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
I love the fake indignation of the Healey campaign:
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.
Here’s a prediction:
Healey’s not getting much closer in the polls than she is already. Patrick by 8-10
Note: Not taking it to the bank, I gave to DP campaign just this morning
Another Comment: Does Tim O’Brien look like someone who could have been appointed by the Bush administration to be, say, the chairman of the central bank of Iraq? He looks like he’s about 12.
Fred Thys again confirmed the story via a state spokesperson — Globe gets tip, calls state agency. State agency verifies conviction, sends letter notifying Sigh of obligation to register. No doubt the Herald got the same “anonymous two-page letter,” later confirmed with state agency that the letter had been sent, and ran the story.
that Healey’s people were the ones with the tip.
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I’m sorry, but the whole thing’s inexcusable. Though Healey, if she IS caught, will say, “I just wanted everyone to follow the law…” but it’s destroyed a family’s well-being, it was dirty pool (I mean, why not bring it up months ago, or later on after the election? Because it’s politically EXPEDIENT of course) and it was insensitive to boot.
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God, those poor kids…and Deval’s sister, who already went through the process of grief/anger/forgiveness and now has to relive it all again.
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But it provoked me to write something controversial on my blog about the stupidity of the sex offense registry, which I’ve been shying away from both because I wasn’t totally clear on how to write my views with clarity, and because so many will disagree with me. I cross posted that here as well…hope it provokes good, useful discussion.
To paraphrase some thoughts I tagged to the wrong thread:
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Generally, i think DP’s campaign should move away from this issue and on to the rally and the contrasts with what Healey/Romney has failed to do, and what he will do.
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But, many on BMG are still after the story here. The story requires us to pressure reporters to do real reporting, not just repeat Tim O’Brien’s press releases. So…..
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In this administration, there is a pattern of legit research being bottled up to meet Mitt’s national agenda; line agencies are brought to heel for doing their job if it contradicts the Gov’s national move to the right. Some officials have said publicly that they have been told — NO BAD NEWS until after November 7th.
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Does anyone believe that the Sex Offender Registry Board got a tip about Deval’s brother in law in the middle of a campaign — and on their own just ran with it? They would at least give the heads up on a politically charged matter like that to someone higher.
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Real reporters need to ask more questions beyond O’Brien’s carefully phrased denial: When did the LG first hear of the issue? From whom? Who is on this Board? Who appointed them? Have they ever spoken to anyone in the Gov’s office about a reported sex offender?
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One unconnected dot: If the Globe called the Registry, then how did THE HERALD get the story? Was anyone else copied on the Board’s letter to Mr. Sigh? Did Healey or anyone under her get a copy? Certainly Mr. Sigh didn’t call the Herald. So it must be that the Board leaks, or KH leaks. (Even if the Herald got the same so-called anonymous 2-page letter, that doesn’t mean the Herald would have any way to know that the Board had acted on it.)
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Will the LG call for a crminal investigation of the Board — it must be against the law to leak such private information before the offender gets a chance to respond to the demand to register.
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What was the Board told by the Globe? Did anyone ask them if that was the only source? (I’m very suspicious on this one — the Globe called us sounds like the cover story.) How often do they investigate “tips”?
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There are a million questions. But in the end, does it matter? If she didn’t leak this one, she sure authorized the rest of the slime. That slime created the feeding frenzy that led to this.
that neither she nor her campaign leaked it, then how about the Administration?
strikes again. This latest BS was a direct result of oppo research by consultants being paid enormous sums to come up with anything that might be used against Deval. Those hacks must be getting really desperate if this is the best they could come up with.
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The Glob and the Herald know this, and I’m betting they know whose fingerprints are all over the “anonymous” source. I would give the Glob credit for some decency in not printing a story that would serve to harm innocent family members if they had followed up with an editorial stating that they refuse to participate in mud slinging. Perhaps they did not because bidness as usual dictates that they can cover the mudslinging and sell papers once another media source gets muddy first. The Herald may have just jumped the shark, much like Hub Politics. I think the Herald should be renamed “National Herald Enquirer” and would best serve its readership by writing stories about space aliens and Paris Hilton.
Maybe the local TV news will try to do some digging. For them, there might actually be some benefit to reporting the truth in this case.
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He hadn’t had a peep about it on his blog last night when I checked. What a courageous fellow.
He still has no courage.
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What is with this “Faux Deval” stuff?
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Deval drew “undue attention” to the Herald story about his sister?! His speech was “an understandable-but-useless diatribe against dirty politics”?!
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The “Real Deval” might have said that the pain caused by tactics straight out of Karl Rove’s playbook are “nothing compared to the pain of the people of Massachusetts”?!
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Keller is the one living in Bizarro world, not Deval.