A picture is worth a thousand words, and multiple uses, too

The Globe recently ran a story showing how a Republican Governors Association ad for Kerry Healey included a picture that purported to show Healey standing by Mitt Romney's shoulder at the signing of the healthcare reform bill last spring. The photo in the ad was actually a picture of Romney and Healey signing a different bill, called Ally's Law.

The reason for the switcheroo? At the real healthcare bill signing, Healey was so far in the back of the crowd of politicians you could barely see her.

Now, a sharp-eyed blogger notes that the picture has resurfaced again -- this time, in one of Deval Patrick's television ads. This time, the picture purports to show the pair signing the budget -- which the Patrick ad uses to criticize cuts in local aid.

Scott Allen Miller, on his site The Scotto Bloggo, (iamscotto.blogspot.com) writes that the Patrick ad is using the picture ``to make the same kind of distortion in reverse" -- to tie Healey to Romney for the purpose of impeaching her record instead of trumping it up.

Asked to comment, Libby DeVecchi, a spokeswoman for the Patrick campaign, quipped: ``There have been very few Governor Romney sightings in Massachusetts for the last 18 months, so I guess we all use the same picture."

Lisa Wangsness

Patrick has supporters of note

Has Deval Patrick gone national? Bill Clinton is hosting a $1,000 a person gala for the candidate Monday night and Hillary Clinton is sponsoring a party of her own Oct. 27 in New York City, according to Patrick's campaign. Illinois senator Barack Obama also will return to Boston Friday for a fund-raiser at the UMass club.

And after the political big names, will the entertainment luminaries follow? James Taylor, a regular on the liberal party circuit, has donated 120 tickets to tonight's concert at the Wang Center and planned to host a special reception for donors after the concert.

Barbra Streisand, the quintessential left-leaning performer, has also called Patrick and offered to help. ``Nothing definite," said senior campaign adviser Doug Rubin. Streisand, who made headlines last week when she urged a heckler in graphic terms to keep quiet, is coming to town Oct. 22 for a concert at the Garden.

Andrea Estes

Mihos taken to task on tollbooths

Last week, after the Globe reported that a state commission was considering recommending the reinstatement of tolls in West Newton and Western Massachusetts, the campaign of Independent Christy Mihos sent a clear message: Mihos would never back such a plan.

``There's no way we would support a toll or a tax increase," Mihos campaign spokeswoman Nicole Nionakis told the Globe. ``Christy has always said he wants to take tolls down."

But in 2002, in a deposition from a lawsuit he filed against former acting governor Jane Swift after she booted him off the Turnpike Authority board, Mihos acknowledged that he wasn't opposed to restoring tollbooths in West Newton and Western Massachusetts.

``It wasn't that you were against tolls per se. Is that fair to say," Mihos was asked.

``Absolutely," he answered.

Mihos campaign manager Carolyn Kain said late last week that there's no contradiction between what he said then and what he says now. Mihos was only considering adding tollbooths out west and in Newton as a means of staving off proposed toll hikes inside Route 128, Kain said.

``It was an equity issue," she said. ``Christy was for fairness, and he thought since tolls were still required to repay the [Turnpike Authority] debt, the tolls should be applied to communities equally and not based on geographic location."

Scott Helman

Lynch limits campaign fund offering

US Representative Stephen Lynch, the South Boston Democrat, is taking his reelection seriously, so much so that he is dissing the Democratic political establishment in Boston and on Capitol Hill. The Massachusetts party, using US Senator Edward M. Kennedy to twist arms, has knuckled nine of Lynch's colleagues in the delegation to donate $25,000 to the fund it will use to help Deval Patrick win the gubernatorial election. But Lynch, with about $1 million in his political account, is drawing the line at $10,000.

And on Capitol Hill, Lynch is not showing any more respect to House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and her leadership, who are dunning members for contributions from $300,000 to $100,000, depending on their ranking and committee posts. All the Bay State members, except for Lynch, were paid up as of earlier this month. He has only contributed $20,000 so far (though a spokesman said he had already given $50,000) - still far short from $150,000 that the Pelosi leadership said he should contribute to the effort by the Democrats to take back control of the US House. ``He has his own race," said a spokesman for the three-term congressman, referring to his contest against Republican gadfly Jack E. Robinson who uses his personal funds to finance his campaigns.

Frank Phillips

Reach the Globe political staff at Masspolitics@globe.com and check the Globe's politics page at boston.com/politics.