(In a nutshell ... - promoted by Charley on the MTA)
This started as a comment to Charley's post about what themes he should raise on NECN tonight, but grew to deserve its own post. I say Charley, and all of us generally, should strike back hard at Healey's perceived strength, as johnk has done in his recent post. Healey doesn't have a plan to truly reduce crime in the state. Put simply, she is soft on crime prevention. Crime prevention requires . . .
Restoring local aid
We need to restore local to boost community policing and prevent crime at the local level, as this state has done in the past. Local aid cannot be restored if we roll back the income tax further and rely on the property tax to fund crime prevention. Deval Patrick is opposed to shifting the burden of crime prevention onto the property tax and cash-strapped local communities.
Getting serious about gun control
Kerry Healey receives an 'A-' from the National Rifle Association, as well as their endorsement. You can't be serious about reducing urban gun violence when you receive high marks from an organization whose sole purpose is increasing access to guns. Deval Patrick, who receives a 'D' from NRA, is serious about gun control, particularly about fighting illegal gun trafficking in the state.
Getting tough on corporate crime
Romney/Healey has looked the other way as one of their campaign contributors, Bechtel, has cost the state a fortune through Big Dig cost overruns, structural defects, and now the tragic death of Milena Del Valle. While at Coca-Cola, Patrick took on Bechtel over another over-budget, delayed construction project and won. Healey is soft on corporate crime.
