MA Lt. Gov. Healey Calls for Senator Kerry to Resign While Running for President

Lt. Governor Kerry Murphy Healey
Lt. Governor Kerry Murphy Healey
(Photo: Tom Duggan)

 

Tom Duggan – 2004

WAKEFIELD – Lt. Governor Kerry Murphy Healey called for the resignation of Senator John Kerry yesterday before a packed room of Republican supporters at the Sheraton in Wakefield.

Introducing former EPA Secretary (and former New Jersey Governor) Christie Todd Whitman to the group of GOP loyalists, Healey said that Kerry had missed 64% of the U.S. Senate votes last year and an appalling 87% of the votes this year.

“We request that the junior Senator, John Kerry resign to make sure that the people of Massachusetts have a representative in the senate,” she said, calling Kerry’s absentee record “dereliction of duty.

Healey pointed out that Kerry’s abysmal attendance record left “critical” votes without the support of both Massachusetts Senators because Kerry is busy campaigning for president. Among those votes were bills to: fund homeland security, ban internet child porn, fund the troops in Iraq, approve senior citizen drug benefits, and “a federal bill extending the unemployment insurance benefits for out of work Massachusetts residents. That bill, Healey concluded, “was defeated by only one vote.”

Healey said Kerry ought to “do what Bob Dole did when he was running for president, and resign from the senate.” Former Senator Bob Dole, (R) Kansas, announced shortly before the Republican convention in 1996 that he was resigning from the U.S. Senate to concentrate on his campaign for president and give the people of his state adequate representation in the senate during the campaign.

In attendance were several GOP candidates for local State Rep. and State Senate seats. Among them were, Maria Marasco of Andover who is running against Barbara L’Italien, Deborah Jones who is challenging State Senator Sue Tucker, Ellen Johnson running for State Rep. against David Torrisi, and Erik Eldracher who is looking to unseat Democrat Barry Finegold.