken the state in the wrong direction and they believe Deval Patrick can change that," said Patrick's senior campaign adviser, Doug Rubin, who refused to discuss details of the surveys.

At the Healey campaign, one strategist said the campaign is convinced that she has caused considerable damage to Patrick's standing among voters with her critical ad campaign and that the race has tightened. The strategist indicated Healey has cut Patrick's lead roughly in half, while reducing her unfavorable rating and raising his.

The latest ad barrage from Healey is expected to increase the pressure from some Democratic leaders who want Patrick and his campaign aides, with just four weeks left in the campaign, to respond more aggressively to Healey, particularly on crime.

Healey and the GOP outspent Patrick by more than 3 to 1 last week. Patrick spent $470,000 on television ads, focused on the theme of seeking change in the state's political culture. Healey's campaign and the Republican Governors Association paid $1.7 million on advertising, much of it trying to paint the Democratic rival as soft on crime and as a spendthrift who will raises taxes.

With the association continuing to fund its own ads in the race, Healey and the Republicans are expected to spend about $1.5 million this week, while Patrick, with some strong fund-raising efforts since winning the Democratic primary, and the Democratic Party will spend about $750,000.

``He needs to balance the need to defend himself -- in tough, muscular robust terms, saying who he is and what he stands for -- and the need to make sure that when Kerry Healey attempts to demean and denigrate him he puts to rest those doubts," said Steve Grossman, the former chairman of national Democratic Party.

Yesterday, Healey appeared in Worcester with Barry, the son-in-law of LaGuer's victim, who said that Patrick called his family to apologize that the case had become a political issue in the gubernatorial campaign. Barry said he never apologized for supporting LaGuer.

Barry said he called the Patrick campaign back, seeking a further apology, but was told to watch television to glean Patrick's position. ``Deval Patrick's first encounter with a victim's family, and he failed miserably," Barry said.

Rubin said that as head of the civil rights division of the US Justice Department and in private practice on a number of pro bono cases Patrick has ``aggressively fought for the rights of victims."

``He sympathizes with the victims of any kind of violence and their families and has in fact worked on behalf of victims his entire career," Rubin said. ``Deval spoke with the Barry family this past week and expressed sympathy for what has happened to their family. ``

Healey also began airing a commercial that features her talking directly into the camera. In it, she describes the similarities between her and Patrick, saying they each are for abortion rights and favor stem cell research but differ on crime, immigration, and taxes.

``On some issues, Deval Patrick and I agree," Healey said, speaking with a calm tone as she looks at the camera. ``But there are critical differences that affect your family. He'll let the Legislature spend whatever they want and tax whatever they can. I won't. He'll give illegal immigrants driver's licenses and in-state tuition. I won't. I've fought for victims' rights. Too often he's on the other side. If you agree with me, let's change Massachusetts together."