Mayor Leads In Race For City Council

Mayor Edward J. Sullivan was leading other candidates for the Cambridge City Council by a substantial margin yesterday. Sullivan was the only candidate whose total at the end of first-choice ballot counting appeared to guarantee him a seat on the Council.

Four CCA candidates were the highest vote-getters after Sullivan, and will probably be elected if their totals reach the quota required under PR. Alfred Vellucci, who had earlier stated, "I will win by a landslide," was a weak eighth, and may lose his seat on the nine-man Council.

Tuesday's election, with the muchdebated question of the School Committee appointments at issue, was marked by a very heavy turnout. Seventy percent of Cambridge's 50,700 registered voters came to the polls. Ballots for the School Committee will not be counted until the winners of the City Council election are announced. It will be at least a week before the final results are determined.

Victory Statement

"The CCA couldn't knock me off the top of the pile," Mayor Sullivan said in a victory statement. "The citizens of Cambridge believe in Sullivanism and in Sullivan service," he stated. Alan Steinert, former head of the CCA, led a campaign against "Sullivanism," the mayor said, but the fact that the voters of Cambridge kept him on top of the ticket indicates that hey approve of his regime.

Eric Hanson, execuive director of the CCA, said that the association clearly has four seats. He has not yet given up hope that James N. Gabriel, now 12th on the list, may win the 9th seat and give the CCA a majority on the Council. Hanson felt that the CCA's position had improved slightly over the last election.

Mayor Sullivan would not predict to whom the second choices of his thousand-odd surplus votes would go. Under proportional representation, votes for losing candidates and ballots chosen at random from the surplus votes of a winning candidate are given to the voter's second choice.

Sullivan refused to make any comment on the defeat of the two referendum questions. He also refused to make a statement on what he intended to do about the appointments for the school committee. "You can wait and report on it when the time comes," he said.

Sullivan then added, "I always want the Harvard CRIMSON and the Harvard Times to oppose me in any election."