Personal attacks that seem so common in political campaign have begun. In the right corner, it's Republican Kerry Healy, the GOP's official candidate for Governor of Massechusetts and in the left, Jim Rappaport, losser of the 2002 GOP nomination for lieutenant governor. He is running for governor but not on the ballot. He says Romney-Healy leadership has gotten Massechusetts no where; they've only passed Melanie's law, a harsher drunk driving law. Healey says he's bitter for being beaten so badly four years ago. The wealthy businessman is not well liked among Massechusetts republicans, so I don't think Healy has any real competition in him. But she does need to be careful. His attacks could be a strategy to get her to shoot her mouth off and losing her votes with Rappaport's only mission one of personal vendeta. It was smart of Healy to come out and say this is all a personal thing between the two by reminding the people how badly he lost to her four years ago, but now that she has stated that publicly, it would be wise of her to not comment on any more of his attacks. It'll make him look like the bad guy if his only strategy is to attack her.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/05/04/healeys_undeclared_gop_opponent/

Kerry Healey officially accepted the GOP's nomination to run for governor. She has declared that she wants to step out of the current governor's, Mitt Romney, shadow. Every person has a different idea about how to govern, she says, and I promise to be an ''extremely hands-on, personally involved governor." Romney has been criticized for being aloof except on the issue of health care. When asked about it, Healey only says that he's been very personally involved in health care reform. I think this style of governing will be very advantageous both in her campaign and if she is elected governor.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/articles/2006/04/27/healey_vows_to_shift_from_romneys_path/?page=1

According to the Boston Globe, Kerry Healey favors a strict immigration policy. Healey suggests closing US borders and attempting to sort through the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. Those deemed worthy should be made citizens -- hard working, honest, people without criminal records in their home country. Those who pose a threat to national security should be deported to their home country. While the policy sounds like an appropriate, aggressive way to keep our country safe, the policy would go against most of what the United States stands for. We have always been a country of immigrants and to close our borders completely would be un-American. Sorting through the 11 million illegal immigrants would be costly and time consuming. If Healey were running for governor in a state such as California with a high illegal immigrant population or she suggested we complete this lengthy, costly project with federal tax dollars, I think Healey would be in real trouble. How much money are people going to be willing to pay to go through with her immigration policy? Surely, if it were on a state level funded with state money there would be little problem for Massachusetts because it does not receive as many illegal immigrants as those states that border Mexico for example. The flip side of making illegal immigrants legal is that it cuts our cheap labor supply forcing employers to pay these former illegals minimum wage. This would cause a surge in the price of some agricultural products such as grape products. While this proposal probably won't hurt her chances of becoming governor significantly because of people's general concern of homeland security, if her proposal for border control becomes a reality, there will be seriously implications for the entire country, some of them unfavorable to the middle-class American.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/30/healey_favors_sealing_borders/

Kerry Healey has lately been breaking away from the views of her opponent and now boss, Mitt Romney. She is putting herself out there as more socially liberal than Romney. For example, she is extremely pro-choice, supports gay unions, and is in favor of stem cell research. Healey claims that she has always had these views, but has always been in the shadow of the governor. Now that she is out campaigning on her own, people are paying attention to her and she has more forums to express her views. By expressing her leftist social views, she hopes to gain the vote of democrats and liberals, something that will be essential for her to win the race for governor.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/17/healey_jettisons_romney_legacy_on_social_issues/

Kerry Healey came out this week saying that she would not support legislation creating an exemption for Catholic Charities to disclude gay parents from consideration of being adoptive parents. The state law says that people cannot be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation in the adoption process. However, the Catholic church sees homosexuality as a grave sin and refuses to support adoption rights for gay couples. Catholic Charities currently does run an adoption agency in Massechusettes, but Healey said she would not grant Catholic Charities a special exception allowing them to refuse to consider gay parents for adoption. This view breaks away with what the current governor has said in relation to the matter. Her decision about gay adoption rights puts her more to the left. Some degree of moderation is good for all political candidates in order to win the widest group of votes possible. However, I'm not sure this is the way to do it. With this decision, Healey will lose a lot of Catholic votes. She may gain a lot of liberal votes though. This may actually be a good thing for her because older Catholics tend to be more conservative while younger Catholics are more likely to be liberal. I think this decision by Healey will help her campaign. It shows she sticks to her guns; she won't make exceptions for obeying the law. If you are protected by the law, you must obey the law.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/03/03/in_break_from_romney_healey_raps_gay_adoption_exclusion/

Recently, Kerry Healey has been criticized in the news for her lack of experience and for her wealth. She does, however, have an impressive academic resume. Her undergraduate education landed her a degree in criminology from Harvard. She went to Ireland to attend Trinity College for her doctorate in law and political science. She came back to the Boston area to work for a consulting firm in Cambridge where she was recruited by Romney to be his running mate; at that time she was also chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party. Although she has a degree in criminology from Harvard, she has not advocated much in terms of crime prevention; she advocates lower taxes and better schools. These facts about her wealth, good education, and limited political experience have been big in the news lately. I think once the public gets a chance to soak this in, her poll numbers will go down.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/10/healey_democrats_painting_competing_portraits_of_the_republican_candidate/

February 3, 2006
One issue that is very important to Kerry Healey is education. She wants to increase funding for education and offer teacher incentive pay. By offering incentive pay above and beyond the normal salary, Healey hopes to motivate teachers to increase student performance. This would also serve to keep well qualified teachers in the classroom rather than taking higher paying jobs in their field outside the education sector. With the babyboomers getting ready to retire, we must prepare our young people to take over. It is the only way to remain competitive in the global economy. She recently proposed that retiring engineers become "an army of brains that the Romney administration believes local school districts should tap into."
Worcester Telegram, MA