Vellucci, Friends Gather for Party

There was no talk of rent control, no speeches about Harvard's expansion, no fighting or wrangling at all last night as incumbent City Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci launched his re-election bid with a fundraiser and party.

Instead, the only heat of the evening came from the Italian sausages. "There's no speeches, none of that political crap," one man said, leaning close so he could be heard over the strains of "Somewhere, My Love," filling the hall.

But if politics was not on everyone's lips, Al Vellucci, a former mayor of Cambridge and veteran councilor, was still the main topic of conversation.

Guests, who paid $5 a ticket for the dinner and dancing, traded stories about Vellucci. "He gets up at five in the morning and he drives around in his brown Chevy Chevette just to see who's sleeping on the job," one woman said. "I saw him on the way over here tonight, and there was no room in that car of his--he made all the salad himself and then carted it over," another reported.

The crowd, largely elderly, with Vellucci's East Cambridge Italian neighbors heavily represented, collected around Vellucci as he moved through the room. When he wandered off to another corner of the ballroom, they would explain why they turned out for his "thing" as these affairs are known in Cambridge political circles.

"I can remember that guy fighting for parks when I was a kid," Peter Valentino, who works for the city department of public works, said. "Now, he's getting a soccer field built for us. He comes out every day and inspects to make sure it's going all right."

Others cited Vellucci's work on behalf of Cambridge's elderly as their reason for backing him. "Being old himself, he understands and feels for us," a woman said. "The old are the Socrates of the cities and he takes care of them," another added.

But everyone, even those who said they were saving their number one votes for another candidate, said they liked Vellucci as a man. "He's a great humanitarian--put that in your paper," one woman insisted.

"We all like A1, and there's good food and good music, and the price isn't going to cripple anyone," the man taking tickets at the door said. "We're here for a good time."