Healey mum on gov run during Chamber address

With yet another clue into a possible run for governor, Attorney General Maura Healey asked attendees at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event to steer their donations away from candidates seeking to limit voting rights.

“I ask you to think carefully before throwing your money or support behind a candidate that would stand against the freedom to vote, speak out against anti-democratic — small ‘d’– anti-democratic state legislation and create consequences for those dangerous power grabs that we’re seeing,” she said Wednesday during an address to the chamber.

Healey remained coy, however, on her own candidacy.

Chamber President and CEO Jim Rooney asked her at the end of a Q&A “if there was anything on your mind that you’d like to share with the listening audience today about your future?”

“You can’t help yourself, Jim,” Healey responded with a chuckle.

“I will tell you that I am, um — I’m really grateful to be doing this job,” she said, and spoke of the “urgency” she feels to repair systems destroyed by the pandemic.

Healey has spurred speculation that she’s running for governor next year with a series of recent moves, including polling to gauge public perceptions of Gov. Charlie Baker and herself and by making a series of visits to cities in the state from Springfield to Worcester to Brockton.

She’s also assembled a campaign war chest built to fuel a statewide run.

According to state Office of Campaign and Political Finance records, Healey has over $3 million in cash on hand as of late last month — the most of any candidate. She only raised about $32,000 in May, a dip after raising over $100,000 per month in March and April. She’s raised almost $300,000 in 2021.

Throughout the hour-long speech and Q&A, Healey hammered home her message of the need for equity in the business community and beyond as the pandemic subsides.

“I don’t think we can move ahead as a society if we fail to protect people of color, low-income people, immigrants, elderly, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. These disparities are not by accident,” she said. “They’re the result of bad policies or, oftentimes, no policy at all.”

Healey challenged the business leaders to take on issues of equity and create pipelines for underrepresented groups to re-enter the workforce post-pandemic.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3563id6