Mayor Reeves Battles Media

Cambridge's mayor emerged this week an embattled man, angrily accusing a city newspaper of inaccurate and unfair reporting while himself troubled by new media reports on his personal finances.

City officials and civic leaders alike have portrayed Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 as a diligent and involved official who often has problems dealing with the press.

The issues raised have touched a raw nerve among Cantabrigians. More than 140 of them, mostly African-Americans, rallied outside City Hall on Monday, demanding fairer coverage from the Cambridge Chronicle.

The weekly newspaper published a story last Thursday that charged Reeves, who is Black, with failing to account for more than 275 expenses he billed on his city-issued Master-Card.

In addition, Reeves admitted Monday night that he had been visited by two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding a $30,000 overpayment by the school committee. And a new revelation on Tuesday--that the state will look into whether he paid his state income taxes in 1992--has only served to complicate the issue.

'A Necessary Evil'?

Some of the most visible actors in this Cambridge play are the media, which have been accused of sensationalism and biased coverage.

Reeves "doesn't get recognition for what he deserves," said Bernard P. Hicks, one of three organizers of Monday's rally. "But for things that are unimportant, he gets recognition," he added.

"It's unconscionable," Reeves declared at the city council meeting, "that anybody would attempt to manipulate fact in a way that is so sick."

"You have a responsibility to ensure that everything you print is true, and comes from reliable, objective and knowledgeable sources," Reeves wrote in a five-page letter to Chronicle editor John H. Breneman Tuesday night, that appears in today's issue of the Chronicle. "In this responsibility, you have sadly failed."

He said the weekly is motivated by "personal enmity."

The Chronicle stands by its story. It insists that its purpose is to report the truth, not to sell papers.

"I know he is half saint and half role model to countless people," Breneman says in an editorial in today's Chronicle, which was obtained by The Crimson. "But it does not relieve the newspaper of its responsibility to ask hard questions, nor does it absolve the mayor of his responsibility to be accountable for city tax dollars."

Moreover, the Chronicle editorial states that Reeves usually refuses to speak with its writers and faults the mayor's attitude toward the press.

"He has never regarded the press as anything more than a necessary evil," Breneman writes in the editorial.

But beyond the charges of sensationalism and lack of accountability are statements--from Reeves' supporters--that the mayor needs to improve his P.R.

"The standards in the public arena are higher than anywhere else," said Edward N. Cyr, who served on the city council from 1990 to 1994. "I think he has to be more cooperative with the press in attempting to deal with these questions."

Other city officials, however, charge the papers with jumping to conclusions far too quickly.

"The press has an obligation not to make assumptions and assertions without damn good evidence," said Councillor Alice K. Wolf, Reeves' predecessor as mayor.

The Race Card

Even more riling than the charges of media sensationalism, however, is the issue of racism.

And it is that issue which has hit a raw nerve in the psyches of many Cantabrigians, who say they are fed up with a largely white press out on a witchhunt for minority leaders.

"If you are a Black male, there must be something the matter," Reeves said in an interview at his City Hall office Monday night.

Van Le '89, a second-year law student at Northeastern University and former aide to Reeves, characterized the Chronicle story as a reporter's vendetta. "Now comes along a very aggressive, a white male reporter who has some agenda," he said at the Monday meeting, to loud cheers from the public gallery.

Sylvia J. Saavedra-Keber, chair of the city's Commission for Latino Affairs and one of the rally organizers, said the media has failed to reflect the diversity of the city's population, and is out of touch with the concerns of people of color.

"How many Black members do they have on their staff?" she asked Monday. "How many Asians?"

"If [minorities] were on their staffs, they would understand," she added.

Some of Reeves' supporters contend the media places an intense spotlight on minority leaders that white politicians simply don't get.

"I never saw another mayor's expenses scrutinized like Mayor Reeves," John R. Clifford, one of the rally organizers, said Monday.

At least one councillor concurred.

"The scrutiny that is now given to this has not been given to people in the past," Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 said last night. "There is some basis in the minority community's feeling that a different standard is being applied."

Cyr said "there is a cultural gap between the white press and the Black community."

The Cambridge Civic Association (CCA)--the city's left-wing political group--contends the issue is one of ethics, not of race.

"Ken has made much greater use of city dollars on discretionary items than any mayor has in the past," said R. Philip Dowds, CCA president. "I think it's time to pull out all the credit cards and all the receipts."

The Chronicle agrees. Its editor suggests that the accusations of racism are being used to place the mayor in the role of victim.

The mayor, Breneman says, "rises to the status of martyr in the eyes of many if the only voice that raises questions about the way he spends the taxpayers' money gets labeled with the r-word."

The Future

The question of Reeves' political future is uncertain, and his relations with the other eight councillors and with a still sympathetic public will be important issues in the upcoming weeks.

Monday's meeting nearly resulted in a shouting match between Reeves and Councillor Jonathan S. Myers, who has called on the mayor to account for his credit-card expenditures.

Indeed, the Monday rally was inspired, its organizers say, by a resolution Myers proposed that requested City Manager Robert W. Healy to provide a public accounting of the school committee over payment.

That proposal was sent to the council's ordinance committee.

Despite the rally's display of political strength, it remains uncertain whether Cantabrigians will see the new questions surrounding Reeves' income-tax payments in 1992, and the more than $30,000 he received in school committee overpayments over the last two years, as the pokings of muckrakers or as issues of ethical impropriety.

