GOP accuses Healey of delaying bill recall effort

Republicans are accusing Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey of letting politics interfere with her official duties by delaying the effort to recall a law which she supports.

What's happening: Fair and Secure MA says that Healey has dragged her feet on approving a signature-gathering effort to recall a recent law which gives undocumented immigrants the right to obtain driver's licenses.

Why it matters: As the frontrunner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Healey is likely the next governor. Her conduct as attorney general will be under the microscope as voters evaluate her fitness for higher office.

What they're saying: "AG Healey is a supporter of the driver's license … law and she is deliberately obstructing the referendum petition process to run down the number of days the Fair and Secure MA volunteers have to collect signatures," Maureen Maloney, leader of the group behind the recall effort, told the Boston Herald.

The other side: Healey's office told Axios that the 12-day process hasn't been any slower than usual for ballot initiatives.

• Healey had to decide whether the law in question was subject to a recall, and write a summary of the measure.
• Activists with Fair and Secure MA now have Healey's approval and blank signature sheets to begin their campaign.

Between the lines: Massachusetts Republican Party chairperson Jim Lyons has been citing the supposed delay in fundraising emails to supporters.

• In a solicitation, the GOP frames the issue as a "yes-or-no question" on "whether illegal immigrants should be rewarded with a Massachusetts driver's license for breaking the law."
• Lyons wrote that activists had lost precious days to collect the more than 40,000 signatures required to get the question on this November's ballot.