Healey 1st Dem to announce for AG.

Byline: John J. Monahan

BOSTON -- Maura Healey, a 42-year-old former prosecutor, has become the first Democrat to announce candidacy for the open attorney general's seat, promising to carry on a tradition of citizen and consumer advocacy.

Ms. Healey had headed up the attorney general's Business and Labor Bureau as well as its Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau until she stepped down last week to launch her campaign.

"I'm running for attorney general to advance our office's tradition of experienced, professional leadership on our commonwealth's critically important legal, regulatory and economic issues,'' Ms. Healey said in a statement.

Ms. Healey, who was captain of Harvard College's women's basketball team before graduating from that school, played professionally for two years as a point guard for an Austrian...