Cambridge Civic Journal Forum

Cost Per #1 Vote – 2007 Cambridge Municipal Election

How many Cambridge voters have voted in the last 20 elections without a miss, including all primary elections? Are you on the list?

I just loaded the latest registered voter list, the most recent street listing, and all of the voter history files from November 1997 to November 2008 into my database software. Anything else you’d like to know???

— Robert Winters

Anyone who knows anything about the manner in which people are appointed to the Cambridge Election Commission knows that it’s all about politics. Sometimes it’s also about payback, and the Republican City Committee is giving Republican Commissioner Artis Spears much the same treatment that the Democratic City Committee gave former Commissioner Sondra Schier in 1994. Commissioner Spears has served on the Cambridge Election Commission since 1980, the longest of all four current commissioners. Each political committee nominates three people in alternate years from which the City Manager must choose (by April 1) to serve for a four-year term.

Two years ago, in 2007, the Republican City Committee forwarded a ranked list of three nominees to the City Manager as their nominees: Peter Sheinfeld, Fred Baker, and Ethridge King. Though not required to do so, the City Manager typically chooses the first choice of the committee, but in 2007 he passed over the top two nominees and chose Ethridge King to fill the slot. The word at the time was that Artis Spears had lobbied the City Manager heavily to appoint Ethridge King. As one might expect, this did not go over so well among Republican City Committee members.

On Monday, February 9, the Republican City Committee met for their biannual nomination meeting and chose Peter Sheinfeld as their #1 nominee on a 22-9 vote. Their 2nd nominee was Henry Irving on a 20-13 vote. Their 3rd nominee was Fred Baker on a 20-12 vote with 1 abstention. In each case it was a choice between two candidates, and Artis Spears was defeated in each round.

The rules governing the process are spelled out here: http://rwinters.com/docs/Acts1921Chap239.htm. The relevant section is this: “SECTION 3. As the terms of the several election commissioners expire, and in case a vacancy occurs in said board, the city manager shall so appoint their successors that the members of the board shall, as equally may be, represent the two leading political parties, and in no case shall an appointment be so made as to cause the board to have more than two members of the same political party. Every such appointment shall be made by the city manager from a list to be submitted to him by the city committee of the political party from the members of which the position is to be filled, containing the names of three enrolled members of such party in said city, selected by vote of a majority of members of such committee present and voting at a duly called meeting; provided, that not less than thirty such members are present and voting at such meeting; and every member of said board shall serve until the expiration of his term and until his successor has qualified. No appointment to said board need be confirmed by the city council.”

State law does not specify that the list of three nominees be a ranked list. This is a practice that both party committees choose to do in an effort to have as much control as possible over the eventual choice, but it has no legal standing whatsoever.