But even Walsh ally Denise Jillson, chair ofthe anti-rent control Massachusetts HomeownersCoalition, said Wish must resign "to get his lifeback in order."

Myers, Tiantifillou and the other two other CCAmembers on the council, Katy Born and Francis H.Duehay '55, are likely to introduce and support aresolution calling for Walsh's resignation.

That could set up a council face-off againstSheila T. Russell, Michael A. Sullivan and TimothyJ. Toomey, Walsh's fellow Independents.

While the Independents seem unlikely to comeout publicily to support a felon's presence on thecouncil, they could stall the resolution by votingto table it or calling for a character right.

The political question mark on the matter isMayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72, Reeves is a CCAmember, but the testified as a supportivecharacter witness at Walsh's trial.

Walsh provided one of the four Independentvotes that kept Reeves in the mayor's seat,defying Reeves' fellow-CCA members. The questioncould be whether Reeves will stick with his CCAroots or pay his recent political debt bysupporting Walsh.

But regardless of the council's action, thereis some question whether the only thing that couldreally force Walsh off the council the--state lawagainst prisoners serving in government--has theteeth it needs.

Even if Walsh is sentenced to prison, theElection Commission has no power to enforce thestate law, and city solicitor Russell Higley couldnot act on the mater unless approached by the citycouncil.

The state attorney general's office could alsodecide to intervene and enforce the resignationlaw. If it didn't group opposing Walsh could filesuit to force his resignation.

Should the state law actually be enforced byeither the attorney general's office or the citysolicitor, Walsh has still another escape hatch:he can challenge the constitutionality of thestate law in court.

If he does so, the court could issue him arestraining order preventing his removal fromoffice until the constitutional question'sresolution. In this scenario, Cambridge would haveone of its city councillors governing from aprison cell.

And that could play out with another politicalbattle on the city council, because even Walsh'sIndependent allies seem unlikely to stall aresignation resolution for a man in prison.

Besides, they would likely lose a council vote,since Walsh would be unable to attend meetings.His replacement under Cambridge's proportionalrepresentation election system would almostcertainly be another Independent, either AnthonyGalluccio or James P. McSweeney