Mayor Sullivan Campaigns For Sheriff on City Time

When veteran Cambridge politico Walter J. Sullivan became mayor earlier this year, he openly admitted that he had his eyes on another public office--Middlesex County sheriff.

Now Sullivan has intensified his election bid by enlisting City Hall employees to work on the campaign.

A City Hall employee who earns $10,440 annually told The Crimson in an interview last week that he has worked on the Sullivan campaign on city time and while on the city payroll.

The employee, John P. DeVillars, administrative aide to the mayor, said he does some advance work for Sullivan's appearances throughout the county, some organization of youth-oriented campaign activities, and some research on campaign issues "in the off-hours, weekends and during working hours."

"I've been doing all kinds of things for Walter," DeVillars said. "My main tasks have been to do some research and to help handle matters in the mayor's office while Walter is away."

Although Sullivan has not abdicated his mayoral post for the campaign (he still chairs weekly City Council meetings), he has tried since mid-August to spend as little time as possible in City Hall.

Sullivan, who also serves as assistant clerk of courts in Middlesex County, has even avoided the work in the court house. Workers there said recently that Sullivan only drops by occasionally to say hello to friends and to gather election support.

Chief clerk of courts Edward J. Sullivan, the mayor's brother, said Walter Sullivan took a two-week vacation August 19 and then submitted a request for a leave of absence without pay, effective Sept. 2. Edward Sullivan said he had "no problems" granting the leave and added that Walter could "return whenever he's ready."

Walter Sullivan is known widely as one of the city's premier professional politicians, with family ties to Cambridge government that extend long into history.

The 51-year-old mayor served an earlier term as mayor in the years 1968 through 1969 and has sat in the City Council chambers since 1959. In recent years, Sullivan has been Cambridge's largest vote-getter.

Sullivan still believes in "old school" politics that stress patronage and friendship and family ties with various segments of the community.

One of his favorite tactics in this campaign and in previous ones has been to attend a number of wakes and funeral services in the area.

He also makes an effort to join as many community and social groups as possible; he is already a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Elks Club, the Portuguese-American Civic League, the Sons of Italy and the Malden Eagles. He also subscribes to a couple of Jewish news magazines.

At City Council meetings, Sullivan never hesitates to call out loud to friends in the audience. He often interrupts his colleagues on the council to ask friends about their health, always managing to draw attention to the fact that he knows virtually everybody in the city.

Sullivan knows that his identification in Cambridge is his strongest asset. Now as mayor he is doing his best to mobilize his City Hall resources and various community ties to campaign outside Cambridge in the larger Middlesex County, which encompasses 59 cities and towns.

Among the city "resources" that Sullivan uses are the City Hall custodial crews who clean the campaign headquarters, located in a warehouse near Fresh Pond, a person close to the campaign said.

But campaign director Vin Maloney in a recent interview refuted that claim, saying that city crews clean and wax the floors "after hours and without pay."

Maloney, a former city editor of the Providence Journal and media coordinator for Kevin White's 1970 gubernatorial bid here, said Sullivan may be relying too heavily on his Cambridge base to propel him to higher office.

"But we've been able to set up coordinators in every community in this county," he said. "We've been getting volunteers from all over."

One Revere woman said she joined the Sullivan campaign to seek out connections that would land her a permanent job. She used to work as a secretary in a Boston law office, but lost her job when the office closed.

An attorney at the office told her to work for Sullivan's campaign "to meet the right people and to find a job," the woman explained.

Maloney said he has tried to keep the campaign "clean and above board" by insisting that City Hall employees not work at the Fresh Pond headquarters during business hours. He emphasized that no one has defied that rule.

"All the labor is volunteered," Maloney said. "I'm the lone salaried person in this campaign." Maloney earns $200 a week plus commissions for selling advertisements.

Last week, Maloney said $17,000 had been spent on the campaign so far and that a $60,000 expenditure has been projected for the November election.

Maloney and his staff held a $100-a-couple dinner in Framingham last month to offset the expenses. They plan to hold a few $5 dinners in the coming month. Maloney added that other community groups may plan fund-raisers of their own, but that the headquarters will not assume an active planning role.

When asked about fund-raising activities, Sullivan himself said: "There are so many things going on, I really can't say."

Sullivan apparently does not have a large campaign chest or extensive financial resources. He claimed total assets of $108,736 and a net worth of $51,800 in tax statements he made public Aug. 28.

The income statements showed earnings of $30,321 for last year, from the following sources: City Council salary, $6500; Middlesex court clerk salary, $17,255; salary as an officer of M.A. Sullivan Trucking Co., $679; salary as vice president of Charlesbank Trust Co., $2684; dividends and interest, $1819; and rental income, $1364.

Sullivan paid $4349 in taxes last year and gave $4000 to charities, the statements showed.

On the issues, Sullivan says he can "restore sensible administration" to the sheriff's office by hiring a professional master for the State House of Corrections and by eliminating needless programs from the office budget.

John J. Buckley, the Republican incumbent, has been "ineffective and secretive" about his operations, Sullivan said.

Buckley is also an advocate of handgun legislation, which has drawn criticism from Sullivan. A rather conservative Democrat, Sullivan is a law and order candidate who believes citizens should be allowed to bear arms without restriction.

Many Cambridge Democrats who will oppose Sullivan's candidacy say they will do so because of Sullivan's position on law enforcement. They point to the current problems confronting the Cambridge police--brutality cases, discriminatory hiring and promoting practices, and poor community relations--as an outgrowth of policies identified with Sullivan.

Campaign director Maloney said election strategy is unaffected by the rumblings about Cambridge law enforcement: "That's a relatively minor issue compared to the house of corrections and Buckley's ineffectiveness as sheriff."

"Why, we've had a hell of a hard time just finding out what Buckley's been doing all these years," Maloney said. "His activities are supposed to be on public record."

Sullivan said he has wanted to win the sheriff post "for a long, long time." He ran and lost in 1970, because of what he terms "a late start."

"I worked on this campaign right after the day I lost that election," he said. "I've been campaigning every day"

Rick Sia, who authored both articles on this page, is Associate City Editor of The Crimson.