In the wake of the recent controversial Cambridge mayoral election and the resultant allegations of ultimatums and acts of back-stabbing fit for daytime television, some city councillors and local politicos are suggesting that the way the city's mayor is elected be reevaluated.

Currently the nine city councillors vote to elect the mayor from among their own ranks.

In Cambridge, the mayor's role is restricted to being the chair of the council and the chair of the school committee.

A city manager is in charge of other city business.

"The elections are very hard-fought when a city council elects a mayor; [almost] everybody wants to be mayor, and sometimes there are hard feelings as a result of the election process," says recently-elected Cambridge Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55.

The January Election

The recent election left a particularly strong set of hard feelings.

In the first balloting, Councillor Katherine Triantafillou received five of the nine votes, topping Councillor Michael A. Sullivan.

Triantafillou was a member of the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) party; she has since disaffiliated.

Sullivan was and is a member of the Alliance for Change (AFC) party.

After then-CCA member Triantafillou appeared to have won the election, AFC member Anthony D. Galluccio switched his vote to Duehay.

All the AFC members followed suit.

Duehay then switched his vote from Triantafillou to himself, and the CCA members, with the exception of Triantafillou, then switched their votes to Duehay.

Independent Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 did not change his vote in favor of Triantafillou, leaving the final vote in favor of Duehay, 7-2.

At the council's next meeting, Councillor Timothy J. Toomey Jr. filed a motion to reconsider the mayoral vote.