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Chicago                                                  

Chicago still waiting
for great expectations
promised by Clinton

By MANUEL GALVAN

Manuel Galvan

The election of President Bill Clinton signaled the beginning of fulfilling a dream for legions of Americans, including those alienated by the previous administration — minorities, gays and the Democratic party. The expectations of Illinois and clout-conscious Chicago were raised for the spoils of victory with the president's inaugural speech about a new season of American renewal. But eight months after Clinton was sworn in the supporters are still waiting.

Year after year, through the Reagan and Bush administrations, big city mayors gathered in Washington, D.C., and made the executive branch rounds seeking more federal dollars for their urban centers. The message from Republican administrations was always the same — "Don't plan on more money." This year the largely Democratic U.S. Conference of Mayors expected a big change and in February presented the White House with a "wish list" of $7.2 billion for more than 4,000 projects in 470 municipalities.

Mayor Richard M. Daley had already proclaimed his "wish list" within weeks of Clinton's election: more jobs, more police officers, renovated infrastructures.

Heading into the fall, Daley and the other mayors were still waiting for their dollars. Not all of them were waiting patiently. As far back as June, Daley cautioned Clinton that "people will lose confidence," unless something happens. "What I am basically waiting for is money to put people to work, and money for health programs and education programs, which were promised," Daley said at a news conference. "We're still waiting."

So was the American public. But in the meantime, Clinton took a dive in the polls. According to Yankelovich and Gallup, Clinton's approval rating after only four months in office dropped to 36 percent, lower than every White House resident since before President Harry S. Truman. An Associated Press poll in July reported that nearly three in five Americans said Clinton had broken his promises too often, and just two in five gave him a high trust rating.

Still, Clinton loyalists in Chicago say an Illinois poll would be more favorable for the politically moderate president because the state is moderate. Yet, while they are waiting and watching, many echo the words of one Clinton supporter who said, "Anticipation has ebbed. Now people are getting concerned."

Several milestones in each administration inidicate a president's treatment of regional and special interest supporters — cabinet posts, political jobs, legislation and elections.

Illinois clearly lost ground on cabinet posts. President George Bush had Illinoisans: Secy. of Agriculture Edward Madigan, Secy. of Labor Lynn Martin, Secy. of Transportation Sam Skinner and Secy. of Veterans Affairs Edward J. Derwinski. In the Clinton cabinet only Secy. of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown

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has ties to Illinois.

Daley got on the Clinton bandwagon late last year, but he still expected a political reward. That payback was shaping up to be the appointment of the mayor's brother, William, as the new administration's secretary of transportation. Clinton's signals were so strong that Bill Daley was shopping for a D.C. home when it was announced that Frederico Pena was the new secretary of transportation. Despite public pronouncements, the communications fiasco strained the Chicago-Clinton ties.

Clinton supporters in Chicago say there are still scores of major federal posts to be filled at the regional levels. They also correctly note that it is at these levels where a lot of policy is actually set. And they point to key noncabinet posts given to Chicagoans, such as that given to campaign guru David Wilhelm, who became Democratic national party chairman.

Women have fared well. In November they increased their U.S. Senate representation from two to seven, including Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.). Their ranks rose from 28 to 47 in the House of Representatives. Clinton sought to eliminate the "token" tag for women from the Supreme Court by naming Ruth Bader Ginsburg to join Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the nine-member panel.

But picking Ginsburg gnawed at many national and Chicago Hispanic leaders, who believed it was time for a Latino to be named to the Supreme Court. Clinton further vexed them by naming Dr. Joycelyn Elders to the surgeon general post at the cost of removing Dr. Antonia Novello, a Puerto-Rican. Although Novello was a Bush appointment, Hispanics wanted to see a Latino replace her. The move may have been engineered by the Clinton team to appease African-Americans across the country, still smarting over his withdrawn support for Lani Guinier as assistant attorney general for civil rights.

The strongest sense of betrayal was felt, however, by many in Chicago's gay community as well as the nation's, who believed that Clinton backed down from his early promises of ending the ban on gays in the military. Members of Chicago's gay community — the largest and most politically active between the coasts — see Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as condoning discrimination. They are also frustrated because they have nowhere else to go politically, as long as the Conservative Right keeps its hammerlock on the national Republican Party.

Much of the pledged Clinton legislation has been whittled down by Congress to weak compromises, such as his job stimulus package. Ironically, Clinton seems to be getting the same political headaches suffered by Bush at the hands of a Democratic majority Congress. His legislative top gun has been House Ways and Means chairman Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-5, Chicago), but the cloud of a federal indictment loomed large by the end of summer. It was just enough ammunition for the GOP to dig at Clinton's legislation.

The final clue to a president's treatment of regional members of his party comes with elections. Will he back a chosen few in Illinois' March primaries next year, or wait until the November 1994 election?

The Illinois governor's race is a big one for Democrats, with Atty. Gen. Roland W. Burris and state Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch offially declaring themselves as candidates by early August. Waiting in the wings was Treasurer Patrick Quinn and Cook County Board President Richard Phelan. Party regulars are waiting to see whether Clinton sticks by some friends, at the risk of offending other supporters.

Republicans, meanwhile, are watching Clinton's approval ratings and looking for his challenger in 1996. Republican Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) has been heavily wooing big business and Ross Perot supporters. Former congressman Jack Kemp, Bush's secretary of housing and urban development, has been courting the young GOP voters who turned their backs on Bush.

The GOP is buoying its spirits by telling itself that it took a President Carter to get a President Reagan. And it is reminding the loyal opposition that the last Democratic president to get reelected was Franklin D. Roosevelt. *

Manuel Galvan is a Chicago-based writer and marketing consultant.

August & September 1993/Illinois Issues/71


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