Political Use of The LaGuer Case in The Massachusetts Governor's Race
In the fall of 2006 the LaGuer case became a dominant issue in the race between Republican Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey and Democrat Deval Patrick (see: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2006) when it was revealed that Patrick had petitioned the parole board in 1998 and 2000 for LaGuer's freedom and had contributed financially to the DNA testing. In his letters to the parole board Patrick characterized LaGuer as "thoughtful and eloquent." He was criticized in two widely used television ads, considered by some analysts to be among the most negative in the 2006 campaign season. In one ad featuring a woman walking alone in a parking garage, the narrator asks, "have you ever heard a woman compliment a rapist?" The ad was widely perceived as backfiring on Healey because of its negative tone. Patrick ultimately won the race by a margin of more than 20 percentage points.
Read more about this topic: Benjamin La Guer
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