City Manager Set To Print Peace Ballot

The City has agreed to begin the process of printing ballorts for the Cambridge Neighborhood Committee on Vietnam's anti-war petition this week.

Cambridge City Manager Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '29 told a Middlesex Superior court judge yesterday that he would advertise bids for the ballot-printing job in Friday's papers. An award of the contract will be made in time for the ballots to be printed before the November 7 election, he said.

Judge Joseph Mitchell had ordered DeGuglielmo to appear in court today to show cause why he should not be ordered to begin printing ballots. But the judge accepted the City Manager's word, and did not issue a formal order yesterday.

Absentee Argument

During the court hearing, DeGuglielmo argued that the short time remaining before election day would not be enough to allow absentee ballots on the petition to be sent out. This would, he said, disenfranchise the 600 to 2000 Cambridge residents who usually vote by absentee ballot. DeGuglielmo also argued that the rush printing job would violate the City's competitive bidding statutes.

Mitchell rejected the arguments, and DeGuglielmo then agreed to begin the ballot printing process.

Supreme Court Hearing

The City Manager also appeared in the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth yesterday to try to get a hearing set for the City's appeal from the Superior Court ruling that the CNCV petition was a fit subject for an initiative petition.

The Supreme Court set no hearing date, but promised to try to squeeze the case onto its crowded November docket. This will probably not give enough time for a decision before election day. If the CNCV petitions loses on November 7, the court will then simply rule that the question is moot.