Bearded and chipper, with eyes flashing intelligence, Brian Murphy ’86-’87 represents a new generation in Cambridge’s legendary activist tradition—liberal, of course, but with a proudly pragmatic edge.

A lawyer and political consultant—once the quintessential behind-the-scenes man—Murphy is billed by pundits as the man to beat in this year’s Cambridge City Council race. In his favor, Murphy has high-powered friends, endorsements, and the key demographic of likely liberal supporters.

And Murphy’s unique connections in the local political scene could make him singularly effective on the campaign trail—although he’s not just counting on his numerous supporters, which range from the Carpenter’s Local 40 to the gay rights group The Lavender Alliance.

Murphy is personally getting out the vote—a key tactic for past first-time candidates who successfully nabbed a seat on the council.

“I’ve been spending most of my summer going door-to-door, which is a tremendous way to get to know the city of Cambridge,” Murphy says. “I’ve spoken with 1,300 people as well as leaving notes for thousands of others.”

Besides his eagerness to pound the pavement, Murphy has timing on his side. He is running on the slate of the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), the local activist liberal party, in the same season that both four-term CCA veteran Councillor Kathleen L. Born and one-term CCA Councillor Jim Braude announced that they wouldn’t seek reelection.

The transition from campaign manager to candidate was a natural one for Murphy, according to Cambridge State Rep. Alice K. Wolf, whose 1996 campaign was one of many Murphy has worked on over the past 15 years.

“There are people who do the behind-the-scenes act who say, ‘Me? Run? Never?’” says Wolf, who has endorsed Murphy’s City Council bid. “Brian was never one of those people.”

The Family Connection

“I came to Cambridge to go to Harvard,” Murphy says. “But like a lot of people, I fell in love with the city and stayed.”

Murphy—whose father-in-law, Hale Champion, was Harvard’s vice president for finance—has plenty of ideas about how to improve the city government’s notoriously bad relationship with the University. Murphy also received an education on University dealings from Champion, he says.

“I think both sides—University and city—need to try to recast the relationship,” Murphy says. “I think some of the distrust that exists on both sides is born of an ignorance of sorts.”

Cambridge should consider new ways of obtaining funds from Harvard, beyond the age-old, tension-causing annual in-lieu-of-tax payments the University gives the city, Murphy says. Still, he considers some attempts unrealistic, like the bill currently in the State House that would prevent non-for-profits from attaining non-taxable status on large property acquisitions.

“I’ll be surprised if that makes it through the state legislature and the governor’s desk,” Murphy says.

“But the fact that that legislation has received so much attention says a lot.”

The candidate mentions, for example, taxing the University using a formula based on Harvard’s payroll, an idea which has been kicking around the family for a while.

“I suggested to the Harvard Corporation at the time I was there that [tension between the city and the University] could be alleviated by the discussion of a more permanent formula that relates to the size of Harvard workforce and activity,” Champion says.

Like ideas about dealing with Harvard, politics runs in the family—Murphy’s wife, Kate Champion-Murphy, is a political consultant and fundraiser.

“We actually met running slates of delegates against each other in 1992,” Murphy says. “So for a long time she hated me.”

But eventually, they worked on the same campaign, and came to be friends.

“My mother-in-law had a great line: ‘Well, Kate always had strong feelings about you,’” Murphy says.

Murphy began working on political campaigns as a junior at the College, and recounts working 40-hour weeks—during the academic year.

“Thank God for reading period,” Murphy says.

On the Issues

On Cambridge’s perennial issue of creating enough affordable housing, Murphy is adamant that more should be done.

“The challenge is to try to make sure you keep what’s special about Cambridge—one of the things that’s special about this city is its diversity,” says Murphy. “Frankly, we need to do more, I think, from our community standpoint.”

But when it comes to zoning—an issue of eternal controversy among activists in Cambridge, since compromises must be made between interests of business and residents—Murphy shows his practical side.

“Ultimately, it’s about being pragmatic and realistic in your goals,” Murphy says, adding that he would have voted for the rezoning of much of the city that passed last February, even though many activists protested that key neighborhoods had been left out.

CCA leader Born created much of that zoning—but the other councillors of her party were the only dissenters.

“We’re going to miss Kathy’s lead on zoning issues especially,” Murphy says.

As for the problem of Cambridge’s well-funded but low-scoring schools, Murphy is not afraid to state the obvious.

“I think what we need to do is take a look at the school budget and make sure that the resources are being well-appropriated,” Murphy says. “I think some of the question is—are children arriving at the high school with the same level of preparation?”

Local pundit Glenn S. Koocher ’71 says that voters are looking for someone like Murphy—but his problem might be that he actually will win a seat, and thus face the tedium of the council’s long-running Monday night meetings, which have been known to involve two-hour debates on historical trees.

“In Cambridge, you have your regular group of Monday night season ticket holders,” Koocher says. “What he’s going to find out is that when he gets elected, he’s going to have to serve.”

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu.