Posted on 10/04/2006 10:04:11 AM PDT by excludethis
BOSTON - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick acknowledged Wednesday he had more contact with a convicted rapist than he had previously told reporters, after a report showed he corresponded with the man in the 1990s and wrote at least two letters to the parole board on his behalf.
Patrick, who last week said he had written just one letter more than a decade ago on behalf of convicted rapist Benjamin LaGuer, said he had to correct himself after going back and "doing his homework."
The Boston Globe reported Wednesday that Patrick had twice written to the Parole Board, in 1998 and 2000, supporting the release of LaGuer, who maintains he was innocent of raping a 59-year-old neighbor two decades ago.
DNA testing in 2002 linked LaGuer to the crime scene.
On Wednesday, Patrick said that he believed at the time he wrote the letters there were credible allegations of racism among the jurors. Before the DNA testing, the case had attracted intellectuals including former Boston University President John Silber and historian Elie Wiesel.
Patrick said he now believes LaGuer is guilty, based on the DNA evidence.
"He raised serious issues and I think they have been taken seriously. They deserve to be taken seriously," he said.
Recent polls show Patrick with a strong lead over Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey in the Massachusetts governor's race.
He's sure to win in MA.
"OK, so lemme see if I've got this straight.
The Donkey candidate for Governor of Massachusetts tries to get the parole board to release into society a criminal convicted of a brutal kidnap and rape of an older woman, and he's a hero.
A queer Republican congressman sends some explicit homo-erotic email and IMs to a former page, who is above the age of consent, and who is receptive to the overtures, and the entire Republican leadership in congress must be resign.
What am I missing here?"
You are not the one missing anything. Lots of others can not understand the simple 2 paragraphs you posted.
That pattern kind of disqualifies him in the view of most Massachusetts voters ... if they knew about it.
Lynn Woolsey did this back in 2004 and the fools in Moron County CA still re-elect her, plus the socialist rag Marin Independent Urinal endorses her all the time.
http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/1075282/posts
"The next Massachusetts governor ....a friend of rapists and illegal immigrants."
Sounds a lot like Michael Dukakis.
some people are threw with the 2 parties.
In Massachusetts, two parties? You've got to be kidding!
A state that repeatedly re-elects a guy who got drunk, drove a car off a bridge, and killed a woman would not consider it problematic that the governor wrote on behalf of a rapist.
Heck, that might be a positive.
Dems - the "when it comes to sex - anything goes" party.
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