In two months, William H. Walsh will be sentenced to up to three-and-a-half years in prison for 41 counts of bank fraud and making false statements.

Only then will state law require that he forfeit his seat on the Cambridge city council.

But four of Walsh's eight colleagues want to get him out of public office now.

At the city council meeting on Monday, Councillors Kathleen L. Born, Francis H. Duehay '55, Jonathan S. Myers and Katherine Triantafillou supported on order calling for Walsh's immediate resignation.

Although the councillors argued in favor of Walsh's resignation for more than an hour on Monday, the order failed, with two councillors voting against, two voting "present." and Walsh abstaining.

Although the council would not have been able to enforce the resolution had it passed, the councillors say their intent was three-fold: to preserve the integrity of government, to alleviate tensions within the council and--above all--to tell Walsh that he lacks the confidence of four colleagues.

"The intent of the resolution was to underscore the fact that upon sentencing, [Walsh] has to leave," Triantafillou says.

Walsh says the councillors who are calling for his resignation are acting for political reasons that precede his entanglement with Dime Savings Bank of New York that led to his conviction last month.

The three sponsors of the order--Born, Duehay and Triantafillou--are "my political nemeses," Walsh says.

But Triantafillou says the moral implications of a convicted felon serving in public office are intolerable.

"When a person is convicted of a serious crime like bank fraud," Triantafillou says, "it is...inimical to the the concept of good government."

Triantafillou and Duehay say that Walshremaining in office after he was convicted pointsto an unfair special treatment.

"Public servants are and should be held to ahigher standard of conduct," Triantafillou says."If a police officer were convicted of a crime, hewould be summarily dismissed."

"After indictment, [a city employee] would havebeen pt on an unpaid leave of absence," Duehayagrees.

Walsh's continued presence on the council, saythe councillors, tarnishes its reputation as agoverning body.

"[Having Walsh remain in office] reflects badlyon the city council," he says. "It reflects badlyon the entire city of Cambridge."