MassGOP Responds to Maura Healey’s Lies and Half-Truths in Latest WBZ Interview

7.7.25

 

BOSTON, MA — The Massachusetts Republican Party is calling out Governor Maura Healey for fabricating large swaths of her record in Sunday’s interview with Jon Keller on WBZ.

 

“Misrepresenting a broken record comes naturally to the Healey Administration, that has nothing to run on heading into a reelection year,” said MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale. “Voters are living in an opposite reality from the one Governor Healey spoke about Sunday, and they are too smart to believe that she’s done anything to make their lives materially better since taking office.”

 

Among Healey’s half-truths or outright lies:

 

Healey Claim: “Cut taxes — hadn’t been done in 20 years.”

 

FACT: Voters rejected the gas tax ballot question in 2014. Former Gov. Charlie Baker brought the sales tax down to 5%, making good on a ballot question voters approved in 2000. (Masslive, 12/1/2019)

 

Healey Claim: “We’re building [homes] out now at scale, because we’ve got a lower cost.”

 

FACT: In April, Realtor.com gave Massachusetts an F in homebuilding and affordability. Boston.com pointed out that the promises in Healey’s 2024 Affordable Homes Act “have not panned out.” (Boston.com, 4/30/25)

 

Healey Claim: “The T is running on time, no slow zones.”

 

FACT: Slow zones emerged on the Red Line just one week after Healey declared the entire T slow zone free. (UniversalHub, 12/1/24) The MBTA stopped announcing slow zones in December 2024. (Masslive, 1/11/25)

 

Healey Claim: “Driving down energy costs is top of my list.”

 

FACT: Healey’s new energy legislation does not include new pipelines for natural gas, which supplies about half of all energy used by Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Healey’s Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper claimed in March that high energy prices only occur about “7 days” out of the year, making new pipelines unnecessary. (Mass Fiscal, 3/14/25)

 

Healey Claim: “I’m the first” to “reform” the state’s shelter system.

 

FACT: Former Gov. Charlie Baker inherited a broken shelter system from the prior administration, ultimately bringing the number of families in motels to zero by 2017. (Salem News, 5/8/2017)

 

Healey Claim: More shelter residents are now in “stabilized, permanent housing.”

 

FACT: The state’s HomeBASE program provides up to $30,000 in rental assistance during the first two years of transition. Illegal immigrants, including those whose asylum bids were rescinded by the federal government, are unable to work legally and pay their rent. Healey will eventually need to acknowledge that truth.

 

Healey Claim: “I put away a lot of bad guys” as attorney general, “including people who were here unlawfully.”

 

FACT: Healey has yet to explain who in her administration authorized the rehousing of violent offenders in the state’s shelter system, including an illegal immigrant who repeatedly raped his daughter. (MassGOP, 6/24/25)

 

Healey Claim: “Massachusetts is not a sanctuary city.”

 

FACT: Healey’s office played a pivotal role in defending the 2017 Lunn decision, which prevents local authorities from cooperating with ICE around civil detainers. She hailed the decision as a “a victory for the rule of law and smart immigration and criminal justice policies.” (Mass Fiscal, 6/2/25)

Healey Claim: “Notice goes to ICE” when illegal immigrants are released from jail in Massachusetts.

 

FACT: ICE arrested over 1,500 individuals in Massachusetts in the month of May, the majority having significant criminal charges against them, all without the help of the Healey administration. (WBUR, 6/2/25)

 

###