Campbell for State Senator

Levin H. Campbell, a Republican just finishing his first term as a state representative from Cambridge, is trying to unseat a veteran state senator, Francis X. McCann, in the Second Middlesex District, which includes the University and much of Cambridge. Campbell's over-all voting record, even allowing for straight party-line divisions, is not especially distinguished. He helped kill an extension of unemployment benefits and a needed revision of the state income and property taxes, and unsuccessfully opposed bills to raise the minimum salaries of public-school teachers and to create a consumers' council for investigating unethical business practices. At the same time, his opponent's record is, to put it no more strongly, respectable. McCann voted to raise teachers' salaries and-as Campbell did-to limit the powers of the Governor's Council and establish the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

It might seem, therefore, that there is little to choose from between the candidates; but an examination of two more issues suggests otherwise. On the question of abolishing capital punishment, Campbell voted for abolition, while McCann strongly opposed it. The abolition bill, which was ultimately defeated by 16 votes in the House, reserved the death penalty for prisoners who kill guards or police officers while trying to escape. And the reservation was made by McCann. As he explained in a campaign debate he proposed this "ridiculous amendment" because "if you can't get what you want [in a bill], you louse it up." The billwas loused up, but one wonders what would have happened had the ridiculous amendment become a ridiculous law.

Capital punishment, however, is not the main issue in the election. The issue that will win or lose the race for McCann-and it is the most revealing point of comparison between the candidates-is the Memorial Drive underpasses. In 1962, McCann sponsored the bill that directed the Metropolitan District Commission to build three underpasses or overpasses. During the last session of the legislature, Campbell joined Representatives Mary B. Newman (R-Cambridge) and William P. Homans, Jr. (D-Cambridge) in sponsoring three bills to delay construction until someone studied Cambridge's total traffic requirements. And although none of the three bills passed, Campbell has promised that, if elected, he will introduce a bill to repeal the 1962 act.

McCann's motives in proposing the underpasses have never been made clear, least of all by the Senator himself; and he has answered criticism with indignant irrelevancies. Throughout the Memorial Drive controversy he has ignored the wishes of a sizeable number of his constituents. Campbell, in contrast, has listened to them and has actively sought official action. His responsiveness and determination, combined with his obvious intelligence, suggest that, with greater experience, Campbell may develop into one of the most valuable members of the Great and General Court. It is difficult to see any capacity for growth in McCann or any reason to extend his ten-year stay in the State House. For Senator from the Second Middlesex District, the CRIMSON endorses Levin Campbell.