Healey Camp Researches "Hero" Comment

WHOSE 'HERO'?

Mihos May Have Made Up Allegation






A key allegation made against Lt Gov Kerry Healey by rival Christy Mihos could have been fabricated, according to the Boston Globe.

That's because no one has been able to verify Christy's claim that Healey once called former Republican Acting Governor Jane Swift "my hero", according to the report. In fact, the charge is apparently based entirely on Mihos's own supposed recollections.

Swift, an eccentric, unelected governor who served before Mitt Romney, is unpopular in the Bay State, having retreated to town life in northwestern Massachusetts after leaving her position. Her relatively brief tenure is generally seen as a period of incompetence on Beacon Hill.

Since there are no media reports from the time that back up Christy's claim, it is quite possible that the angry independent challenger is simply making it up.

From Scott Helman in the Globe:

Mihos remark on Healey's hero mystifies her campaign


It was one of the more memorable moments of the Sept. 25 debate: Independent Christy Mihos teased Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey for allegedly having called former acting governor Jane Swift her ``hero."

Mihos made the remark as he ranted against Swift for axing him from the Turnpike Authority. For Mihos, who clearly considers Swift a political nemesis, likening Healey to her was meant as an insult.

``You're my hero, Christy," Healey shot back dryly. ``You're my hero."

A search of newspaper archives produced no record of the hero remark, however, and the Healey campaign said it had no idea what Mihos was talking about.

But Mihos, through a spokeswoman, contended that he personally heard Healey make the comment on at least one occasion at a Republican fund-raiser in 2001, when Healey was chairwoman of the state party.

``He has a clear recollection of her saying it," spokeswoman Nicole Nionakis said late last week. Mihos couldn't recall the context, she said.

Healey campaign manager Tim O'Brien said in an e-mail that Mihos is misinformed if he's trying to link Healey with Swift.

``We know in 1999 Christy wasn't paying too much attention to cost overruns and construction quality at the Big Dig," O'Brien said by e-mail. ``Apparently he wasn't paying too much attention either in 2002 when Kerry Healey and Mitt Romney pushed Jane Swift out of the governor's office by criticizing her tenure."

To visit the Radio Equalizer's main site, click here

Technorati tags: christy mihos kerry healey mass ma massachusetts gubernatorial race deval patrick boston globe scott helman hero remark