Walsh to be Jailed; End of an Era

An era in Cambridge politics marked by the controversial and, for some, infuriating antics of Councillor William H. Walsh, ended this week.

Nearly eight months after his March conviction on 41 counts of bank fraud, conspiracy and making false statements, Walsh was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison and two years' probation.

But while Walsh was finally ousted from his council seat, Walsh's saga appears to be far from over.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf blasted Walsh's conduct at the Tuesday sentencing. "You lied, you caused others to lie and you deliberately lied under oath," he told Walsh.

But Wolf also sharply criticized the "egregious behavior" of Dime Savings Bank of New York, which Walsh was convicted of defrauding in the sum of $2.9 million.

And the judge granted Walsh a stay of his sentencing pending the councillor's appeal.

Citing numerous letters from Walsh supporters, Wolf said, "I have probably never sentenced someone who has done so much for other people."

Walsh's appeal may last well over a year.

Colorful Councillor

The colorful councillor, who had repeatedly resisted demands for his resignation, fought to the bitter end. While the Massachusetts General Laws state that a public official must vacate office upon sentencing, the five-term councillor insisted that he was entitled to serve until his prison term started.

"I'm going to fight to overturn this no matter what," Walsh promised at the sentencing. "I'm the toughest fighter you've ever met."

In the end, only a temporary restraining order from the state's highest court finally managed to keep Walsh from his council seat.

Chapter 279, section 30 of the Massachusetts General Laws requires that a public official leave office upon sentencing to a federal penitentiary.

After Walsh's refusal to resign, Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger '64 filed Wednesday for an injunction to keep Walsh from participating on the nine-member council.

But Walsh's attorney, James L. Sultan, argued that since the councillor was not ordered to a specific prison, the law could not apply.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) disagreed. In a three-page ruling. Associate Justice Neil L. Lynch '52 concluded that "the term 'federal penitentiary' is used in its generic sense."

Walsh has 20 days to respond to the restraining order, after which Lynch may issue a permanent injunction barring the councillor from serving. Along with trying to persuade Lynch to reverse his decision, Walsh might seek to have his case heard before the full court rather than a single justice.

"Justice Lynch has made it pretty clear that he agress with our arguments," said Ed Cafasso, spokesperson for the attorney general's office. "It's never a happy day when an elected official who has betrayed the public trust has to be forced from public office."

@D: A Comeback?

Even if Walsh is sent to federal prison, he could conceivably run for re-election next year or 1997.

Walsh was re-elected last year while under indictment for defrauding a bank of $2.9 million. He is especially popular among elderly residents and property owners for his opposition to rent control.

"Can he run for re-election and win?" asked CCA President R. Philip Dowds, a Walsh foe. "Look at Oliver North, who almost won, Marion Barry, who's back as mayor in Washington. Amazing things happen in politics."

Council Impact

Walsh's removal from the council comes in the midst of one of the worst crises in Cambridge in the last quarter century. The city council met daily this week, scrambling to salvage a form of rent control in the face of Question 9's narrow passage last week.

The council plans to submit a home-rule petition to the state legislature by Monday, asking Beacon Hill to let Cambridge keep a form of rent control.

Walsh has been the most outspoken opponent of rent control, charging that the 24-year-old program is abused by high-income tenants.

Walsh blasted the four options options offered by City Manager Robert W. Healy. They range from vacancy decontrol, which would remove units from rent control when their occupants leave, to making substantial modifications to the existing program.

But the councillor demanded that the city retreat from any attempt to reimpose rent control.

"Rent control as you know it is history," Walsh declared at Monday's meeting.

He attacked the four councillors affiliated with the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), who favor keeping as much of rent control as possible, with ignoring the will of the state's voters.

"This group will throw something ridiculous at the State House and the property owners are going to fight it," he said. "I predict it will die in the state legislature."

"They just don't get it," he added Monday.

Walsh compared Question 9, which repealed rent control for the 14,415 controled units in Cambridge, to a baseball game: after nine innings, the score was close but the game is over.

Walsh's political foes responded angrily. "I'm a little tired of that kind of talk," Councillor Katherine Triantafillou told the council. "This is not a spirit that I think is productive and useful in this chamber."

With the three other Independent councillors--Vice Mayor Sheila T. Russell and Councillors Michael A. Sullivan and Timothy J. Toomey Jr.--Walsh sponsored his own proposal Monday, to keep rent control for low-income, elderly and handicapped tenants for a maximum of three years.

The Independents later agreed to extend the proposal to protect these tenants for five years, after which rent control would be completely ended. The CCA-endorsed councillors favor permanently keeping some semblance of rent control.

Election Dispute

Even Walsh's removal has generated another controversy, as two men began a tense fight this week over who will succeed the councillor.

The Cambridge Election Commission had originally been instructed to begin a recount of Walsh's ballots on Monday.

Under the city's proportional representation voting system, voters rank nine councillors--who represent the city at large--in order of preference. When a seat is vacated, only those ballots whose voters had ranked that councillor first are recounted, and the candidate with the most votes wins.

Anthony D. Galluccio, who finished 12th in last November's council race, is likely to succeed Walsh under this system. But James J. McSweeney, who actually finished 10th in the election, obtained a restraining order from Middlesex Country Superior Court yesterday, preventing the election commission from holding a recount until the court can settle the dispute.

"There are currently no guidelines for filling the current, vacancy and it is incumbent upon the Board [of Election Commissioners] to come [up] with the fairest method possible," Dennis Newman, McSweeney's attorney, wrote Wednesday in a letter to the board.

Newman suggested that the only two fair ways to determine Walsh's successor would be to appoint the candidate who came closest to winning or to redistribute all unallocated ballots, including the 2182 ballots cast for Walsh. Both methods would result in McSweeney's selection.

Teresa S. Neighbor, executive director of the Election Commission, confirmed yesterday that no recount of the ballots has been planned yet.

Galluccio last night vigorously defended his right to the council seat. "This is not a principled objection to the voting system," he told The Crimson last night. "It's not liking the results so he's proposing other methods to win by."

He acknowledged that the proportional system "will continuously be questioned." But he said that the system is designed to replace councillors with candidates similar in ideology.

"Bill Walsh's voters don't care that Jim McSweeney finished ahead of Edward N. Cyr or Anthony Galluccio," Galluccio said. "The principle is that the candidate who is most compatible with the candidate that's vacated the seat, will replace him."

McSweeney and Newman did not return repeated messages left yesterday.

The court injunction will virtually insure that no replacement is picked in time for Sunday's vote on the city's response to Question 9, Galluccio said.

"Basically what his action has done has prevented there being a full-seated city council in place to vote on the home-rule petition," he added.