Which is more appalling: Immigration authorities putting a Milford teen in a detention center, or Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey using him as a political prop in a PR war?
Healey, who is up for reelection next year and whose approval ratings have dipped, staged a photo op in her Statehouse office with Marcelo Gomes da Silva on Friday that reeked of political opportunism and ickiness.
Putting her arm around the 18-year-old who has been living here illegally, she handed the impressionable youngster a rosary she said was blessed by the Pope – all of it captured by her taxpayer funded photographer.
It was one of the most shameless maneuvers by a Massachusetts politician in recent memory, and that’s saying a lot.
If she really wanted to meet with Gomes, she could have just done it privately – without having it documented for social media and the newspapers and TV news. But she chose to make it a public spectacle.
No doubt some people fell for it, including liberals and other Democrats who have been swooning over Gomes for days.
But a few days later, acting ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons was prompted to fire back at Healey and threw in Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for good measure.
“Politicians like Mayor Wu and Governor Healey have loudly touted lawlessness over law and order. Their prioritization of criminal aliens in communities across the state should speak volumes to their constituents. As these elected officials welcome those flouting national laws, ICE’s brave law enforcement officers protecting public safety will continue to perform the job they refuse to do,” Lyons said in a statement Sunday.
The back and forth was an escalation of the war between ICE and Democratic politicians all around the country. But when it comes to PR, Healey is clearly the winner. ICE is viewed as the villain by most Democrats and most liberal Massachusetts voters.
But it’s no surprise that Healey is winning this battle in the Bay State.
When it was politically expedient for her and she wanted to attract Democratic votes, Healey encouraged illegal migrants to flock to Massachusetts. But as soon as it became a fiscal nightmare that was hurting her administration, Healey scaled back and began to restrict how long migrants could stay in the temporary shelters.
Whether it’s spinning a basketball on her finger and waxing poetic about her playing days in college, or posing with a baby bear cub in her arms, Healey has always governed with public relations in mind.
“These cubs are so cute I can hardly bear it!” Healey wrote on Instagram last year when she spent the day tagging bears with wildlife workers.
Using bears as props is one thing, but using a human being is another.
Healey quietly brought on board one of her top political advisers, Corey Welford, to the governor’s office last year at $140,000 a year. Welford is an experienced hand and adept at campaigns.
Gov. Charlie Baker was not so focused on PR as Healey back when he was in the Corner Office. That has not always helped him, but he did land a lucrative job heading the NCAA after leaving office.
