Keeping the Incumbents

On election eve throughout America, voters were busy throwing the bums out.

In Cambridge, the voters were quite happy, thank you.

Last week's city elections may not have been as exciting as a Harris Wofford upset or as emotional as a Ray Flynn landslide, but they had a character that was distinctly Cambridge.

For while the rest of America was throwing the bums out, Cambridge decided that maybe its "bums" weren't so bad after all.

All nine city councillors were reelected last week, with the only real contest between first-term councillor Edward N. Cyr and School Committee member and former mayor Alfred E. Vellucci. Cyr won the final seat on the council, handing Vellucci his first loss in more than 40 years of Cambridge electoral politics.

But more importantly, Cyr's victory clinched a council majority for candidates endorsed by the progressive Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) for the second time in city history.

Most pundits see the outcome as a vote o confidence for the current make-up of the council, especially in light of the over-whelming first-place victory of CCA Mayor Alice K. Wolf, who received almost 2000 more no. 1 votes than any other candidate.

In addition, many observers detected new voting patterns and electoral twists this year that indicate that CCA candidates and young, issue-minded Independents have encroached upon territory once firmly controlled by traditional, neighborhood-based Independents.

In an interview earlier this month, 10-year local activist and former CCA president Jack E. Martinelli said that "if the progressives hold the City Council, then I would say we've really broken the back of the old Irish Democrats in Cambridge."

Daniel E. Geer Jr., president of Cambridge Citizens for Liveable Neighborhoods (CCLN), observes that all the candidates in this year's race stressed neighborhood concerns in their campaign literature and speeches, an area that was once Independent domain.

And according to Cambridge Republican party head Vince L. Dixon '75, old-time Independents like councillors Sheila T. Russell and Walter J. Sullivan given to patronage politics and helping out individual constituents are a dying breed. "The Independent block has undergone tremendous changes over the years," Dixon says.

This race also illustrated the simple importance in Cambridge of running a good campaign.

CCA Councillor Jonathan S. Myers and Independent Timothy J. Toomey Jr. both did better than predicted, largely because of the vigorous, press-the-flesh campaigns they conducted. Cyr, on the other hand, was a projected shoe-in but let his campaign slide and nearly paid the price.

It just goes to show that Cambridge's increasingly metropolitan exterior belies its quirky, small-town interior.

Part of Cambridge's unique electoral charm is no doubt due to its proportional representation voting system. Cambridge is the only city in the nation to use the system, which allows voters to indicate their choices in order of preference, and to vote for as many candidates as they want to.

Under the system, if the no. 1 choice marked on a ballot has already received enough votes to ensure a seat on the council the ballot serves for the no. 2 choice, and so on.

The system is complicated and antiquated and the vote-counting process is drawn out over more than a week, but Cambridge politicos relish it.

"The Count" is where it's at for city pundits, activists and political observers. According to Geer, the lengthy and colorful ballot-counting process attracts "the highest concentration of people who want to talk politics you'll find anywhere."

This year, the Election Commission set up camp in the gym of the Longfellow School, the school's PTA set up a bake sale outside, and hundreds of interested townies milled about, taking notes and sharing predictions.

On Friday, the Election Commissioners began officially electing candidates to the council. Wolf and Sullivan, whose spots were guaranteed on the strength of their no. 1 votes alone, were elected to cheers from family and friends Friday evening. CCA Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 received enough of Wolf's surplus votes to reach the quota that night.

Four more candidates were elected over the course of Saturday, with Independent William H. Walsh going over the top at around 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

Cyr's victory was officially declared on Monday afternoon, clinching the CCA majority and demonstrating that, at least for Cantabrigians, the status quo wasn't all that bad.

'We've finally broken the back of the old Irish Democrats in Cambridge.'