Albano accuses Thompson of a conflict of interest in having city employees working on his campaign. Thompson does not deny that some of his campaign workers are city employees, but on the conflict of interest charge, he says, "If she's going to challenge me, at least mine are all laborers."
Thompson adds that James T. McDavitt, chair of the city license commission, campaigns for Graham "after work."
"If anyone's going to be brought up on charges it should be him," Thompson says, adding, "the city manager should slap his hand."
In response to the charge, McDavitt says, "I'm voting for [Graham]...and I went to one of her press conferences to show my support." But he adds, it is "a blatant falsehood to even suggest" that that constitutes a conflict of interest.
McDavitt says he "had a feeling this might come up," so he sent a memo to the city manager telling him he was going to Graham's event during his lunch hour. "I take a great deal of pride in my integrity," he adds.
Asked about conflict of interest complaints from either campaign, city managerRobert H. Healy said, "There's been no claimverbally or in writing of any city employeeworking on company time for either campaign."
Graham's campaign asserts that Thompsonaccepted campaign money from anti-rent controldevelopers. "The only measure of the man is whocontributes to his campaign," Albano says.
Thompson's campaign finance report showscontributions from Peter Sheinfeld, an opponent ofrent control and advocate of Proposition 1-2-3.
Asked about Sheinfeld's donations, Thompsonsaid, "I didn't know that--that shows you how muchI know about what's going on."
"Peter Sheinfeld works for me," McDavitt said,adding, "he's free to work for Alvin Thompson."McDavitt described Sheinfeld as "part of[Thompson's] brain trust." He added, "He's one ofAlvin Thompson's primary operatives...[and] a biganti-rent control person."
But, McDavitt said, there's "no questionthere's no conflict of interest with PeterSheinfeld."
Thompson says he has "no plans yet" for actionhe would take if elected. He adds, "This has beena 19-hour-a-day campaign...I plan to take a coupleof days off next week to clear my head."
The nominee says he was born in Cambridge in1939 and has lived here ever since. He says hedoesn't like the derisiveness that has pervadedthis campaign because "I grew up with SaundraGraham...we all played in the same sandbox."
Thompson is separated from his wife and hasthree children, Alvin B., Hilton, and Hillary.They are all "involved in the campaign," Thompsonadds