Word: craning
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...wouldn't you know it, after everything is all set and finished, the old clerk had a paralytic attack," recalls then councilor Eddie Crane '35. And as the stick froze in his hand for what seemed like hours, one of the brief majority quickly withdrew his vote. Nobody had five. The balloting would continue...
...thought he had the mayor and they pulled the roof on him," laughs Crane, the king of the Cambridge mayors, (he has served four times in 20 years). It took another couple of months and 1321 ballots before Crane had to settle it himself by breaking with the liberal ticket and casting a vote for an independent, thus ending the longest mayoral contest in the history of Cambridge...
...Everybody refers to him as being ceremonial, but in any legislative body the power of the gavel (which the mayor holds at all times except during the mayoral election) can be very effective," says Crane. "And," he quips, "if the mayor's job is used properly it could get you a lot of number-one votes in the next council election...
...Crane showed just how far the mayoralty can be parlayed into getting those crucial top votes in Cambridge's proportional-representation elections. After getting elected mayor in 1950-51, he doubled the necessary quota of number-one votes needed to get a seat on the following year's council...
...Crane says now that such moves are something new, abusing a system of reform government designed to eliminate the politics of hiring and firing city managers. But such deals have been more a matter of course in recent years than exceptions...