Chicago

By ED McMANUS

Old enemies, new friends: Bryne & Vrdolyak

JANE BYRNE is scared.

As the end of her term as mayor of Chicago approaches, Cook County State's Atty. Richard M. Daley, son of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, appears poised to challenge her in the February 1983 Democratic mayoral primary. And private polls indicate he can beat her.

Byrne took a big step toward shoring up her defenses this spring by engineering the election of Alderman Edward R. Vrdolyak as chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. There is no doubt that Vrdolyak will be a more active and energetic chairman than his predecessor, George Dunne. More important, Byrne could not count on Dunne's loyalty and wanted someone in the job who supported her. But Vrdolyak has a somewhat notorious reputation as a wheeler-dealer, and Daley's people hope that as a result, the new chairman will do Byrne more harm than good.

Dunne, the president of the County Board, became party chairman after Mayor Daley died in 1976 but was never a very powerful figure. That is because the mayor's office, with so many patronage jobs at its disposal, is the real seat of power. The fact that Byrne herself toppled the machine in 1979 did not speak well for Dunne's ability to deliver the vote. And he was blamed for machine losses in this year's primary as well.

But Byrne's desire to have her own man in the chair was the key factor. Dunne would not commit to her, and she feared he might even decide to back Daley. She had to get rid of him.

Vrdolyak, who became committeeman of the blue collar 10th Ward on the city's far south side in 1968 at the age of 30, has represented the ward in the city council since 1971. Ironically, he was one of Byrne's chief antagonists before she became mayor. She called him "a fast-buck artist" and claimed he was the ringleader of "a cabal of evil men" running City Hall. Not long after her election, he became one of her closest allies. He has been investigated from time to time for questionable real estate deals, and the newspapers refer to him disparagingly as "Fast Eddie." But he has never been indicted.

Bryne is hoping that Vrdolyak can whip ward organization into line in support of her candidacy. According to her aides, she also hopes he can raise a lot of money on behalf of the party. Some of that might go to her and some of it might be parceled out to candidates in the November election. Adlai Stevenson, for instance, is badly in need of money in his campaign for governor. Although he seems to be learning toward Daley and he supported Dunne against Vrdolyak, he conceivably could be persuaded to commit to Byrne if Vrdolyak offered him a big contribution from party funds.

Vrdolyak had no trouble winning. The mayor got on the phone to various committeemen, and one by one, in the days before the vote, Dunne supporters caved in and switched their allegiances.

Also putting pressure on committee men was Charles Swibel, controversial head of the Chicago Housing Authority and another close adviser to the mayor. Only 12 of the 50 committal men from city wards remained loyal to Dunne. (He also had the support of 21 of the 30 committeemen from suburban townships, but that didn't mean much. Under the system of weighted voting, each committeeman's voting strength is determined by the number of Democratic ballots in the most recent primary in his ward or township, and there are five times as many Democrats in the city as in the suburbs.)

Key ward committeemen holding out for Dunne were Daley's brother, John P. Daley; his cousin, John M. Daley; County Assessor Thomas C. Hynes; House Minority Leader Michael J. Madigan; and Alderman William O. Lipinski.

Having unburdened herself of Dunne, Byrne nevertheless has plenty of other headaches remaining. She has a tendency to create new ones for herself at the drop of a hat. Her impassioned defense of Swibel (whose reputation is similar to Vrdolyak's), when he was accused by the federal government of mismanaging the housing authority, certainly must have lost her a lot of votes.

The biggest thing going for Byrne is the fact that Daley isn't a very impressive campaigner. But his name is an obvious asset, at least in the view of many Chicagoans, and he seems to have done an adequate job so far as state's attorney.

Some Democrats still have hopes that a third candidate will emerge, but at this point it doesn't appear that will happen. U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski would be a possibility, but he aspires to be speaker of the U.S. House and is not likely to run for mayor.

Byrne's popularity has been swinging like a pendulum since her election, and although it appears to be down now (if the polls are to be believed), it could swing back. Vrdolyak will do his best to see that that happens — unless, of course, he decides to desert her and rejoin the "cabal."

38 | June 1982 | Illinois Issues