Duehay, Wolf Re-Elected to City Council

The re-election of incumbents Alice K. Wolf and Francis H. Duehay '55 to the City Council was officially declared yesterday, as the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) moved one step closer to gaining its first majority on the nine-member council since 1973.

Shortly before 6 p.m. Election Commissioner Sondra Scheir read out the official count of first-choice votes for the council, and announced that the "quota" needed for election this year is 2696.

"There is one candidate who is above the quota and that is Alice Wolf, who has 3564 votes and is hereby declared elected," said Scheir.

Under Cambridge's system of proportional representation, votes in excess of the quota are transferred to lower choices on the ballot. Duehay's election was announced at 10:55 p.m., after election officials began to transfer Wolf's 868 surplus ballots.

Election officials did not make public any official results of the other Wolf transfers. But unofficial estimates suggest that CCA-backed challenger Edward N. Cyr received the largest share, increasing his total by more than 160 votes.

CCA candidates Kenneth E. Reeves '72 and Jonathan S. Myers each received about 80 of Wolf's transfer votes. Vying with them for the seventh, eighth and ninth council seats are Independents Sheila T. Russell and Alfred W. LaRosa.

Danehy Seen In Trouble

Although incumbent Thomas W. Danehy is less than 100 votes behind LaRosa, several council observers said yesterday that Danehy, an 11-term councillor, has little chance of retaining his seat.

Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci, a veteran of 20 Cambridge elections, predicted that the remaining seats would be distributed in accordance with the current first-choice vote rankings. That would mean a majority of five for the CCA, in addition to pro-tenant Independent Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. who is expected to side with the good-government group on most issues.

This year's election marks the first time since 1961 that Independent Councillor Walter J. Sullivan has not met the quota on the first count. Sullivan, almost always the city's top vote-getter, now leads the race for the third seat with approximately 2565 votes.

Observers of the count attributed the CCA's strong showing this year to the ballot referendum known as Proposition 1-2-3. Touted as a measure to promote home-ownership, 1-2-3 was attacked by the CCA and other protenant forces in the city as an effort to destroy rent control.

Medal For Meyer?

One council watcher suggested awarding a medal to 1-2-3 author Frederick R. Meyer for helping to bring out pro-tenant support. Another quipped that the CCA should have put the referendum on the ballot themselves.

Vellucci, a maverick Independent who often criticizes the CCA but shares many of its positions, predicted that the good-government group would find it difficult to meet the expetations of its voters.

"It was all right to be on the outside criticizing," said Vellucci. "Now what are they going to do?"

But Duehay, who served on the CCA-majority council in 1972-'73, predicted that the next City Council would be able to govern effectively. The previous CCA majority, he said, suffered from "problems of communication that led the council to be less effective than it should have been."

A former University administrator, Duehay attributed much of his success in this election to Harvard students. During the past two months. Duehay staged a particularly active campaign on campus, knocking on the doors of every registered student voter.

"Their influence on the election is very positive," said Duehay. "I think they will help elect me and Ken Reeves and participate in changing the power structure in this city."