Patrick, Healey spar over report on kin

Democratic candidate Deval L. Patrick lashed out at Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey yesterday, accusing her campaign of leaking details of the 1993 rape of Patrick's sister by her husband.

``It's pathetic and it's wrong," Patrick said in a statement he read at a Cambridge campaign stop. ``By no rules of common decency should their private struggles become a public issue. But this is the politics of Kerry Healey. It disgusts me. And it must be stopped."

Healey's campaign denied it was the source of the information and said Patrick ``has launched the worst type of smear campaign and should be ashamed."

Patrick was referring to a Boston Herald story that appeared yesterday reporting that Patrick's brother-in-law had pleaded guilty to raping his wife while they were living in San Diego. Bernard Sigh, 54, who is married to Patrick's sister Rhonda, spent 133 days in jail and was placed on probation after the assault, which took place while the couple was separated.

They later reconciled and now live in Milton. The Herald reported that the state's Sex Offender Registry Board notified Sigh, 54, this week that he must register with the board. Sigh has 10 days to register, according to a spokeswoman for the board.

Patrick, who read the statement solemnly but without visible emotion, did not say what evidence he had to verify his charge that Healey's campaign was the source of the leak. He did not take questions.

Healey told reporters she didn't ``consider this a campaign issue," adding that ``I'm not using it in my campaign." Her campaign repeatedly sought to direct questions back at Patrick yesterday.

``This campaign had nothing to do with the story," said Healey campaign manager Tim O'Brien. ``This is a wild accusation without any proof. To walk off without answering questions -- I don't know how that's acceptable.

``We demand Deval Patrick come out of hiding, answer any and all questions from the press, and issue an immediate apology to Kerry Healey for making wild and baseless accusations."

The Globe received an anonymous two-page document last week describing the criminal case. The Globe immediately verified the rape conviction and Sigh's residence in Massachusetts and then checked with the sex offender registry to determine if Sigh had fulfilled a requirement to register.

The Globe inquiry prompted state officials to notify Sigh that he had failed to register, but the editors decided against publishing a story after finding no relevance to Patrick's record or qualifications. Responding to inquiries from the Globe, the campaign said Patrick had never intervened on Sigh's behalf and the Globe found nothing to contradict that assertion.

Yesterday, Patrick read his statement in the lobby of ViaCell Inc., a Cambridge biotechnology company, where he had been scheduled to tout his support for stem cell research.

After entering the room, a grim-faced Patrick walked to three men sitting together in wheelchairs. He looked each man in the eye, shook their hands, and apologized for the impending speech.

Patrick read his statement and left abruptly through a side door. Michael Ferriter, president of the National Spinal Cord Association's Greater Boston Chapter, said he wasn't disappointed that Patrick didn't discuss stem cell research.

According to campaign aides, Patrick was incensed when he learned Thursday evening that the story about his brother-in-law was going to be in the newspaper. On Thursday night, Patrick and his sister each told their own children for the first time about the episode.

``I got into this race with no illusions," Patrick said in the statement. ``In a world where negative campaigns are commonplace, I expected to have my own accomplishments trivialized, my own judgments questioned, my life choices challenged. I haven't always liked it, but I knew it was a price I would have to pay to be an agent of change, not just in our policies, but in our politics.

``My sister and her husband went through a difficult time, and through hard work and prayer, they repaired their relationship and their lives," he said. ``Now they and their children, who knew nothing of this, have had their family history laid out on the pages of a newspaper. Why? For no other reason than that they had the bad luck to have a relative who is running for governor."

The usually unflappable Democrat, who has withstood weeks of attacks from his opponent, vowed yesterday to fight back more aggressively.

``We need a change," he said. ``Gimmicks, slogans, and dirty politics is no substitute for progress. The politics of fear is no acceptable alternative to the politics of hope. That's the change we need. And if anybody in the Healey campaign or in the public thinks I am unwilling to fight for that, they have badly underestimated me."

Healey's campaign later accused Patrick of trying to capitalize on the story.

``I think they're free falling in the polls and are using baseless attacks to change the dynamic of the race," O'Brien said. ``He's made a series of mistakes throughout this campaign."

A poll released Thursday found that the race for governor is tightening. The WHDH-TV-Suffolk University poll found that Patrick led Healey 46 percent to 33 percent. Earlier polls had Patrick leading by 25 points.

Former governor Michael S. Dukakis said yesterday that the current attacks on Patrick are even more virulent than those generated during his 1988 presidential campaign, when Republican-sponsored ads criticized him for allowing the release of convicted murderer Willie Horton.

``This is an awful campaign," Dukakis told the transportation group MoveMass yesterday. ``I've never seen anything like it. It makes Willie Horton look mild by comparison."

April Simpson and Thomas Palmer of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Andrea Estes can be contacted at estes@globe.com.