'81 City Council Campaign Costliest in Local History

Preliminary figures indicate that the 1981 race for the Cambridge City Council will be the most expensive in the city's history.

Campaign financing reports filed with the City Clerk's office yesterday show five candidates with more than $10,000 in either receipts or expenditures through October 16.

Hey Big Spenders

The leading spender in the race--which climaxes with municipal elections November 3--is incumbent David Wylie. Widely regarded as the incumbent with the most precarious grip on his seat, Wylie spent $13,131.72 through the mid-October period, and listed receipts for $15,606.11. However, he loaned $9936.11 of his own money to the campaign effort.

Francis H. Duehay '55 had raised $11,441 and spent $8358; fellow incumbent David Sullivan had raised $11,588.25 and spent $9888.81. First-time challenger Wendy Abt said last night she had raised about $8500 and spent slightly more than $11,300.

Mary Ellen Preusser, who lost her council seat in the 1979 election, had spent $11,000 and raised only about $6000; challenger Alice Wolf had received $7518 and spent $6940.

Two years ago, during the last municipal election, Sullivan and Duehay were the leading money-raisers at the same stage in the campaign, with slightly more than $10,000 apiece.

Wylie--who said other candidates would likely surpass his total before the campaign ends--said he had spent his money on a series of seven "informative leaflets," and said increased paper costs were a major reason for the jump in his spending.

The high spending totals "also reflect the fact that I finished ninth last time, and that I lost altogether the time before that," Wylie added.

The liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) slate members are traditionally the heaviest spenders in local campaigns, and this year is no exception--Wylie, Wolf, Preusser, Abt, Duehay and David Sullivan have all been endorsed by the CCA.

Of the non-CCA candidates who had filed returns by the 5 p.m. deadline yesterday, incumbent Leonard J. Russell and challenger Mary Allen Wilkes were the leading spenders.

Russell, who said he collected most of his money at fundraisers, reported taking in $6182 and paying out $5510. Wilkes, who had billed herself as the condo candidate, had raised $5928 and spent $5533. Many of her contributions came from residents of buildings like her 1572 Mass Ave home that have seen heated battles over condominium conversion.

Walter Sullivan, who has collected more votes than anyone else in the city in ten straight elections, raised $2927 and spent $2912 in the period measured. Challenger John St. George spent $2857, and Alfred E. Vellucci, the senior member of the council, had raised $3733 and spent $2923.