Gov. Healey slammed for blaming feds for aide's SNAP arrest

Tim Dunn, Boston Herald on Oct 14, 2026

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The feds and her rival are blasting Gov. Maura Healey for deflecting blame for letting now twice-charged, fired aide LaMar Cook collect SNAP benefits.

Cook, Healey’s former $113,400 deputy director for Western Massachusetts, was charged with SNAP fraud and wire fraud in federal court Wednesday. A judge found probable cause and released Cook on personal recognizance.

Healey said it was “really good” that Cook was arrested, going on to deflect blame to the “federally run program” for his ability to obtain SNAP benefits, when pressed by the Herald following an event at the State House.

“It’s really good that he’s been charged. This is a federal program. These are federal taxpayer dollars and the only reason he was receiving them is because he was eligible under the federal system,” Healey said. “So, I’m glad to see the U.S. Attorney’s Office take action and hold this guy accountable and continues to prosecute him.”

While the federally funded program is headed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it is up to the state Department of Transitional Assistance to administer and police SNAP food stamp cash.

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley slammed Healey just hours after the charges were announced for dodging accountability on Cook’s latest clash with the law during an appearance on the Howie Carr Show.

“I don’t know if she’s trying to suggest that those federal taxpayers don’t exist in Massachusetts. These were Massachusetts taxpayers that pay federal taxes that fund this program that is administered by the state by the governor’s Department of Transitional Assistance. It is administered by them. They are the only ones that see the names of the people who are receiving these benefits and where they are charging their cards,” Foley stated, going on to call out Healey and the DTA for not detecting Cook’s SNAP card usage months ago.

“In July, when there was a report that this person was using his SNAP card, which was administered to him by the DTA, and he was in Disney World, they could have in one second pulled up on their computer his card and seen where he was using it. They could have then asked him to verify if he was still unemployed and had less than $100 in his bank account. They didn’t. They did not,” she continued, citing a Herald story.

The Herald reported in July that Cook was receiving the SNAP benefits and using them in Kissimmee, Fla., at Walt Disney World Resort to partially fund a family vacation. The feds revealed Wednesday in an affidavit that Cook’s EBT card was fed $546 in food stamps monthly.

Healey’s Republican challenger in the general election next month, Mike Minogue, said Cook’s arrest is “another example of a lack of accountability by Maura Healey.”

He stood outside the State House Wednesday, adding: “This is a person who was hired with a criminal record. They had that and they blamed the police for not doing a background check when it was proven that they did have that information.

“He was then arrested” on cocaine charges in a case that involves “multiple packages” with the final package containing 18 pounds of the drug, said Minogue, who later added on the Howie Carr Show that “it’s pretty embarrassing” for Healey.

Cook is being charged with one count of SNAP fraud and wire fraud and was assigned a taxpayer-paid lawyer.

Foley said the governor “could have investigated (or) referred it to the state Attorney General” but “she didn’t do that. No one did that. The only people policing this is the federal government.”

Cook, 46, was serving as Healey’s Western Massachusetts Deputy Director when he was arrested in October 2025 after State Police say they intercepted a package containing nearly eight kilograms, or about 18 pounds, of cocaine shipped to his office. He was originally ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing following his arraignment at Springfield District Court.

In December, a Herald public records request revealed that Healey’s office was informed of Cook’s violent criminal history, which includes 2001 charges that he shot people sitting on a porch in Springfield, but hired him anyway.

“Look, as soon as I learned about this, I took immediate action and fired him, I think before he was even indicted, and I continue to say he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Healey said Wednesday when asked by the Herald about the hiring of Cook. “Glad to see this happen today in the U.S. Attorney’s Office to go and get federal taxpayer dollars that have been spent back for the public.”

Cook would see a considerable amount of luck come his way following his October 2025 arrest, going on to be released on a heavily reduced bail by a Healey-appointed judge, followed by his mother winning a $1 million state lottery ticket just ten days after his release on bail, and a “mistakenly” paid $31,000 contract buyout upon his arrest last year.

Cook is due back in a Springfield court Thursday in his cocaine-trafficking case.

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(The Herald’s Lance Reynolds contributed.)

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