So much for the old girls’ network.
You know you have been totally abandoned when even fellow progressive Gov. Maura Healey, once a strong supporter, cuts you adrift, as she did last week to former U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins.
Once comrades in arms, Healey said there “was no question” Rollins had to resign following a pair of federal investigations accusing Rollins of violating the Hatch Act and of interfering in last year’s race for Suffolk County district attorney.
She called Rollins’ conduct as U.S. Attorney “troubling and disappointing.”
No doubt Rollins, the former Suffolk County DA, was also troubled and disappointed by Healey’s comment. So were progressive supporters of both.
After all, Healey did come to Rollins’ aid following a 2020 Christmas Eve road rage incident at the South Bay Shopping Center where Rollins and another motorist vied for the same exit at the same time.
Rollins, in a state car, turned on the blue lights and the siren to bully her way past, according to the motorist. The motorist filed a complaint with then-Attorney General Maura Healy. Healey, of course, brushed the complaint aside.
Also Healey and her sisters in law enforcement, Rollins and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, were on the same team when they challenged the indictment of Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph. Joseph was indicted for letting a wanted illegal immigrant to escape out the back door of the courthouse to avoid waiting ICE agents.
Charges against her have been dropped.
Healey’s comments on Rollins were in sharp contrast to the weasel words uttered by Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom nominated Rollins for the federal position.
Upon news of Rollins’ departure, the pair issued a joint statement saying they “respected” Rollins’ decision to resign, although it was clear that Rollins was forced out.
Markey, however, who nominated Rollins for the position, walked away from any responsibility, seemingly asking “Rachael who?” He instead blamed President Joe Biden.
Markey, stand-up guy that he is, said “We sent the names over to the White House for them to do the vetting, and so we were reliant on the White House vetting. It was determined by the process that she was qualified.”
See, he had nothing to do with it. Get It?
Healey’s comments, at any rate, showed that she is at least willing to take a realistic approach to the Rollins’ debacle – despite howls from the woke extremists of the left — even though she had no vote in the appointment.
While still new at the job, Healey also appears to be taking on a realistic and ambitious approach to the many problems facing the state, rather than side-stepping them with rhetoric.
There are no progressive or conservative ways to fix the ailing MBTA or to replace the two aging Cape Cod bridges — the Sagamore and the Bourne. There is only common sense, perseverance, leadership and political clout.
It is to her credit that Healy has made both priority issues. She shook up the MBTA board of directors, replaced ousted officials with her own T team, called for the hiring of 1,000 additional T employees and appointed the accomplished transit veteran Philip Eng as general manager.
Healey has also pledged to double the state’s commitment from $350 million to $700 million as an incentive toward replacing the two federally owned and obsolete Cape Cod bridges. They were built 88 years ago and were designed to last for 50 years.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which built, operates and maintains the bridges called them “functionally obsolete” 15 years ago.
However, efforts by Markey, Warren and the state’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, have repeatedly failed to win any of the $4 billion it would cost to replace the bridges, which then would be turned over to the state.
Were Ted Kennedy or Tip O’Neill around the bridges would have already been built and one named after each. They knew how to deliver. Their replacements just talk.
Maura Healey may be more than talk. We’ll see.
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.