Wheeler Elected to Fill Vacancy on City Council

Mrs. Cornelia B. Wheeler yesterday won back the seat on the Cambridge Council that she had lost in 1961. Wheeler was elected to all the vacancy caused by the appointment of Councillor G. d'Andelot Belin as general counsel to the U.S. Treasury Department. The election was decided by distributing Belin's first place votes to the candidates who were the second choice on the ballots. (Under proportional representation, voters select nine candidates ranked from one to nine.)

In yesterday's count, Mrs. Wheeler easily outdistanced her nearest rival, Thomas Coates, 2050 to 912. Only 1621 votes--a majority of the ballots cast for Belin--were needed to win.

Mrs. Wheeler's defeat in 1961 had been attributed to Belin's strong showing in the CCA constituency of West Cambridge--including the Harvard Square area--where she had had most of her strength. It was this support which returned her to Council when Belin's votes were distributed.

Four CCA Members

Her election maintains at four the number of Council members backed by the Cambridge Civic Association. Belin was a former president of the CCA.

Interviewed by telephone last night. Mrs. Wheeler said she was "delighted to be back with the City Council." She had served two terms prior to her defeat in the 1961 election.

When asked what her main concerns on the Council would be. Mrs. Wheeler said, "I've been so busy running for the State Senate these past three months I really haven't had time to think about city problems." She listed "improvement of the hospital situation" and "support of the new traffic engineer" as two of her interests.

Control of the traffic problem in Cambridge "is something I've worked on for a long time," Mrs. Wheeler said. Cambridge appointed a new Traffic Commissioner, Robert E. Rudolph, this fall; however Mrs. Wheeler said she needed more time to study whether the budget allocation requested by Rudolph should be approved.

Mrs. Wheeler, a Republican, had campaigned for the Senate seat held by incumbent Democrat Francis X. McCann. McCann won re-election on November 6.