The Night the Ball Game Ended

It was one o'clock in the morning, but Al Vellucci was still in fine form. "I'm sick and tired of playing; I'm sick and tired of paper; I'm sick and tired of blue-prints; I'm sick and tired of speeches. But I can stay here until five in the morning. I'm not a professional orator, but I can talk," Vellucci paused for breath and then sighed, "Let's get on with the City business."

On the morning of January 12, the "City business" was the firing of City Manager Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '29. As soon as Vellucci sat down, the City Council voted six to three against reversing the dismissal of DeGuglielmo which they had passed the evening before.

In Cambridge, the removal of a City Manager is no small thing, for the managerial post carries by far the most power in the City administration. The manager appoints all department heads and members of all City boards (planning, recreation, etc.). He prepares the City budget, from which the City Council can only delete items. He has some discretion in awarding summer jobs, civil service positions, and small City contracts.

The dismissal of DeGuglielmo surprised few observers of City politics. Ever since January of 1966, when he rounded together five council votes to fire the then City Manager John J. Curry '19, DeGuglielmo had been walking on a tightrope. A minority bloc of four councillors led by Curry's long-time friend and ally, Councillor Edward A. Crane '35--had made their dislike of the DeGuglielmo administration quite clear, hitting the Manager on issues ranging from the tax rate to the printing of the City's annual report.

The Events

Last November, two of DeGuglielmo's council supporters were defeated in re-election bids. After that, events moved quickly.

* Dec. 11--Six councillors, Crane, Vellucci, Thomas H. D. Mahoney, Walter J. Sullivan, and newcomers Barbara Ackermann and Thomas W. Danehy met privately and agreed to remove DeGuglielmo.

* Jan. 1--A representative of the anti-DeGuglielmo coalition visited the City Manager during a break in the council's inaugural ceremony. He told DeGuglielmo that a majority of the council was against him, and reportedly offered the City Manager a chance to retire, DeGuglielmo refused.

* Jan. 3--The council elected Sullivan Mayor. (In Cambridge the Mayor has little real power, save as chairman of the School Committee.) Sullivan, who received votes from two of DeGuglielmo's supporters, stayed out of the subsequent fight over the manager.

* Jan. 8--Crane introduced a motion calling for the dismissal of DeGuglielmo. He gave no reasons, and did not have to, unless the City Manager requested them. Hayes immediately exercised his "charter right," which allows any councillor to delay consideration of a new piece of business until the next meeting.

* Jan. 10--The council met in a special meeting called by Crane, Mrs. Ackermann, Danehy, Mahoney, and Vellucci to decide DeGuglielmo's fate. Before the meeting finally began shortly after 10 p.m., the five met for several hours in a private room at City Hall.

Mahoney--an M.I.T. professor who runs under the slogan "Professionalism in Government"--emerged from the caucus with a "Memorandum of Understanding" agreed to by the five. It called for a 90-day nation-wide search for a new manager, who would be required to have at least five years experience in municipal management.

An outwardly calm DeGuglielmo then appeared before the council. He read a prepared statement detailing the projects of his administration, and said that, if he was to be removed, he supported a nation-wide search for his successor. His only plea was that the council--instead of appointing an interim manager--let him remain in office until the new manager was found.

When DeGuglielmo finished, the vote was taken. Five councillors -- Crane, Mrs. Ackermann, Danehy, Mahoney, and Vellucci voted to fire the City Manager. Hayes, Bernard Goldberg, and Cornelia B. Wheeler opposed the removal motion. Sullivan voted present.

Fireworks

The real fireworks, however, were still to come.

An agitated Hayes arose and promised to present evidence at a future meeting to show that the removal of the City Manager was being led by a "a man who--as I see it--has other than the best interests of the City of Cambridge at heart." He did not specify the man, but Crane commented after the meeting, "I have a slight suspicion that he was fingering me."

The next meeting--Jan. 11--the Council met at another late night session called by the firing five to wrap up the dismissal of the City Manager by defeating a motion to reconsider the action.

