Council Wraps Up DeGuglielmo Ouster After Tempestuous Late Night Meeting

After a heated three-hour session last night, the Cambridge City Council voted six to three against reconsidering the ouster of City Manager Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '29. The Council took no action on a successor.

The climax of the evening came in speeches by DeGuglielmo supporter Daniel J. Hayes Jr. and by Edward A. Crane '35, who filed the motion to replace DeGuglielmo.

Hayes refered to "one councillor" who had been a "virtual dictator" of Cambridge during the term of DeGuglielmo's predecessor, former City Manager John J. Curry '19. Charging the unnamed councillor with "fronting" for a construction firm, Hayes claimed that he had evidence with which to begin legal proceedings.

'Envious Idiocy'

Crane--whom Hayes later identified as the target of his remarks--replied that they indicated "a severe case of cephalic elephantiasis; you can list it under envious idiocy."

The council did not name an interim manager, but one councillor said that DeGuglielmo's assistant, John Corcoran, would be "minding the store" until next Monday's council meeting.

After last night's special meeting was called to order at 10:17 p.m., Hayes asked for a 10-minute recess, so that the council could meet privately in the mayor's office.

He later revealed that, at this conference, he and two other councillors offered to aid in the nationwide search for the new manager proposed Wednesday by Councillor Thomas H.D. Mahoney if the "firing five" would let DeGuglielmo remain in office until the new manager was found. Hayes said that the other five councillors refused to do so.

After the recess, Councillor Bernard Goldberg asked members of the firing five if they would be willing to sign the "memorandum of understanding" calling for the search. The five agreed to it in a private session Wednesday.

Not on Trial

Several of the five took offense at what they regarded as Goldberg's attack on their word. "I'm not on trial," Councillor Thomas W. Danehy replied. Mahoney then had the memorandum read into the record and instructed the city clerk to add the five names to it.

Hayes then arose and said that the $20,000 salary of the Cambridge manager would not be enough to attract a professional. "A puppet is going to go in," he said. Hayes then began a 45-minute speech.

During the course of the speech, Hayes referred to "one councillor" and "that man" who "ran the City from his hip pocket" before the DeGuglielmo administration. He charged the unnamed councillor with giving preferential treatment to the Wasserman Development Corporation Company, a construction company, Hayes claimed that several schools built during this period suffered from construction defects.

The next speaker was Crane. "Don't turn a 16-inch gun on a canoe and don't get in the gutter because you know what happens," he said. "Suffice it to say that I am not a back room boss...if anyone wants to knock me out of the Cambridge public life they can do it every two years."

Defending his friendship with the Wasserman family, Crane said that his "attachment" to them dated back to the 1920's, long before his entrance into politics.