Battle of the Plans

Boston's "Battle of the Plans" is just one more phase in the struggle between the friends of James Michael Curley and the opponents of James Michael Curley. In trying to strengthen his hold on the city, the Mayor has made some enemies, some in his own party, many more among the independent vote. The opposition got a glimmer of hope last year when the Massachusetts State Legislature passed a bill enabling Boston to take advantage of the Uniform Charter Act, which allows a city to choose between five types of city charter if the citizens want a revision. Curley's opponents were aware that any change in the municipal government of Boston would hurt the Mayor. His present machine is still relatively new and weak; based as it is on the present set-up, a new charter could destroy it or at least stunt its growth badly.

The boss faced a stiff test; above all things he had to keep Plan E off the ballot-he couldn't take a chance on its slipping by. It not only replaces the Mayor with a council-appointed city manager; it goes on to specify that members of the Council be elected by proportional representation. This means that each citizen would vote on all Council seats, numbering his choices among the candidates in order of preference. Thus the plan wipes out the ward system, the basis for the machine; Curley's power would be sharply narrowed at the bottom, where it means the most.

Two things helped him. First, his never-unified opposition split wide open, with various factions supporting one or another of the plans. Second-and this made the opposition split fatal-the law states that only one plan may be voted on in any single election; that plan getting the required petition signatures first gets on the ballot to the exclusion of all others. Curley made the most of the situation. The battle shaped up between backers of Plan A, supporters of Plan E and a smaller group behind Plan D. The boss, although stating emphatically that he wanted no change, finally put his organization behind Plan A; it's the least of three evils so far as he is concerned. Plan A provides for a strong Mayor and doesn't have the unpleasant proportional representation rider attached, although it does out the Council from 22 to nine members, lopping off some important sources of graft for the machine. Of course Curley, intends only to confound the opposition; he will drop his support of the plan once it gets on the ballot, send the word along the line, and the machine will be operating under the same old system after the elections in November.

Taking no chances, City Hall also set up a bogus Plan E Committee under a former city employee, to split the Plan E backers internally. Finally, officials used a technicality in the law to give petition sheets to Plan A supporters ahead of the others. Plan E people have the case in court now, but regardless of the decision Plan A is almost certain to get on the ballot. Curley's organization has delivered twice the number of necessary signatures once; it can do it again.

Snarling Plan E was a major victory for the Mayor; it proved that his latest machine is coming of age. The "Battle of the Plans" is only a symptom of an underlying tangle in Boston. As long as people are willing to pay the price of bossism because they think that it serves them well-and many Bostonians consider Curley a fine Mayor-they can expect these debacles at almost regular intervals.