Joe Timilty Concedes, Won't Say It Ain't So

Ignoring pleas from his supporters for a recount, State Senator Joseph F. Timilty late last night conceded defeat in the Boston mayoral election.

Although campaign staff for Mayor Kevin H. White had claimed victory hours earlier, Timilty, a 37-year-old Democrat, waited until shortly after 11 p.m. to admit his loss to supporters jammed into the Statler-Hilton's Bay State Room.

Timilty's pledge to work with elected officials in City Hall to make Boston into "the kind of city we've talked about" brought boos from the crowd, which had begun swarming into the downtown hotel after 8 p.m.

But as the state senator shoved his way out of the hall after a ten-minute appearance, shouts of "no way" and "you didn't lose" died away. Instead, well-wishers patted the candidate on the back, saluted his exit with a chorus of "we want Joe," and in some cases cried as the less loyal pushed their way out of the banquet room.

Up to the moment when Timilty began his concession speech with the words "like the Red Sox," uncertainly over his intentions reigned. With no giant black-board to tote up precinct tallies, Timilty backers spent the evening glued to television sets scattered through the Bay State room.

But these only added to the confusion, since local stations used vote projections from the White camp that Timilty campaign staff repeatedly challenged.

When regular broadcasting resumed, many Timilty supporters descended on a small bar where drinks were served for $1.75 and beers for $1.

Others danced to the music of Joey Val's five-man band, watched "Happy Days" and "Space: 1999" between spans of election coverage, or joined in "We Want Joe" cheers led by a small group of Charlestown women wearing styrofoam Timilty hats and Timilty banners across their chests.

Timilty supporters charged White with corruption when asked to explain their support of the state senator. David J. Carr, a Dorchester resident, said, "Joe claims there is a climate of corruption at City Hall; I say there is corruption."

Clyde Bowen, captain of the Statler's banquet department and a Roxbury resident, said taat he and his friends voted for White. Bowen said he does not object to working in the hotel's support staff for Timilty's headquarters. "I worked for Louise Day Hicks four years ago," he said. "You work what you get.