Mayor Sullivan's Family Honored for 50 Years in Local Politics

Cambridge dedicated its City Council Chamber last Sunday as the "Sullivan Chamber" to celebrate one of Cambridge's most prominent family's 50th anniversary in city politics.

With a brass quintet playing, approximately 800 guests marked the tribute to the Sullivans in a three-hour ceremony, says David F. Noonan, executive assistant to the Mayor.

The late Michael A. Sullivan was City Councillor from 1936 until 1949; he was succeeded by his son, Edward J. Sullivan, who presided as Mayor in 1956 to 1957 and is currently the Clerk of Court in Middlesex County. Walter J. Sullivan, an Independent--or moderate conservative--presently serving his third term as Mayor of Cambridge, has been on the City Council since 1960.

Originally hailing from Limerick, Ireland, the Sullivans have lived for decades in Cambridge's Putnam Square, where the family's father initially owned a horse-and-wagon business. "The Sullivans are not a political dynasty--they are visible and respected, but they have not forgotten where they came from," Noonan says.

"They are local kids who made good," says Noonan. "The Sullivan roots are here; they are simple people who understood local concerns and could serve the community well because they remember the days that they struggled."

Michael J. Sullivan was a legend in the community, says City Councilor David E. Sullivan, a member of the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA). "He was known as `Micky the Dude,' at the time when Cambridge was under a different form of government and the mayor had more power and was more influential than he is now."

"Michael was one of the earliest public officials to attack Harvard for a living, and he won enormous public support for it," says Glenn S. Koocher '71, a retired member of the Cambridge school committee.

"Michael began the tradition of constituency service," says Koocher, "by giving away turkeys at Thanksgiving, and being there when people needed help."

Serving during the New Deal, the eldest Sullivan was instrumental in distributing welfare benefits to Cambridge residents in the form of Christmas baskets and other gifts, added City Councilor David.

"Our father was a friendly little guy who wanted to help people," says his son, Edward. "I remember during the depression--with the Work Progress efforts, we had lines of people outside of our house on Surrey Street every day, waiting to talk to my father for a job of any kind."

"Michael was widely loved and respected for his good deeds and he has had a positive, lasting effect on the community," says David Sullivan, "And Edward and Walter follow in the tradition."

Under the city's 44-year-old Plan E government, the mayor exercises a highly visible but mostly ceremonial position as the chairman of the School Committee and the City Council.

The Mayor has continued to represent the voters and offer constituency service.

"Walter doesn't miss a wake or a funeral. His family has been around for a long time, and when he walks into the funeral home, it is as though he has bestowed an honor to the person in the casket," says Koocher. "If anyone else did it, people would think it was really cheap. But when Walter comes, it is a heightened respect."

"I remember when he attended the wake of a family who had lost both their father and mother. Walter went up to the oldest child in the family and put $500 of his own funds into the child's hand," says Koocher. "I suppose he thought it was the least he could do."

Practical but incorruptible, Walter is a man who delivers to his people, according to Koocher. Once, for example, the school board and city council were invited to President Derek C. Bok's residence.

"While most of the guests were talking about international concerns, Walter was in the corner talking to John P. Reardon Jr. '60, director of athletics," says Koocher. "He later says to me, `You're all trying to change the world, and I'm working on the athletics department to get tickets for the fall.' "

Koocher remembers an incident when Walter Sullivan's efforts proved helpful. "I wanted to get Harvard Commencement tickets for a very special guest," says Koocher.

"I had gone through all the official channels to no avail. So I told Walter about my problem, and an instant later he pulls out a wad of yard passes for the event," Koocher remembers. " `You don't go through the bureaucracy,' he says, `You get them staight from the printer.' "

"They have done ordinary things in an extraordinary way," says Noonan. "The Sullivans have responded to the people's needs, and as the times have changed, they have been able to hold on to the continuity and adapt to reality."

Attributing his popularity and success to his accessiblity, Walter gives credit to "having a good wife and good children who give him the time to serve the community."

The mayor has "an impeccable political career, and he has provided an excellent example for the community," says City Councilor Thomas W. Danehy. "In politics today, people often look at public officials with a dim view, but not at the Sullivans. They get involved in a lot of issues, they have influenced a lot of youngsters and certainly have given the impetus for young people to get into politics."

"They do it because they want to do it," says Danehy. "All their services are done with anonymity, which is the purest form of charity available."

By providing recommendations and steering the members of his constituency to good schools and secure employment, Walter Sullivan maintains strong individual ties with the blue collar workers who form the backbone of his voters, says Danehy. "He is good at it, and adheres to the high calling of the political office."

His constituency also includes a large number of Black families, says Koocher.

"I remember when Walter and Saundra Graham were both running for the City Council. When you passed by Saundra's grandmother's house, you could see a Walter Sullivan sign in her window," says Koocher. "He has always served the Black community."

Since "the door is open" at the mayor's office, anyone who visits has the opportunity to see him, says Noonan. Residents often send in observations and comments about issues or policy, which the mayor reads and personally responds to.

"We say yes to 97 percent of the requests we get from the community," says Noonan. "We hate to say no, so we rarely say no. The mayor takes an active interest in the community, such as the Boy Scouts, St Paul's Parish Church and other fund raising orgainizations."

The Sullivan lineage in Cambridge politics has been "good for the community, creating a sense of commitment and stabiltiy in the neighborhood," says Danehy. "They are a close-knit family that inspires and rallies around one another."

The mayor's sons, Michael A. Sullivan, Middlesex County's assistant district attorney, and Walter J. Sullivan Jr., a Boston College law student, are both considering a future in politics, says their father.

"I am definitly interested in a political career somewhere down the road," says Walter Jr., who believes his family has an obligation to help their fellow man and serve the community.

"It will be interesting to see whether in this era, political family strength can be handed down from one generation to the next," says Koocher.

David Sullivan disagrees with the mayor on some issues. "Walter tends to think more in terms of individual problems, while I think of people as a group. It is possible that when he helps one person, it could be at the expense of the group," he says.

"He has attempted to influence the housing inspection investigations by stopping inspection of individuals he wants to protect, and assisting others," says the city councilor. "This is an informal control that the mayor has acquired through personal contacts, and he has exercised it for better or for worse."

"Our approach to politics also differs," says David Sullivan. "He wants to kill rent control and he has been an opponent to linkage, which provides moderate low income housing. This may hurt people as a class."

"The mayor is a spokesman for business development in the city." says CCA President Jack Martinelli, who has numerous differences with Sullivan's policies.

"We take a far more conservative view on development in the community because there are areas in the city where zoning laws have permitted extremely high densities of construction," says Martinelli. "Members of the city see many negative impacts."

"The large high-rises on Mass. Ave. between Harvard and MIT have an extraordinary amount of traffic and noise, which greatly increases the demand for city services such as street improvement and police and fire protection," says CCA's president.

"This results in increased expenditures for the city which have to be borne by the neighborhoods around it in the form of higher taxes," Martinelli says.

"Some of his policies are debatable," says Martinelli. "But he has always been the largest vote-getter. The Sullivans are deeply involved in the city and county politics, and no one has had the length of influence as they have."