State Rep Gregory W. Sullivan Faces Democratic Primary Election Challenge-August 21, 1978

At 26 years old, Sullivan is already an established two-term legislator whose political career began with a hard-fought 1974 primary victory under the old 17th Norfolk District. His challenger, 25-year-old political novice William J. McCarthy of 6 Saunders Road, grew up in the new district—where his parents have resided on Alder Road in Westwood’s Precinct 3 since 1963—and graduated from Roxbury Latin in 1971 and Colgate University in 1975. While McCarthy balances his grassroots campaign with full-time employment at the Sunnyside Package Store in Foxboro, Sullivan is a part-time student at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, from which he graduated in 1974.

Despite his legislative experience, Sullivan is not taking his tenure for granted. The primary challenge prompted him to hold his first major campaign fundraiser—a buffet and dance at Concannon’s Village that drew roughly 200 supporters—with an additional VFW social planned on Dean Street. Sullivan continues to lean heavily on his built-in campaign network consisting of his nine brothers and sisters in the Judge George A. Sullivan Jr. family, alongside his wife Marion, daughter of former Sharon Selectmen Chairman Frank Sullivan. The couple resides at 44 Highview St.

During his tenure, Sullivan has championed numerous local initiatives, including securing $875,000 in state school aid for Norwood in 1977, restoring full funding for the Shattuck School apartments for the elderly, establishing a federally subsidized senior hot lunch program, and sponsoring legislation to transfer a portion of Foxboro State Hospital property to Norwood Hospital. His legislative record also includes pushing for Franklin commuter rail improvements, securing funds for Norwood Airport runway repairs, co-sponsoring a budget amendment for $20 million in local aid, and authoring a House Ethics Code amendment to restrict lobbyist gifts. Operating under the campaign theme of “accessibility and full-time representation,” Sullivan maintains periodic office hours in the basement of Town Hall and emphasizes close cooperation with municipal officials.

Challenger McCarthy, however, targets accessibility as Sullivan’s primary vulnerability, charging that the incumbent is only available to the “politically well connected.” “It’s fine to sit down in the basement of town hall and say, ‘come to me.’ I don’t think he’s made an effort to go out to people since the ‘74 campaign,” McCarthy asserted. Furthermore, McCarthy positions himself as a fiscally conservative Democrat, criticizing Sullivan’s record as that of a “big spender” adhering to an “old liberal ethic.” McCarthy advocates for strict tax limitations, supporting both a constitutional amendment to cap state taxes and a proposition concept to limit property taxes to 2.5 percent of market value, dismissing Sullivan’s support for spending caps as an election-year crowd-pleaser. With no Republicans running in the district, the September 19 primary will decide the representative seat.

(Reporting by Barry N. Smith, The Patriot Ledger Staff Reporter).

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger