BOSTON — GOP candidate Brian Shortsleeve is turning the screws on Gov. Maura Healey after one of her senior aides was charged with drug-trafficking and gun offenses — including allegations of roughly eight kilos of cocaine delivered to the state’s Springfield office.

Shortsleeve says Healey has serious explaining to do. Cook, who served as Deputy Director of the administration’s Western Mass office since 2023, is accused of being involved in a cocaine operation with parcels later intercepted in multiple locations. And after Healey claimed her team conducted a background check, reporting surfaced showing Cook previously faced gun charges tied to a shooting — raising the question of how he ever got this close to state power.

“What did Healey know, and when did she know it?” Shortsleeve asked, saying “the people deserve to know whether this criminal activity was utterly undetected or whether serious red flags were ignored or covered up.”

Shortsleeve is demanding Healey release the full background check her office says it conducted, Cook’s personnel file and performance reviews, any internal incident logs, and a timeline detailing when Cook was hired, promoted, reviewed, and when senior staff learned of the investigation.

He’s also calling on Healey to commit to stronger vetting across her administration, noting her previous false claim about background checks for migrant shelter placements.

“When I’m governor, the shell games will end and accountability will begin,” Shortsleeve said, urging Healey to “stop delaying, to stop stonewalling, and to make public the relevant documentation so that Massachusetts voters can judge for themselves what was known, when it was known, and why it was ignored.”

The allegations — kilos of cocaine routed to a government office and a shooting-related arrest in the aide’s past — aren’t something you sweep under the rug. Healey doesn’t get to shrug this off as a hiring oops. Shortsleeve wants receipts, and until Healey turns them over, that question isn’t leaving Beacon Hill:

What did Healey know — and when?