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Chicago



The second most important question: What kind of council will be elected?



By ED McMANUS

The events of the last four years have shown that a Chicago mayor with a hostile city council is barely a mayor. The biggest question in Chicago politics right now is, of course, whether or not Mayor Harold Washington can overcome his numerous opponents and win reelection. But almost as important is what kind of council will be elected.

Not to suggest that the only way Chicago can run is the way it ran before Washington — with a city council that was nothing more than a rubber stamp of the mayor. Governors and presidents function perfectly well dealing with legislatures and congresses controlled by opposition parties. But the enmity between Washington and the opposition bloc led by Aid. Edward Vrdolyak is something else — a bitter dispute that paralyzed city government for more than three years.

For most of Washington's tenure, he could count on only 21 aldermen to support him on major issues. The other 29 formed a bloc headed by Vrdolyak, chairman of the Cook County Democratic party. As a result of special elections held in seven wards last April — ordered by a federal court to remedy discrimination — control of four of them was transferred to Washington, leaving the council split 25-25, with the mayor holding the power to break ties.

The voters will cast ballots in nonpartisan aldermanic elections on February 24, the same day Washington is expected to go head-to-head with former Mayor Jane Byrne in the Democratic mayoral primary. And the way the election system works, runoffs for alderman will be held April 7 in wards where no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. The mayoral finale also will be held that day, featuring the winners of the primaries plus third-party candidates.

It's impossible to predict what kind of council will emerge from this year's elections. Washington, if reelected, may again be forced to deal with a hostile council, although it won't be led by Vrdolyak (he is retiring from his aldermanic seat to run for mayor) and therefore might not be as militant. If someone else is elected mayor, allies of Washington may nevertheless have a majority of council seats; without Washington as their leader, however, the bloc probably would be splintered.

The four wards currently represented by Hispanics — two aligned with Washington and two with Vrdolyak — are considered up for grabs, as are the six wards along the north lakefront, the most liberal area of the city. Two of the lakefront wards are currently represented by Washington-allied aldermen who have decided not to run for reelection, Martin Oberman in the 43rd and Marion Volini in the 48th, giving the opposition a golden opportunity to pick up strength.

If someone else is elected mayor, allies of Washington may nevertheless have a majority of council seats; without Washington as their leader, however, the bloc probably would be splintered

The Vrdolyak forces also have targeted Burton Natarus (42nd) and David Orr (49th) for defeat. Natarus, in particular, is in trouble with his constituents because of his support for Washington's property tax increase in the fall. Washington's people, meanwhile, hope to oust Bernard Hansen (44th) and Jerome Orbach (46th). A homosexual, Ron Sable, is running against Hansen and has strong backing from the gay community.

Two black aldermen have recently been indicted for bribery and three other are under investigation. But even if all five are defeated, they are likely to be succeeded by other blacks, so Washington won't suffer.

36/February 1987/Illinois Issues


At this writing (early January), the Democratic mayoral primary is expected to be a one-on-one between Washington and Byrne, and the general election will feature a four-candidate race among the winners of the Democratic and the Republican primaries plus two third-party candidates: Vrdolyak, running under the banner of the Illinois Solidarity Party, and Cook County assessor Thomas Hynes, who is creating a "Chicago First" party. But there has been so much shifting and manuevering that no one knows for sure what the final lineup will be.

It is an inescapable fact that, once again, this election will be determined by race. Washington starts with a huge base, the black community, that constitutes 40 percent of the electorate. The blacks are overwhelmingly behind. So all he needs are some white and Hispanic votes to defeat Byrne in the primary. Byrne doesn't have much of a following; most of her votes will be anti-black votes. But of course there are a lot of them.

Donald Haider, a Northwestern University professor, has been endorsed by the tiny Republican organization. He was expected to defeat Bernard Epton for the GOP nomination, but Epton, the GOP canadidate in 1983, is off the ballot.

Vrdolyak's involvement has added a bizarre twist to an already complicated election. Though he heads the Democratic party, he has chosen to bypass its primary. Not wanting to siphon votes from Byrne and thereby aid Washington's party nomination, Vrdolyak has declared himself the candidate of the Solidarity Party, a party created by Adlai E. Stevenson III in last year's gubernatorial election. His standing in the polls is dismal and even political experts are hard-pressed to figure out why he's running.

Hynes could be a formidable candidate. A former state Senate president, he is generally well respected by those who know him. His problem now is that he's not well known, but a spirited campaign may change that. If he could run against Washington alone, he would have a real chance, but the presence of Haider and Vrdolyak in the race will hurt him. Washington has to rate the favorite, but it's far from a foregone conclusion.

40/February 1987/Illinois Issues



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