Battenfeld: Kelly Ayotte making Massachusetts poster child for failed, liberal policies

Whether it’s a winning strategy for Kelly Ayotte to attack Massachusetts in her New Hampshire gubernatorial campaign remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: she’s already putting Gov. Maura Healey on the defensive.

The superficial, knee-jerk analysis is that the former U.S. senator is positioning her Granite State against Massachusetts, but in fact she’s using the Bay State as a poster child for failed, ultra-liberal policies.

If you asked most people in New Hampshire if they would rather live in Massachusetts, they’d come back with a resounding no.

The only people defending Massachusetts are the politicians and their apologists in the press corps.

As Healey desperately tries to position herself nationally by putting up billboards and attacking Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida, she still must defend the direction Massachusetts is heading, and that’s increasingly difficult.

While it’s true some New Hampshire residents commute to jobs in Massachusetts, they choose to call the Granite State home. But Massachusetts is also becoming increasingly blue politically, and Ayotte – who says New Hampshire is “one election away from becoming Massachusetts” is trying to exploit that fact.

“Unlike Massachusetts, New Hampshire is a beacon of economic and personal freedom,” Ayotte tells the Herald. “We have the best business environment in the country with no sales, income or estate taxes. Our state is the best place to raise a family and to start and grow a business.”

Ayotte is tapping into the perception that Massachusetts and Boston are in decline as a place to live – and the statistics back her up. There is one irrefutable fact: there is an exodus from Massachusetts to other states.

Healey even acknowledged the pattern of emigration in her inaugural speech.

In 2020, Massachusetts had a net loss of more than 20,000 residents, according to IRS data tracked by the Pioneer Institute. And where is everybody going? New Hampshire. Florida. Maine. Vermont.

And there are plenty of weaknesses in Massachusetts for Ayotte to exploit.

Employers are abandoning Boston due to high rents, gridlock, and unreliable public transportation. Boston is struggling with empty office skyscrapers dotting the landscape. Even Fenway Park is no longer filled with fans most nights.

The shortage of affordable housing and lack of services for the homeless is so bad that state officials are asking people to take migrants here illegally into their homes.

Massachusetts’ old public transportation system is a disaster. Highways so clogged with traffic it take over two hours to drive from the New Hampshire border to Boston.

And when you get to Boston, what do some people see? A dysfunctional and unreliable MBTA. Homelessness in the streets. Open drug dealing at Mass and Cass proving a danger to first responders.

There is a new millionaires tax – another reason for wealthier people to flee the state.

Legalized marijuana has triggered a flood of pot shops to open in communities across the state.

Taxes and the cost of government – buoyed by obscenely high salaries for UMass and other agencies – is getting higher.

And at the same time, Massachusetts is the least transparent state in the country. The public records law is routinely flouted by public agencies and government officials.

So what’s there to like? The Cape? Good luck getting there.

There’s a decent chance Ayotte’s gamble on trashing Massachusetts might work.