Lucas: Bay State bullied by Ayotte, DeSantis

Gov. Maura Healey ought to put the Massachusetts National guard on alert.

That is because if Republican Kelly Ayotte is elected governor of New Hampshire, the Bay State could be caught in a two-front “war.”

Under Healey the state is already involved in a war of words with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida.

New Hampshire could be next if Healey is up to the challenge. She is, after all, from New Hampshire.

The Florida war began with the exodus of thousands of Massachusetts residents seeking lower taxes, less crime and a better quality of life, abandoned Massachusetts for the Sunshine state. They are still fleeing.

The problem was exacerbated when DeSantis boldly flew in 50 illegal immigrants, mostly Venezuelans, into toney Martha’s Vineyard, catching everyone off guard.

Martha’s Vineyard residents welcomed them,  but could not get them off the island fast enough.

Despite a lawsuit from a civil right group accusing DeSantis of conducting a “fraudulent and illegal scheme” by sending the illegal immigrants to Massachusetts, none have petitioned to return home.

Healey, meanwhile, has retaliated by attacking DeSantis and erecting billboards in Florida and Texas bragging about Massachusetts being a welcoming state.

Now Ayotte, a former New Hampshire attorney general and U.S. senator, is using Massachusetts as a whipping post in her campaign for governor. Veteran fellow Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is not seeking re-election.

What does Ayotte think of Massachusetts?

“I’m running for governor because New Hampshire is one election away from becoming Massachusetts,” she said. Ouch.

But she may be right. The thousands of people leaving high-tax Massachusetts for Florida, are also moving to nearby low-tax New Hampshire. And they are politically turning New Hampshire into Massachusetts.

Many of these newcomers live in New Hampshire but work in Massachusetts or work remotely for Massachusetts companies.

A New Hampshire grudge against them — and Massachusetts — is that these estimated 100,000 workers pay income taxes to Massachusetts, not New Hampshire. The Granite State has no income tax.

Ayotte took another shot at Massachusetts when she talked about tougher penalties for drug dealers who are shipping the deadly drug fentanyl into New Hampshire from Lawrence and Lowell.

She said of New Hampshire, “I was born here and raised here. I raised my kids here. And you know what? I am going to die here because this state and its people are different. What we have here is worth fighting for.”

Perhaps it is, but times are changing in New England and in the “Live Free or Die” state.

In Maine, there is a hassle over the state flag between conservatives who like the 115-year-old current flag and state seal, which depicts a farmer and a fisherman, and liberals who want to replace it with an earlier flag that depicts a pine tree and a star.

In Massachusetts, a special commission established in 2021 is still working to come up with a different design to replace the state seal and flag which dates to 1898.

That Massachusetts seal shows a Native American holding a bow and arrow beneath an arm holding a sword. The Latin motto around the seal reads, “By the sword we seek peace, but peace under liberty.”

It is not exactly “Live free or Die,” but it has been around longer.

Massachusetts has not had a good skirmish with New Hampshire in almost 50 years. That was when House Majority Leader William “Biff” McLean proposed sending undercover state cops to spy on Massachusetts residents loading up on lower-taxed and lower-priced booze in New Hampshire.

Under the plan, alerted cops on the Massachusetts side of the border would nab them and their liquor-laden loads once they crossed.  Biff estimated that Massachusetts was losing millions in liquor taxes to New Hampshire.

It did not work out, however.

Healey should forget all of that. Instead of billboards in Florida and Texas, she should set them up on the New Hampshire border. They would simply say to the thousands of Massachusetts motorists heading north, “Please come home. All is forgiven.”

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.