After Impasse, Russell Chosen Mayor

In a deadlock reminiscent of Major League Baseball labor negotiations, Cambridge finally decided on a mayor February 26, after two months of stalemate between rival factions on the Council.

On its 20th ballot, the Cambridge City Council unanimously elected Councillor Sheila T. Russell as mayor.

The election ended a 58-day impasse between the moderate Alliance for Change and the progressive Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), which each hold four seats on the Council.

The tie-breaking seat on the new council was held by former mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72, who refused the endorsement of both of Cambridge's political factions.

Russell, a six-term council veteran endorsed by the Alliance, said she was "exhilarated by the election."

Councillor Kathleen L. Born, who was endorsed by the CCA, was elected council vice-chair.

Quiet Election Year

As Cantabrigians geared up for their biannual selection of the city council, rent control, generally the city's most devisive issue, was not a factor in the election for the first time since 1971.

The startling defeat of rent control at the statewide level in 1994 ushered in a new political era in the city.

Without the heated issue of fixed rents hovering over the process, Cambridge voters went to the polls November 7 to decide the issues and select the candidates who would shape the city's future.

The city's housing policy, education, the search for a new police commissioner and crime were some of the issues which dominated the election.

The eight incumbent councillors--Reeves, Russell, Born, Francis H. Duehay '55, Anthony D. Galluccio, Michael A. Sullivan, Timothy J. Toomey Jr. and Katherine Triantifillou--won re-election in November.

The only open seat was the one previously held by retiring Councillor Jonathan S. Meyers.

Since Meyers was endorsed by the CCA, many in the progressive community were worried that Meyers's retirement would tilt the 4-4 balance that had existed on the council in favor of the Alliance.

However, the worst fears of CCA supporters were never realized after Cambridge voters selected CCA-endorsed Henrietta A. Davis, a four-term school committee veteran, to fill the open seat on the council.

Despite disappointing voter turnout in traditional CCA strongholds, the progressive group was able to effectively mobilize its constituents.

"I am very happy because the signs were ominous--a tremendous conservative tide in this country, the loss of rent control, the low voter turn-out," said CCA affiliate and Agassiz Tenants Union Co-chair Randy Fenstermacher shortly after the election. "We are very pleased that we stood our ground."

Mayoral Standoff

Then the fun began.

Even after the final ballot was handcounted and the votes distributed under Cambridge's system of proportional representation, the city council still had to select a mayor from among its members at its first meeting in January.

At first, the four CCA-endorsed candidates supported Duehay for mayor, while the four Alliance-endorsed candidates voted for Russell. Reeves voted for himself.

The council could not decide on a mayor for two months. Many local observers credit for Duehay ending the deadlock.

Duehay said that after he talked to each member, the council eventually reached an agreement to choose Russell as the city's new mayor.

The selection of Russell ended the second-longest mayoral impasse in the city's history. The longest impasse lasted from January 1 to April 23, 1948 and required 1,321 separate ballots to elect Mayor Michael Neville.

--Abby Y. Fung, R. Alan Leo and C.R. McFadden contributed to the reporting of this story.