Battenfeld: Media hand-wringing over Maura Healey’s whereabouts

Of all the issues you could criticize Gov Maura Healey for refusing to disclose where she s going when she s out of state is not one of them It s preposterous to think she s not accountable because she s not physically in Massachusetts Also ridiculous is the constant hand-wringing over the need to inform the press every time she goes over the demarcation Just to satisfy the arrogance of the press she s going to put her safety at liability There are serious valid precaution concerns over telling people where the Democratic governor is every second of the day Just look what happened in Minnesota this June when a state lawmaker and her husband were killed and another lawmaker was wounded in a shooting attack that was part of a plot by the alleged assassin to kill Democratic representatives and abortion rights advocates In response to the shootings North Dakota removed the home addresses of lawmakers from their websites President Trump survived two assassination attempts during the campaign including one that missed killing him by inches A Rhode Island man was arrested Wednesday for threatening to kill Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller A limited years ago a man waltzed into the home of then Gov Charlie Baker past state troopers while Baker s wife was at home Then there was the shooting of Gabby Gifford and the shooting of Republican lawmakers in Washington while they were playing softball It s a dangerous time to be a society official It s why Rep Ayanna Pressley doesn t reveal the location of her press conferences unless you RSVP first And now why Healey has decided to withhold from the general where she s going when she takes a week off The wheels of ruling body are not going to grind to a halt when Healey is out of town She gets constant briefings from staff can govern remotely or be on a call in a moment s notice and lets Lt Gov Kim Driscoll handle the ceremonial duties The Boston Globe and Republican gubernatorial candidates seem obsessed with Healey s whereabouts But the paper certainly had no trouble finding Healey when she met with Marcelo Gomes da Silva at her State House office writing a puff piece about it Or when Healey makes one of her frequent journeys to citizens radio for her Ask the Governor segment Healey is out in masses all the time She has the right not to reveal where she s going when she s on vacation or on an out of state official trip This obsession in particular media with making her disclose where she is every day is absurd So what if she s in Cancun or Washington D C What s so critical that we need to know that What do we think she s doing that s so secret It s a common sense thing So what if she s in Bermuda with her partner for a week Why is that not allowed If she s away for a week whether it s to visit family or on vacation she s still the governor She s not escaping accountability by traveling out of town Democrats certainly never raised a stink when Joe Biden wasn t seen for weeks at a time or spent every weekend in Delaware at his beach house