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CAMBRIDGE
Mayor mojo
BY DORIE CLARK

On Monday night, Cambridge city councilors took up — and, at least for now, put off — a measure to change the way the mayor gets chosen. Under the city’s unusual “Plan E” form of government, Cambridge is run on a day-to-day basis by an appointed city manager; the mayor, elected by the councilors from among their own ranks, serves a largely ceremonial function. The mayoral-election process sometimes includes lengthy delays (current mayor Anthony Galluccio was elected seven weeks into last year’s council’s session), colliding egos, and back-room wheeling and dealing. “It’s an enormously inefficient system we have now,” says former councilor Katherine Triantafillou, who lost out on the mayorship in 1998 after a divisive selection process. “It creates political gridlock and extreme negativity that impedes the ability of city councilors to work together effectively.”

Last week, Councilors Tim Toomey and Jim Braude submitted a proposal that would allow voters, on Election Night, to cast a ballot for mayor (the measure would require permission from the state legislature before it could be implemented). “This is a proposal to bring more democracy to Cambridge,” says Braude. He says he feels the direct election of the mayor would result in fewer internecine squabbles and a more productive council. “If you don’t have an engaged electorate that forces accountability down the throats of their public officials [via direct election],” he says, “you’re never going to craft hard solutions.”

The January 29 meeting was the first chance that other fellow councilors had to comment publicly on the plan, and, according to observers, the reception was chilly at best. Braude admits, “We would have lost [that] night if a vote had been taken.” Henrietta Davis was one of several councilors who were critical of the proposal. She notes, “If this is about improving the way we elect the mayor, I think there are a lot simpler ways of doing that.” She worried it might be a back-door attempt to jettison Plan E in favor of a “strong mayor” system. “If we’re going to have a strong mayor,” she says, “that’s a charter change and we need to involve the public in that.”

Former Cambridge School Committee member Glenn Koocher, who now hosts the political talk show Cambridge Inside Out on local public-access television, speculates that the councilors may also be reluctant to give up their power as kingmakers — or their own ambitions. “I’m sure the councilors enjoy the ability to negotiate over the mayor’s chair,” says Koocher. “How else would somebody who could never top a ticket get elected mayor?” Indeed, at least for the short term, the proposal seems likely to benefit Galluccio, who has received the most “number one” votes in the past two elections and could parlay that into an indefinite lock on the city’s corner office.

The proposal was ultimately sent to the Government Operations Committee — chaired by Braude — which will hold a series of public hearings on the matter in the next two months. But Braude is confident, despite the negative reception from his colleagues, that public pressure can turn them around. “Our goal is to give the public more power,” he says. “If they show that they want it, we can get to [the] six [votes required to pass the proposal].”