Some of Reeves' supporters maintain that the mayor's support is rock-solid.

"He provides a level of leadership that really matters to people, really resolves problems and provides a voice to an underclass in this city, that has never had a voice," Cyr said.

But other supporters say the mayor's future is less secure. "It'll just reinforce people's prejudices," Le said of the media reports. "The mere allegation of impropriety is enough for your average citizen," he said

'A Necessary Evil'?

Some of the most visible actors in this Cambridge play are the media, which have been accused of sensationalism and biased coverage.

Reeves "doesn't get recognition for what he deserves," said Bernard P. Hicks, one of three organizers of Monday's rally. "But for things that are unimportant, he gets recognition," he added.

"It's unconscionable," Reeves declared at the city council meeting, "that anybody would attempt to manipulate fact in a way that is so sick."

"You have a responsibility to ensure that everything you print is true, and comes from reliable, objective and knowledgeable sources," Reeves wrote in a five-page letter to Chronicle editor John H. Breneman Tuesday night, that appears in today's issue of the Chronicle. "In this responsibility, you have sadly failed."

He said the weekly is motivated by "personal enmity."

The Chronicle stands by its story. It insists that its purpose is to report the truth, not to sell papers.

"I know he is half saint and half role model to countless people," Breneman says in an editorial in today's Chronicle, which was obtained by The Crimson. "But it does not relieve the newspaper of its responsibility to ask hard questions, nor does it absolve the mayor of his responsibility to be accountable for city tax dollars."

Moreover, the Chronicle editorial states that Reeves usually refuses to speak with its writers and faults the mayor's attitude toward the press.

"He has never regarded the press as anything more than a necessary evil," Breneman writes in the editorial.

But beyond the charges of sensationalism and lack of accountability are statements--from Reeves' supporters--that the mayor needs to improve his P.R.

"The standards in the public arena are higher than anywhere else," said Edward N. Cyr, who served on the city council from 1990 to 1994. "I think he has to be more cooperative with the press in attempting to deal with these questions."

Other city officials, however, charge the papers with jumping to conclusions far too quickly.

"The press has an obligation not to make assumptions and assertions without damn good evidence," said Councillor Alice K. Wolf, Reeves' predecessor as mayor.

The Race Card

Even more riling than the charges of media sensationalism, however, is the issue of racism.

And it is that issue which has hit a raw nerve in the psyches of many Cantabrigians, who say they are fed up with a largely white press out on a witchhunt for minority leaders.

"If you are a Black male, there must be something the matter," Reeves said in an interview at his City Hall office Monday night.

Van Le '89, a second-year law student at Northeastern University and former aide to Reeves, characterized the Chronicle story as a reporter's vendetta. "Now comes along a very aggressive, a white male reporter who has some agenda," he said at the Monday meeting, to loud cheers from the public gallery.

Sylvia J. Saavedra-Keber, chair of the city's Commission for Latino Affairs and one of the rally organizers, said the media has failed to reflect the diversity of the city's population, and is out of touch with the concerns of people of color.

"How many Black members do they have on their staff?" she asked Monday. "How many Asians?"

"If [minorities] were on their staffs, they would understand," she added.

Some of Reeves' supporters contend the media places an intense spotlight on minority leaders that white politicians simply don't get.

"I never saw another mayor's expenses scrutinized like Mayor Reeves," John R. Clifford, one of the rally organizers, said Monday.

At least one councillor concurred.

"The scrutiny that is now given to this has not been given to people in the past," Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 said last night. "There is some basis in the minority community's feeling that a different standard is being applied."

Cyr said "there is a cultural gap between the white press and the Black community."

The Cambridge Civic Association (CCA)--the city's left-wing political group--contends the issue is one of ethics, not of race.

"Ken has made much greater use of city dollars on discretionary items than any mayor has in the past," said R. Philip Dowds, CCA president. "I think it's time to pull out all the credit cards and all the receipts."

The Chronicle agrees. Its editor suggests that the accusations of racism are being used to place the mayor in the role of victim.

The mayor, Breneman says, "rises to the status of martyr in the eyes of many if the only voice that raises questions about the way he spends the taxpayers' money gets labeled with the r-word."

The Future

The question of Reeves' political future is uncertain, and his relations with the other eight councillors and with a still sympathetic public will be important issues in the upcoming weeks.

Monday's meeting nearly resulted in a shouting match between Reeves and Councillor Jonathan S. Myers, who has called on the mayor to account for his credit-card expenditures.

Indeed, the Monday rally was inspired, its organizers say, by a resolution Myers proposed that requested City Manager Robert W. Healy to provide a public accounting of the school committee over payment.

That proposal was sent to the council's ordinance committee.

Despite the rally's display of political strength, it remains uncertain whether Cantabrigians will see the new questions surrounding Reeves' income-tax payments in 1992, and the more than $30,000 he received in school committee overpayments over the last two years, as the pokings of muckrakers or as issues of ethical impropriety.

Some of Reeves' supporters maintain that the mayor's support is rock-solid.

"He provides a level of leadership that really matters to people, really resolves problems and provides a voice to an underclass in this city, that has never had a voice," Cyr said.

But other supporters say the mayor's future is less secure. "It'll just reinforce people's prejudices," Le said of the media reports. "The mere allegation of impropriety is enough for your average citizen," he said