Public Hearing on Curry's Dismissal As City Manager Set for Jan. 31

The Cambridge City Council moved closer to removing John J. Curry '19 as city manager by approving a list of five reasons for dismissing him.

In a turbulent meeting, the same 5-4 majority that voted last week to replace Curry with Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '29 said that "the city should have younger and more aggressive leadership." Curry, who is 67, was criticized for moving too slowly on capital improvements.

"A turnover of executive leadership is healthy for the city at reasonable intervals," the Council said. It officially suspended Curry from his job and appointed the City Clerk as an interim manager until the new appointment can be made final.

Before DeGuglielmo can take office, Curry must have a public hearing, and last night the Council set a firm date for this session: 4:30 p.m., Jan. 31. The four members of the Council who favor retaining Curry immediately warned that the hearing would be long and exciting.

Edward A. Crane '35, a member of the pro-Curry faction, told mayor Daniel J. Hayes Jr., the leader of the DeGuglielmo majority, that "you and your colleagues are going to be pulverized at the hearing."

Referring again to the majority, Crane declared: "It's all going to come out ... the whole pattern of this coalition, this conspiracy is going to be revealed by competent witnesses." Crane seemed to be referring to an earlier promise to have witnesses testify

Last night's meeting lasting more than two and a half hours, was the most heated in the current controversy--a controversy that many observers regard as the most bitter of the last decade. The session began with Mayor Hayes' charging the minority with deliberately delaying selection of a manager, and proceeded through heated exchanges that culminated in what seemed to be a charge of bigotry from the Council's only Negro member.

Thomas Coates, who was elected last week as vice-chairman, said that Councilor Thomas H.D. Mahoney's move to re- consider his election was "prompted by nothing but plain, flat bigotry." Mahoney, an M.I.T. history professor, angrily dismissed Coates' charge, declaring that it was a "nasty, little innuendo." On a revote, Coates won again as vice-chairman.

Last night's meeting also produced detailed information of back-room, political maneuvering that led to Hayes' election as mayor last week.

A confused story of promises and counter-promises unraveled this way:

On the first ballot for mayor, Walter J. Sullivan had four votes, and Alfred E. Vellucci was voting for himself. Vellucci said last night that he had pledged his vote to Sullivan the night before the deadlocked ballotting was to resume after a week's recess. Vellucci's vote would have given Sullivan a majority, but William G. Maher, who had previously voted for Sullivan, shifted to Hayes.

Maher said last night that he changed because he believed that Sullivan would never amass the necessary majority. Only minutes before Hayes was elected as mayor, Maher said, Vellucci had denied that he would shift from himself to Sullivan.

Vellucci insisted that Maher knew that Sullivan would eventually get the fifth vote. Just before the meeting, however, Vellucci hastily told Maher that he would continue voting for himself, and both men agreed on this.

Vellucci declared that the dispute over manager had become a "drag 'em out ... dog eat dog" battle, and proposed that the nine councillors convene privately and agree to let Curry stay on until a suitable successor had been found. The DeGuglielmo majority voted this proposal down, and later, when Councillor Mahoney made a similar motion, it was also defeated.

Vellucci also revealed last night that he had been offered support for mayor in 1964 from the Cambridge Civic Association -- "good government organization" -- if he would agree to vote with the four councillors on certain issues and support the CCA members of the school committee. (The mayor sits as the chairman of the school committee.)

Vellucci said he rejected the proposal, because "I would never want to be mayor under these conditions and be shackled by the CCA.

Last night's meeting lasting more than two and a half hours, was the most heated in the current controversy--a controversy that many observers regard as the most bitter of the last decade. The session began with Mayor Hayes' charging the minority with deliberately delaying selection of a manager, and proceeded through heated exchanges that culminated in what seemed to be a charge of bigotry from the Council's only Negro member.

Thomas Coates, who was elected last week as vice-chairman, said that Councilor Thomas H.D. Mahoney's move to re- consider his election was "prompted by nothing but plain, flat bigotry." Mahoney, an M.I.T. history professor, angrily dismissed Coates' charge, declaring that it was a "nasty, little innuendo." On a revote, Coates won again as vice-chairman.

Last night's meeting also produced detailed information of back-room, political maneuvering that led to Hayes' election as mayor last week.

A confused story of promises and counter-promises unraveled this way:

On the first ballot for mayor, Walter J. Sullivan had four votes, and Alfred E. Vellucci was voting for himself. Vellucci said last night that he had pledged his vote to Sullivan the night before the deadlocked ballotting was to resume after a week's recess. Vellucci's vote would have given Sullivan a majority, but William G. Maher, who had previously voted for Sullivan, shifted to Hayes.

Maher said last night that he changed because he believed that Sullivan would never amass the necessary majority. Only minutes before Hayes was elected as mayor, Maher said, Vellucci had denied that he would shift from himself to Sullivan.

Vellucci insisted that Maher knew that Sullivan would eventually get the fifth vote. Just before the meeting, however, Vellucci hastily told Maher that he would continue voting for himself, and both men agreed on this.

Vellucci declared that the dispute over manager had become a "drag 'em out ... dog eat dog" battle, and proposed that the nine councillors convene privately and agree to let Curry stay on until a suitable successor had been found. The DeGuglielmo majority voted this proposal down, and later, when Councillor Mahoney made a similar motion, it was also defeated.

Vellucci also revealed last night that he had been offered support for mayor in 1964 from the Cambridge Civic Association -- "good government organization" -- if he would agree to vote with the four councillors on certain issues and support the CCA members of the school committee. (The mayor sits as the chairman of the school committee.)

Vellucci said he rejected the proposal, because "I would never want to be mayor under these conditions and be shackled by the CCA.