Four Issues Maura Healey Can’t Defend

For any faults you are likely to come up with when you think of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey's record, she actually has worse ones that aren't talked about enough. .The obvious critiques of Healey are her handling of the migrant crisis, the several tax increases she wants this year, our state's lousy job numbers, and her ex-lover getting a spot on the state's highest court.Healey can counter that stuff by saying that she now supports a residency requirement on the emergency shelter system, that she signed off on about $1 billion per year in tax cuts in 2023, and that Gabrielle Wolohojian was, on paper, a well-qualified state Supreme Judicial Court pick (even if she's a lousy liberal judge). And she'd probably try to pin the poor jobs report on Donald Trump, even though those numbers mostly pre-date him and came during a time America as a whole gained jobs.However, there are several less-talked-about issues where Healey is also vulnerable and likely has even less of a valid defense for her words and actions.Here are some of them: 1. Free College For Illegal ImmigrantsDo you know how Massachusetts offers free, taxpayer-funded community college?That includes free college for illegal immigrants.Healey signed this policy into law in July 2024. The fiscal year 2025 budget currently in effect contains the universal free community college program called MassEducate that covers illegal immigrants, as NewBostonPost reported at the time.Couple that with her support for driver's licenses for illegal immigrants and her support for sanctuary cities and you have a pro-illegal-immigration governor.If you're serious about border security, you wouldn't give free stuff to illegal immigrants, as that incentivizes illegal immigration and puts a greater financial strain on the Commonwealth. We should have a governor who manages our tax dollars wisely -- not one who hands increasing amounts of it out to illegal immigrants. 2. Men In Women's SportsHealey may have been a professional basketball player in Austria during the 1990s, but she's also a chicken.With Healey in office, males have won Massachusetts high school sports state championships in girls' track, girls' basketball, girls' gymnastics, and field hockey; the former two were transgender-identifying make athletes, while the others were boys who identify as boys.Massachusetts lets male transgenderist athletes compete in girls' sports due to a 2011 public accommodations law signed by then-Governor Deval Patrick. Boys who identify as boys can play on certain girls’ teams because a 1979 state Supreme Judicial Court ruling says the state's Equal Rights Amendment means the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association must let boys play on girls' teams when there's no equivalent team for boys.Bay Staters want this stuff changed. A University of New Hampshire poll taken last month revealed 63 percent of Bay Staters oppose male transgender-identifying athletes in girls' sports, while only 26 percent support it.It's an issue Healey tries to avoid, though she claimed California Governor Gavin Newsom was advancing the Republican agenda by speaking out against it."No. Look, I think people are playing into -- let's know, this has been the game. This has been the Republican game, is to pick a really discreet issue -- the number of transgender people in this country is very small, the number of transgender athletes in this country is even smaller -- and blow that up into something," Healey said on GBH Radio last month. "What we should be focusing on is how and where is Trump going to deliver on his campaign promise, which was to lower costs, which is not what he's doing."This is the same Maura Healey who ducked the question in February 2024 when asked by Boston Public Radio about the male transgender-identifying athlete with facial hair on KIPP Academy of Lynn who injured three girls in one half of a basketball game, causing Collegiate Charter School of Lowell to forfeit."With respect to what happened in the basketball game, I haven't seen the clip," Healey said on Boston Public Radio on February 27, 2024. "I haven't really read the whole story there, so, I don't know."If you're running against Healey for governor, here's some advice: force the issue. It's a winning issue nationwide, hence why you don't see Democrats give a full-throated defense of male athletes or congratulatory social media posts when males win state titles and awards. Make Healey address it — because, clearly, she doesn't like talking about it. 3. Race-Based College AdmissionsIn June 2023, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case that racial preferences in college admissions were unconstitutional, Healey issued a statement condemning the decision."We want to make sure that students of color, LGBTQ+ students, first generation students, and all students historically underrepresented in higher education feel welcomed and valued at our colleges and universities," Healey's written statement at the time (co-signed by dozens of colleges and universities) said. "Today’s decision, while disappointing, will not change our commitment to these students. We have an imperative to make sure our schools reflect our communities. Our academic competitiveness, the future of our workforce, and our commitment to equity demand we take action.”It's important to note that the greatest beneficiaries of racial preferences in college admissions at elite institutions were wealthy African (and Caribbean) immigrants, not the descendants of African-American slaves. A 2019 Pew Research poll found 73 percent of Americans didn't think race should be a factor in college admissions, while a 2023 Associated Press poll said 68 percent thought it shouldn't be a major factor. Massachusetts is more liberal than the country as a whole. However, people want the best education possible for their kids and the Bay State has a lot of highly rated colleges, so it's likely another liability for Healey, especially among moderate voters. 4. TransparencyRemember when Maura Healey wasn't the governor and she claimed she wouldn't exempt her office from the public records law?And then she got into office, didn't file such legislation, and her administration rejected people's public records requests?Good times.Not really. It's pathetic we live in the only state where the governor's office, state legislature, and court system claim an exemption from its state's public records law.Healey got defensive when asked about the discrepancy in August 2023.Here is what she told GBH Radio at the time:As you might imagine, I probably take issue with the characterization of our responses. Look, I said at the outset that I was going to do everything that I could as governor to be as transparent with the public as possible. And that included not just doing what is under law, my right, which is to — right now the law doesn't apply to me in terms of public records. But I did comply, of course, as I had to as Attorney General, and I said that I was going to continue in that vein.To the extent we withheld documents, they are documents that are exempt under the public records law. Sometimes they're because of attorney-client privilege, or because of, there's, there's certain safety implications presented. Sometimes they're within another exemption about deliberative process. But, you know, we have produced, including my calendar, a lot more information than other administrations. It may not be everything that everyone wants at all times, but know that we are making calls and judgments that are really in the best interest of the administration of the state. In other words, if you cut through the fog: She isn't providing anything of substance when asked to provide documents that governors of other states routinely provide when asked.If other states can do this with no problem, why can't Healey do it in Massachusetts? What's she hiding?

Four Issues Maura Healey Can’t Defend

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