McCann Leaves Three Committees After Dispute With Senate President

State Senator Francis X. McCann (D-Cambridge) resigned Monday from his three committee assignments after he was passed over for leadership positions by Senate President Maurice A. Donahue (D-Holyoke).

McCann, who has served ten years in the Senate, reportedly believed he should have been appointed either Senate Majority Leader or chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

When Donahue indicated Monday that he favored men with less seniority for these posts, McCann resigned from the Ways and Means Committee; the Rules Committee; and the Committee on Bills in Third Reading, of which he was chairman.

Last night McCann said that he would not accept reappointment to any of these committees or the chairmanship of any other committee. He indicated that all men in these positions worked directly with the Senate President and that he couldn't serve in "good conscience" under Donahue.

"Either a person has confidence in you or he doesn't," McCann declared after announcing his resignations. He said last night, however, that he would accept appointment as an ordinary member of other committees.

Six Terms

McCann was elected last month to an unprecedented sixth consecutive term from the second Middlesex district. In 1962, he introduced the bill ordering the Metropolitan District Commission to build underpasses along Memorial Drive.

It was not clear last night what effect McCann's resignation might have on legislative efforts to stop or delay the construction of the underpasses.

During the last legislature, a number of anti-underpass bills were defeated. But at least three new anti-underpass bills will be filed for the forthcoming session, which begins in January. Supporters of the bills do not expect that McCann's resignations will make passage easier, however.

"I would not say that Senator McCann's influence is the key to the problem," one said. This source cited probable opposition from Rep. John Toomey (D-Cambridge), chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, as the chief hurdle to the bill's passage.