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CAMBRIDGE
Bye bye, Braude

BY DORIE CLARK

Jim Braude, Cambridge's highest-profile city councilor, announced on Tuesday that he won't run for a second term this fall. His decision follows that of Kathy Born, who told supporters earlier this year that she's retiring after eight years on the council. Braude, famed for co-hosting a radio talk show with Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan and for his stint heading up the Tax Equity Alliance for Massachusetts (TEAM), was a relentlessly progressive voice in the People's Republic. He fought for standard liberal causes like affordable housing and championed his own pet initiatives, such as the direct election of the mayor (councilors currently pick the mayor from their own ranks).

Braude says he's stepping down to spend more time with his children. " Just as convinced as our governor is that she can be both a good parent to young kids and a good public official, that's how convinced I am that I can't be, " he says. " I may very well run again in the future, but my kids are nine and seven only once. " He admits that there were frustrations with the job that contributed to his decision, however: " The overwhelmingly important factor was the kids, but other pieces of other things - yeah, but they're best left to [be discussed] another day. " He will continue his role on 96.9 FM because his radio show - unlike council meetings - is confined to school hours.

Local political observers see his decision as a blow for the city. " Because he was so instrumental in helping to break some of the long-standing traditions of partisan politics, I'll miss him, " says former Cambridge School Committee member Glenn Koocher. Former city-council candidate Robert Winters, publisher of the online Cambridge Civic Journal, agrees. " He was not a glad-handing, street-corner-naming, death-resolution-writing kind of councilor. He was interested in actual policy matters for the city, " he says. He worries that Braude's departure will send a message that the city council isn't a place for heavy-hitting intellectuals: " I honestly don't know what we're going to do to get good people like him interested in this. "

Braude's decision to leave does have two clear beneficiaries, however: school-committee member Denise Simmons and political operative Brian Murphy, the only credible challengers for the council thus far (though other contenders may emerge in the wake of Braude's announcement). Both Simmons and Murphy are expected to draw from Braude's base of progressive supporters.

Issue Date: June 28 - July 5, 2001