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Republican primary may be required for 12th Hampden State Rep. seat

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



If the present candidates are successful in gathering the necessary signatures, voters in the 12th Hampden District will have a Republican primary for the seat being vacated by State Representative Gale Candaras.

The contest would be a replay of the 2002 Republican primary with Wilbraham Planning Board member Christopher Leisey facing businessman Robert Collamore.

In the 2002 election, Collamore won the chance to face Candaras in the final election by 56 votes, but lost to the incumbent. He also ran against Candaras in 2004 and lost that election.

Collamore told Reminder Publications that his basic message from those elections extends to this one: balance in the Legislature.

Collamore said his priorities are fighting for lower taxes and lower automobile insurance rates and increasing aid to the district.

He said that he recently decided to run again for the seat and is "excited for the opportunity."

Collamore has run for other positions in the past and noted that this is the first time he has run for an open seat.

An independent insurance broker who is married and the father of one child, Collamore lives in Springfield.

He will make his formal announcement either later this month or in April.

During the 2002 election, Collamore was charged by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance of falsifying portions of the documentation to qualify him for state campaign funding under the Clean Elections program. He was decertified as a Clean Elections candidate and ordered to return $16,200 in state funding.

Last February Judge Elizabeth Fahey rejected Collamore's appeal of the OCPF decertification. Collamore appealed her ruling to the state Appeals Court last April.

Collamore said the case is still in the appeals process.

Leisey picked up his nomination papers from Wilbraham Town Hall last week and said that there would be major differences in this campaign.

He said that one of his problems in 2002 was that he was a "complete unknown." Since that time he has "become very active in the town."

He was elected to the Planning Board, appointed to the Major Projects Committee and was part of the search committee for a new principal at Minnechaug Regional High School.

He said that during this election he would be "out in the district a lot more than in the last campaign."

Fifty-one percent of the district is in Springfield and Leisey said he has been listening to residents who are concerned about the city's financial future and the status of its schools.

Leisey said he would advocate for more money coming back to cities and towns from the state, rolling back the income tax to five percent and making sure there is no cap on the amount of money returned to communities from the Massachusetts Lottery.

Leisey is a single father who is employed in the customer service division of the International Netherlands Group, an international banking and financial company.