Who leaked information about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick’s brother-in-law?
The The Boston Herald reported on Oct. 13 that Patrick’s brother-in-law, Bernard Sigh, was given 10 days to register as a sex offender for a 1993 conviction.
Patrick responded by saying that he did not know his brother-in-law had to register.
Sigh was convicted of assaulting Patrick’s sister, Rhonda, in 1993 and after a short prison term, he was released and the couple later reconciled. Patrick did the only thing he could do — stand by his sister’s decision to stay in the relationship.
But when the story broke and Patrick’s personal life was thrust into the spotlight, he accused Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey of leaking the information.
“By no rules of common decency should their private struggles become a public issue,” Patrick said. “But this is the politics of Kerry Healey and it disgusts me and it has to stop.”
If Healey really did leak this information, her campaign has reached a new low. All politicians have skeletons in their closets and it seems Healey would have been digging pretty deep to come up with this one.
But there is no proof that Healey actually leaked this information to the media.
In fact, she has called for a public apology for the suggestion that she had.
Tim O’Brian, Healey’s campaign spokesman said, “These are wild accusations that aren’t based on any facts,” and “We had nothing to do with this story.”
In a editorial earlier this month The Daily Free Press said if Patrick wanted a fighting chance in this campaign, he would have to take the gloves off and take a swing at Healey.
Until now, he has continued to run a smooth, friendly campaign and has not lowered himself to run negative, debasing advertisements about his opponents.
But when he chose to publicly accuse Healey and her supporters of being “garbage peddlers,” it seems like he picked the wrong time to play hardball.
Unfortunately, once the gloves are off they can’t go back on, and now Patrick is going to have to work double-time to regain his credibility as the candidate who is “above politics as usual.”