When the coronavirus engulfed the Holyoke Soldiers Home this past spring, Attorney General Maura Healey faced a choice: defer to Governor Charlie Baker as he methodically and openly dealt with the catastrophe or launch her own (now in progress) investigation into it. Independence won over deference.
The consequences of that choice could have a significant impact on the 2022 election for governor, whether Baker runs for re-election -- which I doubt he will -- or his second-in-command and heir apparent, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, runs as the Republican nominee.
Healey, a Democrat, has not indicated whether she will run for governor in the next election cycle. Nevertheless, she's widely seen as the favorite to win her party's nomination should she pursue it. There's still time for her to decide on a gubernatorial run.
If Healey does run, her comments now on the carnage in Holyoke (76 veterans dead from the virus) have put her in position to lay the blame on Baker, Polito or both.
Last week, Baker released a lengthy report on the Holyoke Soldiers Home investigation, which he had commissioned by Atty. Mark W. Pearlstein, a former federal prosecutor. It justifiably caused an uproar.
Healey quickly released a statement that the Pearlstein Report "lays bare systemic failures of oversight by the Baker administration in adequately preparing, staffing, and responding to this crisis to protect our veterans."
The statement was broad enough to conceivably cast aspersions on others in the administration, including some in the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
But if I'm Karyn Polito and interested in becoming governor -- What lieutenant governor is not ? -- I'm taking it narrowly.
If I'm Healey, I want Polito to take it narrowly, personally. It was almost as if Healey was announcing to her, You won't be able to duck this in '22.
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