Mud Flies Between State Treasurer Candidates

One Globe columnist is endorsing Account-Temps for State Treasurer.

The dirtiest race in the Commonwealth this year is between State Treasurer Robert Q. Crane and Republican L. Joyce Hampers. While Hampers aggressively paints the 22-year incumbent as a good old boy from the days of the smoke-filled room and the well-greased palm, Crane has attacked the Republican's record during her tenure as State Revenue Commissioner under Governor Edward J. King.

Each has produced ample evidence to support charges against the other, although columnists are beginning to eschew the word "fishy" as overused. And although the Democrat announced two weeks ago that "I want to talk positive for the next two weeks" and "tell the real Bob Crane story," the mudslinging shows no signs of letting up on either side.

According to several recent polls, Hampers' negative tactics helped her move up from "barely a blip on the screen," to a serious opponent who almost tied Crane in one poll. However, her popularity appears to have peaked already, as voters have begun to find her aggressive advertising offensive.

Highlights on Hampers' side of the mudslinging include a series of embarrassing revelations about the state lottery. Crane claims to run "the most outstanding lottery in the country," touting its earnings of $93 million last year.

However, The Boston Globe reported in early October that the lottery has an unusually large payroll and that 98 percent of its employees are Democrats. Massachusetts also pays a higher percentage of its receipts to winners than any of the others, while returning the smallest percentage to the state. The lottery has an advertising budget of $10.4 million, many of whose advertisements feature Crane.

Crane responds that the lottery takes on more responsibilities in Massachusetts than are borne partially by other branches of state government in other states--as, for instance, the Massachusetts Lottery department owns and services its own terminals.

In addition, spokesmen for the lottery department have said Massachusetts offers more and different games than those in most other states, distributes its own instant game tickets and runs its own Beano department, which other lotteries generally do not.

Hampers' campaign has also questioned Crane's relationship with food broker Gene Merkert, who employs him to perform what he says is a small amount of consulting work each year. She charges that Crane's friendship with the president of Merkert Enterprises has led to conflicts of interest. She has also said he works for the broker's firm during office time, at the Commonwealth's expense.

Crane counters that "the people of Massachusetts elected a full-time Treasurer," and that the State Ethics Commission does not consider his consulting work a conflict of interest.

One of Hampers' greatest coups was forcing Crane to admit that he received more than the annual $130,000 he claimed from Merkert.

In a debate last Monday night, she promised to withdraw from the race if Crane could prove he earned only $130,000 a year from Merkert Enterprises. She said that on mortgage application papers prepared two years ago, he claimed an income more than double that amount.

Crane's campaign staff afterwards admitted that the Treasurer actually earned $290,800 in 1984.

Crane has made an issue of the fact that Hampers took time off from her job as Revenue Commissioner to fight and lose a court battle for certain tax deductions. Hampers says she still believes the deductions were valid.

He also alleges that "she couldn't work well with other state office holders," failed to modernize the office, and "lost millions of dollars" through inefficiency and mismanagement.

Hampers claims she took the whole department from "a total shambles" to a viable agency. She said she authorized "the first tax fraud prosecutions in the history of the Commonwealth."

Crane says Hampers "did everything to stymie" the investigation of fraud by Atty. Gen. Francis X. Bellotti, and got along badly with him.

One of Hampers' major campaign setbacks came from Bellotti's office in the form of a letter concerning a fired employee's suit against the Department of Revenue. The memo, which Hampers sent to the attorney general's office while she was revenue commissioner, referred to Benjamen Rosales, who contested his firing as the department's legal counsel by Hampers' predecessor. The letter implies that Hampers was willing to settle out of court although the department had a good chance of defeating the suit. She denied signing it until three independent handwriting experts determined that the signature was genuine.

Governor Michael S. Dukakis is backing Crane for re-election, and he said Monday that he may make a television commercial endorsing Crane. He said his preference is based on his experience in working with both candidates in the past.

Hampers has personally contributed more than $1 million to her campaign.