Politics                     

Choice of a legislator depends on the primary in some districts By CHARLES N. WHEELER III Between the Lillehammer Winter Olympics and Michael Jordan's spring training debut, one can sympathize with Illinoisans who might be tempted to ignore Election 94 until after the primary dust settles and the fall matchups are set. That may be a reasonable way to approach the races for governor and for the other constitutional offices. But in many parts of the state, voters who adopt a wait-and-see attitude toward legislative hopefuls will lose their only chance at a meaningful choice. Up for election this year are 21 of the 59 Senate seats and all 118 House seats. In more than three-quarters of those districts, the nominee of the majority party is an almost certain November winner. Indeed, in many Chicago districts there is no Republican candidate on the ballot, while Democrats are equally scarce in some suburban districts. Downstate, each party took a pass in some strongholds of its rival. Party officials will fill most vacancies by November, but the candidates are likely to be sacrificial lambs — two years ago, for example, only two of 46 late starters were elected. In most of the lopsided districts, incumbent lawmakers are running unopposed in the primary. In some three dozen of them, however, the majority party nomination is being contested, providing voters the only real choice they'll have among legislative candidates. And some of the primary contests have implications that extend beyond district lines. On the Democratic side, a half dozen Chicago-area contests will determine whether blacks increase their numbers in the House, while for Republicans, a handful of suburban races is renewing the perennial tug-of-war between moderates and conservatives. Perhaps the greatest irony of the 1991 redistricting was its impact upon minority representation in the House. The plan's GOP authors crafted 18 House districts with African-American majorities of 65 percent or higher but left the door open in some districts for white candidates to win with the support of strong Democratic ward organizations. Indeed, whites took six of the 18 seats in 1992, for a net loss of two in the House black caucus. Now African-American challengers are on the ballot for all six seats, with perhaps their best chance coming in two districts in which the incumbents — Reps. Frank Giglio of Calumet City and Clem Balanoff of Chicago — opted to run for Congress. Five hopefuls, including four African Americans, are vying for Giglio's seat in the 29th District, which snakes from the far south side into the south suburbs. Five candidates, including three blacks, want to replace Balanoff in the 32nd District, a large chunk of the far south side and a slice of south suburbia. Of the four white incumbents seeking renomination. Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie of Chicago may have the stiffest test. The eight-term veteran faces Florence B. Cox, a former president of the Chicago Board of Education, in a head-on contest in the south side 25th District. The other three incumbents — Reps. Daniel J. Burke, James W. Phelan and Thomas J. Dart, all Chicagoans — could benefit from multiple black challengers splitting the African-American vote in their southwest and south side districts. In all six contests, turnout is likely to be a key factor, particularly if the black community is energized by Atty. Gen. Roland W. Bums and Cook County Commissioner John Stroger, who are seeking to become the first African Americans elected governor and Cook County Board president, respectively. Republicans, meanwhile, are watching five suburban House contests in which moderate freshmen — four of them women — face conservative challengers. The threatened lawmakers include Reps. Carolyn H. Krause of Mount Prospect in the northwest suburban 56th, Ann Hughes of Woodstock in the far northwest suburban 63rd, Patricia Reid Lindner of Aurora in the far west suburban 65th, Douglas L. Hoeft of Elgin in the northwest suburban 66th and Judy Biggert of Hinsdale in the west suburban 81st. Like some other 6/March 1994/Illinois Issues