Healey’s got two new, intensely negative ads up. One contains more blather about in-state tuition and drivers licenses, some of which appears to be actually false; the other is about Ben LaGuer.
The new LaGuer ad asks at the end:
Have you ever heard a woman compliment a rapist?
Well, let’s see … hey, you know, I actually have!
In all of my contact with him, he has never expressed the sort of misogyny, hatred or rage that might suggest that On the contrary; he has always seemed comfortable with and respectful toward women. Indeed, he may be one of the few feminists incarcerated in a male prison. Abbe Smith, Associate Director, Georgetown University Law Center.
Mr. LaGuer has proven himself over many years to be a person of superb moral character, Lucy E Reyes, President, Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys….
I have often listened to Mr. Mandela of South Africa and wondered how he could have spent half of his life in jail and come out of that experience with so little bitterness. I feel I hear that same spirit from Ben LaGuer, Sheila Dector, Regional Director, American Jewish Congress….
For years, Benjamin LaGuer has steadfastly maintained his innocence, even when such a position has kept him in prison. He has conducted himself with honor and he has never lost hope, Dianne Williamson, columnist, Worcester Telegram and Gazette….
As a woman who herself is the victim of a violent crime… I am not one to have sympathy for men who do us violence. I have had to look through my own pain to see the truth of Mr. LaGuers situation, Stacy Amaral….
I believe Ben LaGuer deserves a second chance, and I dont even like Puerto Ricans, quoting from an anonymous woman caller to the WGBHs viewer response telephone line….
The case of Ben LaGuer offers the state of Massachusetts the opportunity to send a powerful message, Sally Greenberg, Civil Rights Director of Eastern States, Anti-Defamation League.
So for Kerry Healey to suggest that no woman would ever be caught dead uttering words of praise for someone who was once convicted of rape, well, that’s just not so. Ask Mss. Smith, Reyes, Dector, Williamson, Amaral, and Greenberg.
I hope Deval gets a hold of this ammunition. This would flatten her argument! I cannot believe she is still peddling this story. I haven’t heard anything about where she’d take Mass. She’s obsessed with Mr. LaGuer. It must be testing well in her focus groups.
Kerry Healey is the Vernon Robinson of Massachusetts. Really, this thing is taking on a clinical quality that demands scrutiny. Her campaign motto should really be, “It’s the rape of white women by black men, stupid.”
But on point. I don’t think this is over the line criticism of this ad. Wow. I was going to do like one hour at my Deval phonebank tonight. Fuck that. I’m staying til the bitter end, they’re going to have to pry my white knuckled fists off the door to get me out of there tonight.
and the response I got was overwhelmingly positive. And this response was from voters in two small towns that are rather blue-collar conservative. I was very encouraged. Have fun!
No disagreement with what you’re saying, but anybody who will be influenced by the Healey trash won’t be persuaded by facts or logic. Fortunately, I think she’s just about milked that cow dry. Deval needs to respond by focusing on his issues (which are also the voters’ issues), not hers.
<
p>
It’s really impressive on Deval’s part that in a lifetime of public service his record has been so overwhelmingly positive that this is the worst Healey can do, even with her millions focused on nothing but smears.
<
p> – Dan
Thanks for letting me know, I don’t get those e-mails. I’m on the other e-mail list.
She got nuthin.’
<
p>
This can only drive her popularity into negative numbers and beyond, into the black hole in space. [/Tony Orlando]
<
p>
I love the smell of desperation in the morning. It smells like… victory.
I am so glad Deval has restored the perception and reality of the rightful role defense lawyers play in our constitutional process. Can anyone tell me why the same groundswell of support for rights and due process didn’t take place during the debate last year on drunk driving? Aren’t drunk drivers due constitutional & due process as much as rapists? Or is it because it’s Deval the Liberal and back then it was white Irish males? Shouldn’t we be outraged at that double-standard? Isn’t it hypocritical? Please explain!
is the due process violation in Melanie’s Law? Please explain.
I was reading Lawyer’s Weekly, although not a lawyer, and there’s a case going to the SJC very shortly on appeal as a direct result of new OUI law provision dealing with identification and certified copies of convictions.
<
p>
Also, article spoke of RMV being a nightmare and administrative agency running rampant over intent of the law, they say it’s a due process issue not me, and I apologize for lacking technical expertise to link articles or editorial for your immediate perusal.
<
p>
Also, Lawyer’s Weekly editorial urges legislature to step in and curtail abuse of power of RMV; the legislature tried to PREVENT this from happening and my recollection was a complete job was done on the “civil libertarian minded” legislators. Wrong?
And this is very much in question as nothing is cited here, but in fact it may be wrong. Regardless, outrage requires a voice too…And yours is honestly the first I’ve heard on the subject.
At end of her ad showcasing this issue, there’s a blurb, a partial statement from small regional newspaper, The Patriot Ledger January 4, 2006: “Since Melanie’s law…. fewer drunk drivers”. I’d like to see what the full context was. (Couldn’t find it in their archives) The same day some of the regulations of this law were just being put into effect, it could only have been a projection of what was hoped to be achieved. A full year later, that’s the best she could dig up for herself? Can’t publish any more substantial record of effectiveness, for your one accomplishment? In all related aspects. How many fewer accidents? How many fewer arrests? Does it appear to be working towards sustained improvement? Resulting in the desired goal? How is it impacting government resources? Have any needed revisions been identified? What are the plans to address those? Expected this administration would be tossing out manipulated figures to show how successful this has been, whether it’s true or not. Haven’t really heard anything along those lines, so I’m assuming the results must be not much has been accomplished, possibly even bigger problems have been created by their incompetence.
<
p>
doesn’t that just sum the whole thing up?!
<
p>
How will she explain her campaign to her own children?
We can only hope it will be:
“Momma was desperate and foolishly reckless. I sold my soul and my good name for a bunch of power-hungry hypocrites the likes of Rob Gray and Ron Kaufman and Eric Fehrnstrom and Mitt Romney and Karl Rove and even that weasel in training Tim O’Brien…empty low-lifes, all. So, sons, forgive me and do as I say, not as I do!”
<
p>
Thanks for posting the pictures! They say it all.
with women talking about his plans to increase the number of police officers on the street and how that will make them feel safer. Also they can talk about how much crime has gone up over the last few years with the Romney/Healey administration. Forget talking about LaGuer…talk about how to actually make people safer.
it stars Martha Coakley.
I like the Martha Coakley ad, but he needs to do an ad with women from all different backgrounds. Women that the average voter can identify with.
In My work as a social worker on a state run inpatient psych unit, my work increasingly involves patients who are involved with the sex offender registry. When I first started doing this work, I never thought I could like any of these men or say anything positve about them. When I had more interaction with them, I was surprised and somewhat embarassed that I liked many of them. I questioned what kind of a person I was that I could find redeeming and likeable qualities in these men, many of whom had committed violent sexual crimes. Over time I have realized that one act, however heinous it may be, does not sum up a person in their entirety. To define a person by one act,makes it impossible to believe that that person can ever rejoin society, but the reality is that the overwhelming majority of sex offenders will return to the community. How can they ever succeed if society cannot get past their act(s)? How can they ever reintegrate into the community if they cannot work or live anywhere? Why should any of us feel safe from an increasing number of men who are stigmatized and without hope? If we will not allow these men to have an opportunity to rebuild their lives then let us keep them in prison. or better yet let us build a “sex offender city” where offenders are required to live, where they cannot leave, but others can go in to visit. Let’s get real here. If we continue on our current path of increasing restrictions for these men, we will drive them underground and/or we will create an environemt that markedly increases their risk of reoffending.