Walsh lashed out at the liberal faction of city politics before the testimony. "An organized political union is trying to ruin me," he said, calling his term of office "26 months of a reign of terror." This "reign of terror," according to Walsh, included prank phone calls in the middle of the night, protesters surrounding his office and threats of having his house set on fire. "I'm going to sue the Cambridge Tenants' Union," he said.

"I feel you smeared us," Turk said to Walsh. And Councillor David E. Sullivan said, "I can't remember a time when witnesses, before they opened their mouths, were threatened with a lawsuit."

Councillor Alice K. Wolf, a member of the CCA, defended the Tenants' Union witnesses, saying Walsh was imposing "guilt by association."

"These gentlemen were not involved in that," she said, referring to Walsh's complaints of harrassment.

And CCA Councillor Saundra M. Graham said the City Council had no power to do anything with regard to the dispute. "This is what happens when one side feels the other side is getting the facts out."

"They only put forward what they want the Rent Control Board to hear," she said. "We do not have the power to do anything about it."

After the testimony of the tenant activists, David P. Sullivan and his wife, Aline M. Sullivan, testified. Mr. Sullivan said that Councillor Walsh was his father's lawyer, but not the "family lawyer."

"We're the victims of a smear campaign," Mrs. Sullivan said. "It's unfair that my daughter has become the recipient of a slanderous and unfair campaign at the hands of Councillor David Sullivan."

Councillor David E. Sullivan said that although he believed the Council had accomplished little with the hearings, that the city was continuing a tradition of allowing anyone in the city with a grievance to be heard by the City Council.

Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci suggested that the Rent Control Board give the Sullivan family a fresh hearing, but the Council tabled this motion.