Rule of Law: Healey's Attacks on Deval Patrick in Massachusetts Gubernatorial Race

The race for governor in Massachusetts has always been something of an odd one. For a state with a well-earned reputation as a liberal stronghold, it has been surprisingly conservative in its picks for governor. Since 1914, the people of Massachusetts have elected 25 governors: 11 Democrats and 14 Republicans. In fact, our last Democratic governor was Michael Dukakis, who left office in 1991.

This year, the Democrats have a strong contender in Deval Patrick, who served under Bill Clinton as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In the primary, Patrick ran a clean campaign, appealing to his supporters as intelligent enough to see through attack ads and consider the issues as more than soundbites. Democrats across the state rallied to the call, and Patrick won the primary in a landslide, with 50% of the vote to 27% for Chris Gabrieli and 23% for Tom Reilly.

The primary election is, however, only the first leg of the battle, and Patrick's Republican opponent, Kerry Healey, has shown herself willing to got all out on the offensive. Healey, the current Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts under Governor Mitt Romney, ran attack ads against Chris Gabrieli during the primary election alleging that his support of stem cell research was due to his own investments in drug companies. Gabrieli, the Democratic nominee in 2002, was seen as strong potential opposition for Healey at the time.

Now that Deval Patrick has emerged as the party's nominee, Healey has turned her attacks on him, and through him on the practice of law.

A recent ad run by the Healey campaign describes a scene in Florida, where a highway patrol officer stopped to help a stranded motorist. The motorist, an escaped convict, shot and killed the officer. It gives the viewer strong visuals: the stopped car, from the perspective of the officer. Feet, walking around the car. The figure inside, blurred and in motion. We hear the gunshots.

Deval Patrick was a lawyer at the time for the NAACP Legal Defense fund. When Carl Ray Songer was sentenced to death, Deval Patrick handled his appeal and won. The death penalty was reversed. "While lawyers have a right to defend admitted cop killers," the Healey ad asks, "do we really want one as our governor?"

Leaving aside the very carefully scripted grammar in that question, apparently designed to subtly name Patrick a cop killer himself while maintaining deniability, the ad is appalling on a number of fronts. As a defense attorney for the NAACP, Patrick was not seeking fame or money. He was serving to protect those who are not attractive in the eyes of the public, those who have committed crimes, but who are still owed representation by the laws of the United States.

The role of a governor is as the chief executive officer of a state, responsible for the execution of state law. By defending an "admitted cop killer," Patrick was serving his country under the constitution. By attacking his service, Kerry Healey is attacking the very idea that every man and woman, regardless of his or her crimes, has a fundamental right to the protection of the law. I know which of the two I want as my governor.