By ROD LEE

If Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is successful in her bid to win the contest for governor next month, she will probably look back at an appearance at a Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting on September 29th as a significant step along the way.

Petite, personable, polite, engaging and on-message from the start to the finish of her talk as guest speaker for the Chamber’s first get-together of the fall, Ms. Healey, who was looking sharp in an autumn-colored blazer and black slacks, appeared to make a good impression on those in attendance at the Charles F. Minney VFW Post 3329 in Millbury.

This, after arriving late.

“Is she here?” Chamber President and CEO Jeannie Hebert asked, shortly after 8:00 a.m.

“Yes, but give her two minutes,” came the reply.

Bob Minarik, lead economic development official in Douglas, uses a hand-held microphone to ask Maura Healey a question about the lack of infrastructure to support “pad-ready sites” in the community.

Ms. Healey more than made up for the tardiness, which didn’t amount to anything anyway, with an informative talk and by patiently answering a number of questions afterward. She also spent time with several members of the media before departing with her trusty press secretary, Karissa Hand, by her side.

An overriding concern of Ms. Hebert’s, as expressed to this publication a few weeks ago, was whether Ms. Healey will be as attentive to the Blackstone Valley as Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito have been. The perception is that Ms. Healey isn’t as familiar with Central Massachusetts and the Blackstone Valley as they are.

Ms. Healey addressed this very subject more than once, however, effectively putting the matter to rest with her oft-repeated assertion that she wants to be “governor for all the people.”

Ms. Healey even commended her host on a comment Ms. Hebert made at the outset of the meeting even though she wasn’t in the room to hear it at the time; namely, that the Chamber is the only organization of its kind in the U.S. “to build our own education training center.”

“I know this Chamber is a force to be reckoned with and punches above its weight,” Ms. Healey said, in acknowledgement of its achievements under Ms. Hebert’s direction—a principal example of which is the education hub on Linwood Ave. in Whitinsville.

Ms. Healey likewise punches above her weight.

“The basketball thing throws people, because I only stand five-feet-four,” she said, with a smile.

The eldest of five children, she was born in Massachusetts but grew up in Hampton Falls, N.H., a community still claiming a population of “only about two thousand people,” she said. “I was raised mostly by my mom. My mother sold her wedding ring in order to build a basketball court for us. I worked at the Hampton Beach Casino…and learned more there than at Harvard.”

Getting to the heart of her speech, she said “I think Massachusetts is the best state in the country. The No. 1 concern I have is affordability. The average price for a home in this area is over $500,000. We have a housing issue across all sectors, which is why I have called for a secretary of housing with a dedicated focus.”

Tax relief, affordable and safe public transit, maintaining sustained investments with Chapter 90 monies and responding to the needs of her constituents if elected governor are all top-of-mind, she said.

“I said to the mayors yesterday, ‘I want your wish lists.’”

Ms. Healey comes over as something of a charmer. But she also has a reputation as being a woman of steel, as evidenced by having taken on “big banks and prosperous for-profit colleges” as AG.

She realizes that the city of Boston commands much attention.

“I think too much of the economic focus has been in Boston. Let’s spread the wealth!” she said.

Contact Rod Lee at [email protected] or 774-232-2999.