Chicago

POLITICS in Chicago is as ugly as ever.

Harold Washington has been mayor for eight months, but a lot of people, especially his fellow politicians, haven't adjusted to the idea of a black mayor — and Washington hasn't exactly been waving an olive branch himself.

The result is that 1984 promises to be another tumultuous year, not only in the main battleground, the City Council, but at the polls. It's an election year, and a lot's at stake — including the state's attorney's office and leadership of the Cook County Democratic party.

Whoever wins election as state's attorney is an odds-on bet to run against Washington in the 1987 mayoral election. Incumbent Richard M. Daley faces a challenge in the Democratic primary from Chicago Alderman Lawrence Bloom, a white friend of Washington. Daley is a strong favorite, but his troubles will just be beginning. In the general election, he will be up against Richard Brezczek (unopposed in the Republican primary), who was Chicago police superintendent under Mayor Jane Byrne, and there is much speculation that Washington will put up a black independent candidate.

Even if there is no independent, Daley will have his hands full. He won election against Republican incumbent Bernard Carey in 1980 by only 16,000 votes out of 2.1 million cast. But with a black in the race, Daley doesn't have a chance.

Washington is bitter because Daley has given him no help in his battle with the white majority on the City Council and its leader, Edward R. Vrdolyak. In fact, aldermen loyal to Daley have consistently voted with Vrdolyak. Furthermore, Washington wants to eliminate Daley as a potential opponent. A loss in this race, on the heels of his third place finish in last year's Democratic mayoral primary, would give Daley the image of a loser.

A black candidate would siphon off a huge share of Democratic votes, handing the election to the Republican candidate, Brezczek, and paving the way for Brezczek to run for mayor. Then we might see a repeat of the Washington-Epton race of 1983, with large numbers of white Democrats voting for the Republican candidate. Washington doesn't see Brezczek as a pushover, but he views him as less of a threat than Daley.

If there is no viable independent in the state's attorney race, it may prove to be as close as it was in 1980. In that election, Daley collected 685,000 votes in Chicago, to 422,000 for Carey; Carey polled 620,000 in the suburbs, to 373,000 for Daley. Daley did remarkably well in the suburbs compared to previous elections. Mayor Byrne was perceived as supporting Carey, and this apparently resulted in a backlash against him.

The 1984 election should follow the usual pattern for Cook County elections, with the suburbanites generally supporting the Republican candidate and the city residents going for the Democrat. But Brezczek is a Republican merely by convenience. He has had no political involvement in the past, he simply was plucked out by the county Republicans as a prominent, ambitious person. In this respect, he may not demand total loyalty from the members of his new party. His past association with Byrne could be a liability, too.

The Daley name, of course, remains popular in the city. But the fact that he was outpolled by Byrne last February shows that it is hardly the magic name it was when his father ran six times for mayor.

The contest between Daley and Bloom has not attracted much attention, but another aspect of the March 20 primary election has — the fact that voters will be casting ballots for political party committeemen. Washington is organizing a campaign in many wards to unseat incumbent Democratic committeemen loyal to Vrdolyak, who doubles as head of the council majority bloc and head of the party, is up for reelection by the newly chosen Democratic central committee in April. George Dunne, who was ousted by Vrdolyak the last time around, is a supporter of Washington and may try to get his old job back.

The slating of primary candidates in November was one more example of the rift between whites and blacks There were indications that Washington and Vrdolyak had reached a compromise for a racially balanced tide which would include black Alderman Wilson Frost as the candidate for a major county office, recorder of deeds. But instead, state Rep. Harry (Bus) Yourell was slated and another black Washington backer, Thomas Fuller, an incumbent commissioner of the Metropolitan Sanitary District, was turned down for renomination. This prompted much talk in the black community of fielding a separate slate of candidates to challenge the organization's slate in the primary. But ultimately, black leaders announced they would concentrate on defeating pro-Vrdolyak committeemen.

The party did slate two blacks: Circuit Judge Charles Freeman for the Illinois Appellate Court and Iola McGowan, a friend of Byrne, for a two-year term on the sanitary district board (she wanted a six-year term). Several white committeemen quickly indicated they and their constituents probably will disregard the slating and back former Mayor Michael Bilandic for the court and Gloria Majewski, widow of sanitary commissioner Chester Majewski, for the sanitary district.