CCA, Independents to Share Power on School Committee

This year's unusually close School Committee race will produce an even political split between Independents and members of the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), unofficial results showed last night.

All four incumbents were re-elected by comfortable margins, but the remaining two seats were in doubt until last night, when they went to Independent James J. Rafferty and CCA member Henrietta Davis. Political observers had speculated that the CCA might gain a majority in the body by squeezing in a fourth member.

Because there were many viable candidates in this year's field, none received enough first-choice votes to reach the "quota" of 3215 required for election. Under the Hare system of proportional representation, candidates with the smallest vote totals are repeatedly retired from the race, and their ballots are redistributed to the remaining candidates according to voters' orders of preference.

The seventh School Committee member will be determined when the Independent-dominated City Council chooses a mayor. Their choice will provide the swing vote on the Committee.

This year incumbent Timothy J. Toomey Jr. won the most votes, raking in 3182 "number-ones," and passing the quota of 3215 votes needed to win after the third count, in which losing candidate Donna Brescia's votes were transferred.

"I was thrilled," said Toomey, crediting his success to a broad base of support throughout the city. Much of Toomey's support came from Ward 1 of his native East Cambridge, where he received 1218 number-one votes.

He added that he spent only about $4000 campaigning, the lowest cost to any candidate. "It shows that money isn't everything in a campaign," he said.

CCA incumbents Frances H. Cooper and Larry Weinstein, who finished second and third respectively, also made a strong showing, and reached quota after the fifth count. Independent incumbent Alfred B. Fantini came in fourth to secure his fourth school committee term.

The fifth seat, which seemed marked for Rafferty after the first count, appeared less secure for him after the fifth when St. George, Davis, and Simmons appeared to be gaining heavily from the upward transfer of CCA candidates' votes.

"I was very nervous. There was every reason to be nervous [with] a lot of CCA votes behind me," Rafferty said. But when Independent David Maher's 1858 votes were redistributed, 722 of them went to secure Rafferty's position.

The race for the sixth seat was also close. Henrietta Davis, Denise Simmons, and John T. St. George '70-'72 were neck and neck until the end of the sixth count when Davis and St. George edged out Simmons by a narrow margin of less than 100 votes.

The redistribution of Simmons' vote left St. George more than 300 votes behind Davis, which he said was unexpected. Davis said she thought the transfer in her favor reflected the women's vote of Cambridge.

At the end of the eighth count, St. George was defeated by a margin of about 400 votes, and Davis took the third CCA seat.

The election this year was unusually close, political experts said. They speculated that many of the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) members in the race had supporters other than CCA backers.

Conversely, Independent candidates Alfred Fantini and James J. Rafferty drew many votes from the CCA membersin the transfer process. About 260 of Lukas's 1188votes went to Independents, as did more than 200of Griffin's 1162.

Today St. George's votes will be distributed toeither Davis or Rafferty. However, electionofficials said this is merely a formality, and theonly thing that could be affected is the order ofthe outcome. As of last night, Rafferty was infifth place, and Davis in sixth, but this could bereversed after St. George's vote is redistributed