Republican Sears Attacks Connolly On 'Gimmick Issue'

John W Sears '52, Republican candidate for Massachusetts State Secretary, last night accused his Democratic opponent James Michael Connolly of using a "gimmick issue" in his campaign.

Speaking to about 20 people at the new Kennedy School of Government last night, Sears said Connolly was "unable to come up with anything else" so he called for lobbyists in the state to report all expenses over one dollar. While the idea is a good one, he said, in practice "it is actually ridiculous," and "would not seriously do the job."

Money, Money, Money

"The best thing to do would be to avoid all the hassle involved in the one dollar requirement, and either leave it at $15-20 as Common Cause suggested, or put it all the way to zero and require lobbyists to use credit cards or depository accounts," Sears said.

"There are differences between us on issues" Sears said, "Connolly doesn't have to use this gimmick."

Sears answered questions during much of his one and a half hour talk and discussed his days as a procession leader in Harvard graduation, when his main responsibility "was to make sure President Pusey got to his seat."

Sears agreed to appear by himself at the invitation of the Institute of Politics when Connolly cancelled a debate scheduled at the Kennedy School two weeks ago.