Pittsburgh Politics Lures Rhodes

Joseph Rhodes, Junior Fellow at Harvard who served on the President's Commission on Student Unrest last year, said Tuesday that "since national politics are out," he may run in the Democratic primary for city council in Pittsburgh this May.

Rhodes said that since a Republican has not been elected to the Pittsburgh city council for almost 40 years, to win in May is to win the general election in November.

A campaign for city council "just recently became a possibility," Rhodes said. He flew to Pittsburgh Monday evening to consult with Peter F. Flaherty, Pittsburgh's Democratic mayor, and other Democratic Party officials on the possibility of mounting a strong campaign in only 90 days.

New Bill

Rhodes said yesterday that a bill had been introduced in the Pennsylvania State Legislature to move the primaries back to September-"which would be very helpful."

Nothing that his meeting Tuesday with Flaherty was "very encouraging," Rhodes said he felt he would have a "broad basis for support" if he chose to run. Rhodes would run at large for one of five available seats.

In June, Vice-President Spiro Agnew called for the resignation of Rhodes from the President's Commission because Rhodes had said he would like to see the commission investigate the effect of Agnew's rhetoric on campus unrest.

Rhodes had been instrumental in reducing the Commission's dependence on the President by opening up its hearings to the public and broadening the scope of the investigation.

"I definitely want a career in government work, but since the present administration can't face the truth very well, service on the national level is out for now," Rhodes said.

"The reason I'm considering running after serving on the President's Commission is that I realized through that experience that people need individuals like myself who realize that the situation is pretty grim and are willing to work honestly for a solution," he added.

Rhodes met with the Pittsburgh city coroner yesterday-"because, well, that's city politics"-and said that he would make a final decision on whether to run in the very near future. He added that his work at Harvard would be finished by September.