Chairman Dunne — a little more democratic than Daley THE LATE Mayor Richard J. Daley was often referred to by his persistent critic and opponent. Alderman Leon Despres, as "Chairman Daley" to dramatize Despres' contention that Daley's power stemmed, not from his role as mayor of Chicago, but from his other position as chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee. After Daley's death his heirs were determined not to allow anyone to replicate Daley's coup in seizing both offices again. Daley was too strong for any of the other ward committeemen to challenge during his more than two decade term in office and they were determined not to allow anyone to exercise such power again. During the immediate aftermath of Daley's demise, when Michael A. Bilandic was selected to be acting mayor with no chance to be party chairman since he was not a committeeman, the party leaders turned to Cook County Board President George Dunne, the committeeman of Chicago's 42nd Ward, as the logical choice to succeed Daley as party chairman. Beating the challenger Dunne was challenged by Chicago Park District Supt. Edmund Kelly, the committeeman of the Northwest Side 47th Ward, but Kelly's abortive move faded quickly as the great majority of the committeemen made it clear that they backed Dunne to head the party apparatus in the critical days after Daley's sudden death. Why was Dunne the logical choice? He was experienced both as a committeeman and as a public administrator, had spent a lifetime by age 64 in politics and government, had climbed the ladder in both areas slowly and competently, was Irish, had strong support from the suburban committeemen and had the confidence of most people who had known him and dealt with him during his long career. And he was a little old to seek to create the kind of empire Daley had built. Picturing the man Dunne's style as party chairman is significantly different than Daley's. Dunne is a handsome, over 6-foot tall Irishman with a courtly old school manner, and he is soft-spoken and low-keyed. He refuses to hire a public relations man, talks to almost anyone who wants to see him and spurns the use of a limousine. He either walks home from the office or can be seen emerging from the subway at Chicago Avenue on a particularly inclement day. Dunne is tolerant of opposition, disarmingly congenial to critics and difficult to argue with or dislike. Most people loved or hated Daley, feared or obsequiously cultivated him, but almost universally respected him. Dunne is hated by almost nobody, loved by a few people, but liked by almost everyone. But beneath the open, gracious public figure is a tough, hard-nosed traditional Chicago politician who began as a precinct worker, served in leadership posts in the legislature, labored in the vineyards of the bureaucracy and has directed the affairs of Cook County as County Board president for 10 years. Dunne has been in office as party chairman now for a year and a half. How has the Chicago Democratic machine fared under his leadership? Dunne has an open door policy as party chairman. He holds court at the party headquarters in the Bismarck Hotel two afternoons a week for anyone who wants to see him without an appointment. One could usually get to see Daley during his chairmanship, too, but there was a preliminary screening and formal appointment process. Things are also different under Dunne in the internal dynamics of the machine. Daley was never a dictator but rather the governing lord of a feudal party structure. But he was a powerful, charismatic leader who had the final word on matters of party policy, on slating candidates, on dispensing patronage and on disbursing funds. And while he usually did not interfere in local ward matters, deferring to the committeemen while holding them accountable for the delivery of their wards, he moved in when a ward deteriorated politically or was derelict in contributing to the overall needs of the party. Decentralizing power Since Daley's death the power within the party organization has been considerably more decentralized with the ward committeemen in firmer control of the prerogatives of politics. Dunne runs a more democratic ship, relying more on persuasion, good will and his lifelong expertise and experience. But he has clearly emerged as a respected leader who fits his times and the party's needs in the contemporary post-Daley era. At the April 1978 meeting of the Democratic County Central Committee, Dunne was reelected unanimously as chairman in an atmosphere of cooperation and acceptance of the current party status quo by potential opposition committeemen. There have been some differences with Mayor Bilandic and his key aide, Tom Donovan, but they have not been insurmountable, and the two factions seem to have achieved a modus vivendi in defining their respective roles and spheres of influence. There was a short-lived brouhaha, created by alienated old time powerhouse ward committemen like Vito Marzullo and Matthew Bieszczat, when Dunne and State Central Committee Chairman John Touhy went along with Alan Dixon and Michael Bakalis in attempting to deny slating to Jerry Cosentino and Richard Troy for state treasurer and attorney general. But that also has been ameliorated in the wake of a successful machine dominated primary election last March. The Democratic party may lose most state offices in the upcoming November election, but the Cook County machine will carry the county without any trouble, and will easily renominate and reeled Mayor Bilandic and the usual heavy majority of aldermen to the city council in the February primary and April election in 1979. This is not to say that all internal party problems have been resolved in the Cook County machine or that new problems will not come up in the future. But it is to say that the machine has clearly survived the immediate aftermath of Daley's sudden passing quite well, and that machine politics is still the dominant and indeed the only political game worth playing in town in Chicago. Stability, continuity, adaptation, subordination of private interests to party needs, and practical politics are still the watchwords in Chicago and Cook County Democratic politics today. Much of the credit for a successful transition from the Daley era to what exists now and is yet to come belongs to George Dunne. 34/July 1978/Illinois Issues
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