Several members of the school committee were displeased with the way Duehay allegedly interfered with the firing of former School Superintendent William C. Lannon and the hiring of Robert S. Peterkin to take his place, according to Koocher.

"There's an old saying in Cambridge that once anybody's been mayor, he wants to become may or again. And anybody who has never been mayor, of course, wants the job," one local observer said.

City councilors and other would be politicians are already speculating about who will end up in Russell's chair.

At last week's City Council meeting. Vice Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55 presided over the nine-member body--a position he says he would like to seek again.

Duehay, who was mayor from 1980-82 and ran for City Council on the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) slate, said this week that he was "very much interested in the job."

First-time City Councilor Alice K. Wolf said she was "pleased with the current leadership" in filling the rest of Russell's mayoral term, but would not discuss her desire to become mayor until next November when the mayor's seat will be up for grabs again. Wolf told the Crimson in February that she, too, was very interested in the position.

Two other CCA-endorsed city councilors, Saundra M. Graham and David E. Sullivan, hold full-time jobs and have said they are not interested.

The more conservative, Independent faction of the city council could also try to get one of its four councilors elected as mayor, observers say.

But don't expect a new mayor so soon.

In 1984 Russell was elected may or by the council after four weeks and eleven tallies. The longest it ever took to elect a mayor of Cambridge was four months and 1200 ballots in 1948.

And in January 1986 the council will vote once again on a mayor who will serve the next two-year term.