Kerry Healey lost the election today

The Lt. Governor was probably going to lose anyway, but after what might be the lowest smear I've ever seen in mainstream politics, her campaign is finished.

I'm talking about the story in this morning's Herald that Deval Patrick's sister was raped by her husband over a decade ago:

Deval Patrick's brother-in-law is a convicted rapist who has been notified by officials that he is in violation of laws that require sex offenders to register with the state, the Herald has learned.

Bernard Sigh was convicted in 1993 in San Diego of raping his wife, Rhonda, who is Patrick's sister. He pleaded guilty, served a short jail sentence and was put on five years probation, officials said.

The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board sent Sigh a letter this week alerting him that he is required to register. The letter informed him he has 10 days to comply or he will face criminal prosecution, according to Kelly Nantel, spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety.

Nantel said the board recently learned of Sigh's rape conviction and after reviewing his record, "determined he is required to register."

This story smells to high heaven, as media critic Dan Kennedy explains:

"Recently learned," huh? Rape is an incredibly serious crime, and if Sigh's got to register, then he's got to register. By the Herald's account, though, it does seem that there are some nuances worth considering. Sigh was convicted 13 years ago of raping his wife; they later reconciled, and they've lived quietly in Milton since 1997. Or at least they were.

The real story here is who tipped off the Sex Offender Registry and then leaked it to the Herald. This is really sordid stuff.

The other "real story" is that Patrick's opponents (despite my gut feeling, I hesitate to say "the Healey campaign" since there is no proof yet that an official campaign worker is directly involved in the leaking of the story) have finally gone so far that Patrick is ready to fight back. He took the hits over the LaGuer case and the Songer case without much retort. But he's not taking it anymore:

I got into this race with no illusions. In a world where negative campaigns are commonplace, I expected to have my own accomplishments trivialized, my own judgments questioned, my life choices challenged. I haven't always liked it, but I knew it was a price I would have to pay to be an agent of change -- not just in our policies, but in our politics.

And I took the time to prepare my family for what I thought would be coming.

My sister and her husband went through a difficult time, and through hard work and prayer, they repaired their relationship and their lives. Now they and their children -- who knew nothing of this -- have had their family history laid out on the pages of a newspaper. Why? For no other reason than that they had the bad luck to have a relative who is running for governor. It's pathetic and it's wrong. By no rules of common decency should their private struggles become a public issue. But this is the politics of Kerry Healey. It disgusts me. And it must be stopped.

Kerry Healey has never offered a single reason why she should be governor that doesn't depend on tearing me down. She has no vision, no plan, no positive agenda, and no leadership experience. Her record on jobs and the economy, on health care, on higher education, on crime has been one of shortcuts, gimmicks and failure. And so rather than deal with that, she has done everything she can to change the subject.

Well, my message to the Healey campaign is that I will not let you run from your record any longer. You can try all you want to change the subject and shift the blame, but we are going to expose for all just how your failed policies and your failed politics are the reason so many people are stuck and struggling and losing hope. The garbage peddlers who shopped this story around town are part of that failed politics, too.

We are going to ask the people to choose whether the politics of fear, division and personal destruction is what they want or whether we're better than that and are ready to finally throw out those who dump this trash in the public square.

We need a change. Gimmicks, slogans and dirty politics is no substitute for progress. The politics of fear is no acceptable alternative to the politics of hope. That's the change we need. And if anybody in the Healey campaign or in the public thinks I am unwilling to fight for that, you have badly underestimated me.

I thought the questions about Patrick's roles in the LaGuer and Songer cases were legitimate. I completely disagreed with Healey's position on those issues and thought that she overplayed her hand with the gloom-and-doom commercials and by parading victims rights advocates and old Florida lawyers onto a stage, but I didn't think the basic questions were out of bounds.

Dragging Deval Patrick's sister into the gutter inhabited by Kerry Healey's supporters and baring her secrets in front of the world and her children is a dirtier tactic than I could have imagined. I think many voters will think the same thing. And I think they will start turning away from Healey in droves. I'll bet yesterday's poll showing that Healey had closed within 13 points will be as close as she gets.

What did Patrick's opponents have to gain through this smear? They believe the public will think that Deval is so "soft on crime," that he tolerates a brother-in-law that would rape his sister. Too twisted to be true?

So the question is, was Patrick really "unaware" of the need for a convicted rapist to register as a sex offender, or does he just not see rapists as sex offenders?

Clearly, Patrick has a soft spot for rapists like Benjamin LaGuer, why not his own brother-in-law too? Did he conveniently become unaware that his own brother-in-law had to register?

I don't think many other voters will come to the same conclusion. Rather, they will see this story for what it is: the lowest, dirtiest smear the state has ever seen. And they will punish Kerry Healey for it.

Tags: Massachusetts Election 2006 Kerry Healey Deval Patrick