Think it’s early? Neither candidate does. Conte made clear his intention to run again just months after he soundly defeated Republican Greg White in 2002, and he’s been continually fundraising. Right now, he has $269,599 in his campaign account. Early, son of venerable former Worcester Congressman Joseph Early Sr., hasn’t formally announced yet. He says that’ll come over the winter. Yet he’s also been seeking funds since 2004, with a pot currently at $44,428. Early says he’ll have another round of fundraisers later this month.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, money is intimately related to the success of a campaign,” says Register of Probate Steven Abraham, a longtime Early friend. (Abraham emphasizes he speaks from his own experiences with Early, not from his Register position or as president of the Worcester County Bar Association.) “Once things get started, Early will be able to raise the money he needs to run a strong and good campaign.”

Conte spokesman Liz Stammo says the DA’s office “has been extremely busy these past several weeks with ongoing matters that require the DA’s attention to the exclusion of political matters. Mr. Conte feels it is premature to be discussing the election of 2006 at this early date.”

Even if Early steps up his cash flow, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to fully catch up with the flush coffers of Conte. The incumbent DA’s fundraisers draw heavily from employees of his office and their spouses, some of whom have already reached the $500-per-person limit allowed by law. Early, without such a built-in base, has little choice but to turn to the public relations route to fill in the information gap, seeking whatever cost-free media coverage of his issues or events he can get. So far, observers say, he has these stories to tell:

• The Glodis Factor: Guy Glodis’s sound defeat of Sheriff John “Mike” Flynn proved that a young, popular political figure can topple a 70-something public safety titan in a Democratic, Worcester County-wide primary.

To what extent Glodis becomes involved with the race remains to be seen. He hasn’t issued any formal endorsements, but he has a longstanding friendship with Early. “There are definitely some parallels” between the DA’s and sheriff’s races, the sheriff says, adding that politics is “like football on a Sunday: every contest is a bit different. But you have the countywide district, and you have a young challenger with a very credible, sound record who has a desire to serve the public, running against an entrenched incumbent.”

But there are some dissimilarities as well. Glodis was a popular and outspoken state Senator before running for sheriff. Early may be the scion of a well-known U.S. Rep., but his last foray into running for office, in 2000, ended in a narrow loss for the state Senate to Harriette Chandler. Since then, he’s kept a low profile, running a law practice and raising four children. “I learned a lot in the state Senate race,” says Early, “like the value of knocking on people’s doors and looking them in the eye.”

Another dissimilarity is that Flynn’s fiefdom was notoriously rife with nepotism, in a way the DA’s office isn’t. Conte might have a daughter-in-law on the payroll, but by all accounts she’s doing her job, not getting arrested at strip clubs.

As far as joining in the game goes, Glodis says the DA’s race is “the farthest thing from my mind right now. I’m focusing on professionalizing, modernizing and reforming the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department. I’ll start focusing on the 2006 election at the appropriate time. Right now, it’s premature.”

Even when the time comes, it remains unclear how far into Early’s corner he can go. Being sheriff requires a substantial day-to-day relationship with Conte, and the two have collaborated on a number of projects already. “I have a very good professional relationship with the DA’s office,” says Glodis. “He’s been helpful to me on a number of occasions and for that I’m very grateful.”

• The age factor. Conte will be 76 on the day of the primary; Early, 48. But calling out another candidate’s age can backfire. “Knowing Joe, he’ll run an entirely positive campaign,” says Abraham. “Some issues you don’t have to raise — they speak for themselves.” Early says that the race “isn’t about the last 20 years, it has to be about the next 20 years.”

• The unsolved mysteries factor. No one has ever been prosecuted for the deaths of Molly Bish and Candace Scola. Early says, “People talk about them. But I want to stay on the issues, and I’m not privy to the investigations.” But Early seems more likely to make an issue out of the mere fact that Conte’s office has handled the Scola investigation. Others, including the Telegram & Gazette editorial board, have demanded that Conte relinquish the investigation to another jurisdiction, since her husband Anthony was a long-ago employee of the DA. Early says, “I’d like to think that I’d have asked another DA to handle the case,” as was recently done in the case of Gardner lawyer Gary LeBlanc, who was recently convicted on rape charges.

One of Early’s campaign themes has been making the DA’s office more transparent.

A downside to invoking the Scola case is that the investigation is continuing, with Conte saying he recently received new DNA test results. Is Early concerned about a September surprise surrounding an indictment right before the primary? “I think the electorate is very smart and could see through anything like that,” he says.

• The in-house donation factor. Conte has long been questioned for raising funds from within his office, where contributors may feel some pressure to give or suffer on the job. Now some are questioning his expenditures as well, such as a home phone bill and a wedding gift for a relative, paid out of his campaign account. But the criticisms are nothing new, and Worcester county voters have been sending Conte back to office since 1976.

 Noah Schaffer may be reached at nschaffer@worcestermag.com.

August 30, 2003

Loss of key supporters a gap in Conte's armor