Liberal Council Member Unseated in Cambridge Elections

In an upset that may reflect an increasing conservative bent to predominantly liberal Cambridge, three-term city council member Katherine Triantafillou lost her position after receiving the tenth-highest number of votes in a race for nine seats.

The six other incumbents--Kathleen L. Born, Henrietta S. Davis, Anthony D. Galluccio, Kenneth E. Reeves '72, Michael A. Sullivan and Timothy J. Toomey Jr.--were reelected. Challengers James S. Braude, Marjorie C. Decker and David P. Maher will also join the council.

Although the official election results were made public last night, the candidate rankings were not available until this morning.

Triantafillou, who received the third highest number of votes in 1997, is a prominent progressive who has acted on behalf of gay rights and against domestic violence. Her defeat came as a surprise to most familiar with the trends of city council elections.

Fellow candidates and Cambridge residents offered several possible reasons for Triantafillou's unexpected loss.

Some explained that the council's decision to end rent control in 1996 has led to a shift in Cambridge demographics. Residents on the whole are wealthier and as a result less inclined towards liberal ideology now than they were during the height of Triantafillou's political success.

Jeffrey J. Chase, a libertarian challenger, said that this year's election was driven more by neighborhood popularity than by ideology. While Triantafillou's well-defined stance was her strength in previous years, it did not work in her favor this time around, he said.

Vincent L. Dixon, the Republican city chair and a first-year contender in the race for city council, claimed that Triantafillou was made to appear difficult and argumentative by City Manager Robert Healy.

He expressed his disappointment with her loss, saying "she was the only leader of the council interested in the people of the city."

It was Triantafillou who brought the question of rent control to the council's agenda this year. Support for rent control appears to be on the decline, however.

"The issues are not as contentious now," Bill Zampirelli, vice chair of the Chamber of Commerce, said of the current state of city politics. According to Zampirelli, the prosperous economy has caused Cambridge residents to favor conservative fiscal policy. Rent control, he said, is a notion of the past.

Despite Triantafillou's defeat, some council members say they remain optimistic about the future of the council.

"I'm looking forward to working together and forming new positive patterns," Davis said.

Triantafillou could not be reached for comment yesterday.