Council May Pick Vellucci As Mayor

City councilor Alfred E. Vellucci may win a third term as mayor of Cambridge tonight when the City Council begins balloting to choose the city's official leader.

The fight for mayor, which could take several meetings to complete, will pit Vellucci against another moderate, Leonard Russell, Francis Duehay '55 and Walter Sullivan. Current mayor Thomas W. Danehy may also run for re-election.

The nine-member council, which will elect a mayor from among its own ranks, is split 4-4 between the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) liberals represented by Duehay and the more conservative faction represented by Sullivan and Russell.

Vellucci, a veteran political leader who often votes with the council's liberal wing but who refuses to run on the CCA slate, is in the middle.

Because council liberals depend on Vellucci vote to keep the city's rent control and anti-condominium ordinances intact, Vellucci is in a strong position to ask for their votes. "Over a barrel would not be an inaccurate description," a long time city political leader said last week.

Russell, one of two non-incumbents elected in last November's council balloting, could also bargain with the liberal faction for the job.

Two years ago, conservative Danehy won the post when Vellucci, angered by the refusal of liberals to court his vote, swung his weight behind the North Cambridge conservative.

Mayor is a largely ceremonial position in the city, although the mayor is a voting member of the city's school board.

During the past two years, Danehy was the swing vote on a school board split 3-3 between conservatives and liberals. This year, however, liberal CCA candidates won mayor's vote will be less important.

The council will conduct little official business until a new mayor is chosen. The city clerk will swear in the council, including new members Russell and David Sullivan, at tonight's meeting.