Council Debates Dunphy's Ouster

The Cambridge City Council spent an angry two hours Monday night arguing over Acting City Manager Ralph J. Dunphy's removal of City Solicitor Andrew T. Trodden.

Three councilors--Edward A. Crane '35, Thomas W. Danehy, and Alfred E. Vellucci--denied Trodden's charges that they had illegally pressured Dunphy for his dismissal. Two weeks ago, Trodden said he felt that the council majority--including the three--had followed an illegal procedure in the removal of former City Manager Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '29.

Dunphy maintained that he simply wanted to select his own city solicitor--his "right arm." He expressed no dissatisfaction with the legal abilities of Trodden, a friend since their school days together. A new solicitor has not yet been named, but Dunphy said he had two men in mind for the job. He said he had no present plans to remove any other City officials, and promised to meet with the council in executive session if he should decide to fire anyone else.

Explanations

Trodden and DeGuglielmo's three council supporters did not accept Dunphy's explanation. One of the councillors--Daniel J. Hayes Jr. moved unsuccessfully to dismiss Dunphy.

Invited before the council by Hayes, Trodden presented his account of the firing which, he said, occurred last Friday.

Dunphy--"They have been after me night after night wanting to know if I had fired you."

Trodden: "Who told you to fire me?"

Dunphy: "The Big Guy."

Trodden: "Who, Ed Crane?"

Dunphy: "Yeah, you don't know what I've been through."

Trodden: "Who else asked you to fire me?"

Dunphy: "Vellucci kept on me and the guy from North Cambridge."

Trodden: "Who, Hayes?"

Dunphy: "No, the other guy, Danehy."

"Hatchet Man"

Trodden said that the three councillors were illegally using Dunphy as a "hatchet man" in violation of the Commonwealth statute forbidding any councillor to "direct or request the removal or appointment" of a city official (such as the City Solicitor) for whom the manager is responsible. He notified the council that he would be a candidate for the position of city manager.

The solicitor's account was interrupted by cries of "Not true" and "That's a false statement" from Vellucci and Danehy. After Trodden had finished, Danehy arose to question him, but Trodden snapped "None of your business" and "I'll talk to you if I feel like it" in reply to several queries.

Dunphy said he had not met "face to face" with Danehy for several months. Danehy and Vellucci both denied putting pressure on Dunphy to fire Trodden.

Crane "refrained from engaging in this controversy for the present" for "personal and professional reasons." He later denied any "allegations or statements" that he met with other council- lors to influence the actions of the acting city manager.

"Laughing Matter"

Trodden received support from Hayes, Bernard Goldberg, and Cornelia B. Wheeler. "When you look at this situation, put it on a simple plane, you begin to laugh--What next?" Goldberg commented. "It's a laughing matter but I'm sure that Mr. Trodden doesn't think so and Mr. Dumphy doesn't think so."

"The travesty is that there has been caused a confrontation between two individuals friends in the true sense of the word," he continued. "There are those who have placed Mr. Dunphy in the position of the hatchet man."

Hayes recalled his prediction, made the night DeGuglielmo was fired, that "Heads will roll within two weeks." After charging Crane with conducting a "personal vendetta." Hayes introduced a motion to remove Dunphy "for his own sake."

Mayor Walter J. Sullivan, who stayed out of the fight over DeGuglielmo, agreed with Hayes and Goldberg that Trodden--"one very able and capable attorney"--should not have been dismissed. Sullivan, however, later voted to retain Dunphy in office, thus confirming the dismissal of Trodden.

Inflamed

An inflamed Vellucci took the floor to say that Hayes' speech "sounded like an oration delivered by Castro from Havana, Cuba." He recalled Hayes' vote of two years ago to "bounce out an honourable man" (former City Manager John J. Curry '19) and concluded "Now the shoe is on the other foot."

Crane--a close friend of Curry--reminded Hayes that "John J. Curry was a human being too." Crane said he had been given undue credit for." Referring to Hayes as a "political pharisee." Crane asked "How far are they going to push me as a person?"

After the bitter exchange ended, the vote came on Hayes' motion to remove Dunphy. Hayes and Goldberg voted yes, Wheeler voted present, and the other six councillors voted no