Council Opposes Rejection of PR

The Cambridge City Council yesterday voted 5 to 4 against recording itself in favor of a bill before the Massachusetts Legislature to repeal Proportional Representation.

House Bill 1493, "an act to repeal Proportional representation and preferential voting in this Commonwealth," was introduced in the Legislature in January. The citizens of Cambridge, by a narrow margin, voted in last November's election to retain PR.

Councillors Wise, Belin, DeGuglielmo, and Mayor Crane voted against the Council resolution to support the bill. All four are backed by the Cambridge Civic Association, which supported PR last November.

Also voting against the resolution was Councillor Bernard Goldberg, who ran as an independent last fall, but promised to "vote his conscience" in the Council. Goldberg asserted that the House bill "is a violation of Home Rule, and an attempt by the Legislature to tell us what our people voted in November."

The other "independents" on the Council, Councillors Hayes, Sullivan, Trodden, and Vellucci, all voted to support the resolution.

Last November, the CCA waged a hard campaign for the retention of PR against the Cambridge Young Democrats, who urged abolition of the controversial system. PR survived a recount, to win by a slim margin.