The circus that is a Martha Coakley’s candidacy has tried to walk the tightrope of criticizing failures in state government without stepping on her BFFL, Governor Deval Patrick’s, toes too much. This week, however, she peeved the Governor when she criticized his mismanagement of the drug lab crisis.
During a meeting with Lowell Sun’s editorial board Coakley said, “I don’t think under a Governor Coakley you would have an Annie Dookhan,” said Coakley. “I don’t think under a Governor Coakley you would have a New England Compounding.”
Dookhan has been convicted for tampering with evidence at the drug lab and jeopardizing thousands of criminal convictions.
Governor Patrick responded to Coakley’s remarks saying, “When Martha Coakley is governor, I hope for her the good fortune of not having anyone commit a crime on her watch.”
Along the campaign trail, Coakley has praised the Governor and said, “we have the opportunity now to build on the great work of Deval Patrick.”
Coakley has even tried to distinguish this campaign from her failed 2010 run for the U.S. Senate by bragging that this time around she is using the team that got Deval Patrick elected. It looks like part of that strategy is throwing your friends under the bus.