The Council debate which followed was heated and often personal. Goldberg quizzed the firing five as to whether they would abide by the pledge for the nationwide search. Wheeler denounced the special meetings as a "mockery" and said that the dismissal of DeGuglielmo was for "purely political reasons."

But it was Hayes who took the lead in the attack on the majority five. In a 45 minute speech, he repeatedly charged the Curry administration with manipulating bids on City contracts, bending zoning ordinances, and selling City land at low rates to friends of the administration. But, Hayes said, Curry was "not the man we were looking for." He referred to "another man . . . a virtual dictator that has demonstrated he is coming back to power."

Hayes charged the un-named councillor with "fronting" for the Wasserman Development Corp. Only later did he admit that he was referring to Crane.

The firing five then counter-attacked. Crane countered that "This talk has gone on over the years . . . you can't win in this business." Saying that he did not intend to belabor the point, but felt that "a few things should be straightened out," he defended his friendship with Wasserman as a "purely personal attachment" which predated his entrance into Cambridge politics. Crane recalled how his father--a Cambridge patrolman--had carried the Wasserman's wine (during prohibition) when the Wasserman family moved to a new home.

After Crane spoke, the other members of the majority five defended the dismissal of DeGuglielmo. Mahoney spoke of his desire for professionalism; Danehy thought the move would bring "harmony" to the City; Ackermann accused the DeGuglielmo administration of delaying school construction.

Tight Spot

Of the five, Vellucci was in the tightest spot. He was voting to fire a fellow Italian-American, in a city where ethnic ties can still swing a lot of votes. Accordingly, he returned to a tried and true theme: "Save DeGug, save DeGug--how can I save DeGug when I'm trying to save a hospital for the mothers of Cambridge," he roared, recounting how he had tried to have the City's maternity ward moved to the seventh floor of the new City hospital which, he said, DeGuglielmo let Harvard have for "experiments on dogs,...cats...and monkeys."

As usual, the oratory that evening changed nothing. The majority five held together, confirming DeGuglielmo's dismissal.

Another, and possibly final round, was fought last Monday as the two council factions clashed over the legality of the removal motion. DeGuglielmo's supporters then reiterated their opposition to an interim manager, but to no avail. The majority five, plus Sullivan, voted to appoint Public Works Commissioner Ralph J. Dunphy to the post.

The interregnum of the next few months is not likely to be easy for the City. In a real sense, the manager's office is the center of the City administration; the interim manager, who is not in the best of health, may have a difficult time preparing the budget, making any needed appointments, and doing the thousand and one lesser tasks required to run a City of 100,000.

The alternative--allowing DeGuglielmo to ramain as an interim manager--was hardly more feasible. As a "lame duck" lacking the confidence of the council majority, he would have had to sound them out on any decision other than the most routine. DeGuglielmo probably knew this, and it is unlikely that he really expected to remain as interim manager. The bloc opposing him had waited two years to dismiss him; they had the votes, and, as one councillor put it, "the ball game was over."

Nor is the search for a new, "professional" manager likely to be easy. To begin with, the Council will almost certainly have to raise--perhaps even double--the $20,000 salary of the manager in order to bring a qualified professional to a City with as many problems as Cambridge. In addition, a city which has fired two managers in as many years will not likely attract a professional if he places a high value on job security.

Even if a man can be found for the job, he might not necessarily have the full support of the coalition which removed DeGuglielmo. At the last minute, the mercurial Vellucci might balk at letting an "outsider" come in to run the City. The new manager will face the task of working with men whom DeGuglielmo termed "live, red-blooded (and often factious) politicians."

Each of the past two City Managers solved this problem in his own way. Most observers considered Crane and Curry as one political unit. DeGuglielmo--a former councillor--made most of the major decisions of his administration; his council supporters merely ratified them. What the Council-Manager relationship will be under the next administration is still an open question.

No one would like to bet on it, but there is even an outside chance that City politics might grow a little quieter in the near future. The wranglings of the past two years have taken a toll; more than one long-term friendship has been strained--or snapped. In his inaugural address, Mayor Sullivan said he hoped that his administration would be one of "harmony." Though only a word, it is a word heard more frequently around City Hall these days.