HYDC Polls Boston on Corruption

"I wouldn't dare answer any questions about Harrison Chadwick," the cop at the corner told a YDCHR pollster in front of Jordan Marsh's yesterday afternoon. "I mean, the law is the law," the sergeant said, "and Chadwick had no call to charge politicians with corruption."

Seven Young Democrats have been polling Boston voters since Thursday about the Chadwick affair at the request of several Massachusetts lawmakers.

State Representative Chadwick, a Republican, has been censured by the House for falling to prove conclusively his claim that there is a connection between illegal gambling and certain state legislators.

About one-third of the people polled so far--including a civil servant or two--just didn't know who Chadwick was. Of the rest, "about half were convinced their state legislators were corrupt, while the other half weren't quite sure," one pollster noted.

Some of the individuals who were polled seemed to resent the questions. In reply to "Did you see the Rules Committee hearing on television?" one man retorted, "I don't know what you people do during the day, but I work." Another gentleman commented on the general nature of the inquiry: "These are not yes or no questions. You ask somebody who hasn't thought about it, and, sure, he'll give you yes and no answers, but not me."

"Watch the way you word that thing," a lawyer warned a student about one of the twelve questions. He was among the few who thought the House censure of Chadwick justifiable.

Not all those polled seemed as immediately concerned with the issues at hand as the old German who said in a 45-minute diatribe that "A man should speak public. A man who will not speak up has not the right to public office."

Some Brandeis girls asked a Young Democrat if he wouldn't like to help them pass out peace pamphlets at the same time. A contingent of townies claiming to be from Boston Latin made things rather difficult by assuring passers-by that "the Harvard so-and-so will give you a lollipop if you answer the questions right."

The most common reply was "I'm really in a hurry" or "I have a doctor's appointment" or even "My mind's not on it, kid."