Romneys flip-flop on reproductive choice was hardly an isolated indicator. Since he set his sights on the presidency, his stands on social issues have consistently been tailored to appeal to religious right voters in South Carolina. On issue after issue, from curbs on stem cell research to increased emphasis on abstinence education in the schools, Romney has forsaken his pledge to govern as a social moderate. A Washington Post headline neatly captured Romneys contempt for the views of the Massachusetts electorate: Massachusetts Governor Makes His State the Butt of His Jokes.
Nothing illustrates Romneys religious right tendencies better than his jihad against marriage equality. He has placed himself at the forefront of efforts nationwide to ban same-sex marriage. Kerry Healey joins her boss in opposition to same-sex marriage; she bragged that “he stood up for traditional values against an activist court, at the 2004 GOP National Convention. Still she strives for a more tempered position. She favors an amendment to write discrimination into the Massachusetts constitution, but opposes including it in the state GOP platform.
The supposed moderation of Healeys opposition to same-sex marriage was little more than a sham. Even as she pointed out that Republicans were divided on the issue, urging that the party take no position, Massachusetts Republican Party officials were already helping opponents of marriage equality gather signatures for an anti-marriage amendment to the state constitution.
Again and again, Healeys disagreements with the right-wing policies of the Administration have been empty rhetoric. In March of this year, she publicly opposed giving Catholic Charities license to discriminate against GLBT adoptive parents, stating that any such exemption threatens one of the most important principles of our society, the separation of church and state. Just two days later, however, the Romney-Healey Administration filed a bill that would exempt Catholic Charities from the anti-discrimination laws. As the Administration recently weighed regulations on stem cell research, Healey spoke against including restrictions that were inconsistent with the law the legislature passed over Romneys veto. The restrictive regulations were adopted, Healeys stated opposition notwithstanding.
In 2005, Healey touted her support for choice and expanded access to the morning after pill emergency contraceptive, as the legislature debated a proposed bill. She told the Boston Globe I am a strong advocate for pro-choice and I expect to bring that voice to the table when the governor and I and his other advisers sit down to discus the bill. Despite Healeys strong advocacy Romney vetoed the emergency contraceptive legislation when it reached his desk.
Given the number of times Healey has impotently protested the hard-line policies of the Administration, there are only two possible explanations. Either she has been consistently ineffective in moderating the Administrations positions on social issues in a striking failure of leadership; or she is being disingenuous, trying to repeat the strategy of deception employed in the 2002 campaign. (Sometimes Healey does not bother to separate herself from Administration policy. Defending Romneys veto of a bill to allow clean needle exchange for AIDS prevention, Healey warned that the law could result in children standing next to a drug addict in the checkout line at CVS who is there to buy more needles to feed his or her addiction.)
It is hard not to be skeptical about Healeys maneuvering to distance her candidacy from the record of the Administration. She told the Boston Globe in April that we have always governed as a team as an administration Indeed Healey has been more than just another team player in the corner office. On the frequent occasions Romney finds himself out-of-state, she is the states chief executive. (The Massachusetts constitution does not allow us to be governed from beyond our borders.) Given the torrent of right-wing policies that have issued from this Administration, many inevitably unfolded on her watch. She should be held accountable for her stewardship as Acting Governor, and not allowed to hide behind rhetorical curtsies to Massachusetts sensibilities.
Healey hopes to convince voters that she is a Republican in the mold of former Governor Bill Weld, rather than the political soulmate of Mitt Romney. Do not be deceived. The Advocate hailed Weld as a hetero hero given his groundbreaking initiatives to promote the safety and welfare of GLBT youth and his leadership in fighting hate crimes. Compare the record of the Romney-Healey Administration. On youth concerns, Romney landed on the Governors Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth like a ton of bricks this spring when a press release for the youth pride observance went out on state letterhead. The Governors Commission was subjected to more rigorous political control, and then abolished when the legislature moved to limit the Governors authority over the agency. Healeys position: she parroted Romneys petty concerns over the use of stationery.
Healey has likewise failed to show leadership in fighting hate crimes. Romney vetoed hate crimes prevention funding in 2003, then impounded money the Swift Administration had previously approved for a bullying prevention program. Kerry Healey was conspicuous by her silence as state efforts to counter hate crimes foundered. Meanwhile, a long-finished Anti-Bullying Best Practices Guide for Middle Schools, intended to help less affluent school districts deal with problems of harassment, languishes in the states public health bureaucracy, waiting for an approval that may never come. (The Boston Globe reported earlier this month that the Romney-Healey Administration had politicized the Department of Public Health to an unprecedented extent.) Healeys lack of initiative to make schools safer for sexual minority youth does not jibe with her interest in preventing sexual activity, drinking, and drug use by teens. Bullying and harassment are known to put their targets at heightened risk for unhealthy behaviors. Clearly her priorities lie elsewhere than with civil rights.
Bill Weld won election in 1990 with strong gay and lesbian support after he promised he would be an abolitionist when it came to homophobia. By contrast, when it comes to homophobic political agendas, Kerry Healey has been an enabler. She had a leading role in perpetrating the bait and switch that has characterized the Romney-Healey record on social issues. Her candidacy affords voters only opportunity to demand accountability for the outrageous misgovernment of Massachusetts by an absentee overlord almost as out-of-touch with our values as was George III.
In 2006, the mask is off. Fool the voters once, shame on you. Fool us a second time, shame on us!
Don Gorton was Chair of the Greater Boston Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance from 1988-1994. In 1991 he was appointed Co-Chair of the Governors Task Force on Hate Crimes by Governor Weld.