The Chicago City Council`s class of 1987 includes a former bodyguard, a postal worker, a librarian and a schoolteacher. They range from a woman who will rank as the council`s youngest member to a former deputy police superintendent who is known as the ”other Vrdolyak.”
While 8 of the 13 newcomers are expected to be squarely in Mayor Harold Washington`s corner and 3 are likely to join the dwindling council opposition, there are 2 wild cards, both of them lakefront independents.
Meet the freshman class:
— Replacing Marian Humes as 8th Ward alderman is Keith Caldwell, 51, a jury supervisor in the Cook County Circuit Court and a former pharmaceutical salesman. He has been active in Cook County Democratic politics for several years. County Commissioner John Stroger and state Comptroller Roland Burris are among those for whom he has managed or coordinated campaigns. He has indicated his willingness to work with whomever won the general election, and Washington carried his ward, which includes the middle-class Chatham neighborhood.
— With his defeat of incumbent Perry Hutchinson, Robert Shaw, 49, is getting a second chance to shape the political direction of the 9th Ward. He was alderman and ward Democratic committeeman from 1979 to 1983, and during that time he was allied with City Council colleagues Edward Vrdolyak (10th)
and Fred Roti (1st). Shaw also supported the 1983 re-election bid of former Mayor Jane Byrne against Washington. After his aldermanic defeat, Shaw ran unsuccessfully for the 2d Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Gus Savage. Shaw said during his campaign against eight aldermanic contenders that his support of Byrne was ”a dead issue. I think the people here are not going to deal with that kind of history. The people understand that I`m foursquare for Harold Washington.”
— New 10th Ward Ald. Victor Vrdolyak, 57, is a tight-lipped former Chicago deputy police superintendent whose brother, Edward, lost the mayoral election to Washington. Vrdolyak also owns a security firm that critics say benefited from the contacts provided by his younger sibling. When the better known brother decided to campaign for mayor, Ed and his precinct captains nominated Victor to take over the alderman`s post. Unlike his brother, Victor shuns publicity. Like his brother, Victor can be counted on to oppose the mayor.
— Mark Fary, 31, a Water Department employee on leave, defeated incumbent Aloysius Majerczyk to become 12th Ward alderman. Fary is a former precinct captain who learned all he knows about politics from his late uncle, U.S. Rep. John G. Fary, and has kept those lessons in mind during the last two weeks in conversations with Washington and the mayor`s opponents. ”Everybody is giving me advice now, but I have to laugh sometimes because the advice they give you is usually to their best interests, not yours,” Fary said. Although he is a regular organization Democrat, Fary said he hopes to stay independent of council battles between Washington and aldermanic opponents.
— For Ernest Jones of the 20th Ward, the third time was the charm. Jones, 61, a Chicago police detective assigned to the human relations unit, finally beat Ald. Clifford Kelley after two unsuccessful tries. Jones is expected to mirror Kelley in supporting Washington. Jones has been a member of the 20th Ward regular Democratic organization for three decades. He was a bodyguard for Kelley`s aldermanic predecessor, Kenneth Campbell, and did the same job for Cecil Partee, Campbell`s successor as ward committeeman, when Partee was president of the Illinois Senate. Partee made no endorsement in the race, but, in a slap at Kelley`s reputation as a social gadfly and publicity seeker, he said, ”(Jones would) be a little more attentive to the ward`s needs. He would not be all over town, talking on radio shows and such.”
— Jesse Evans, 49, is a little-known postal employee who apparently pulled off one of the biggest upsets by edging out Niles Sherman, a well-financed incumbent in the 21st Ward. But Evans` election will have little impact on the politics of the council; like Sherman and most other black aldermen, Evans is expected to be a Washington supporter. Evans has said that under Sherman`s stewardship the ward`s economic development has amounted to fast-food stands and storefront churches. He has pledged to draw bigger businesses that produce more jobs.
— At 26, Sheneather Butler will become the youngest member of the council if her narrow lead over incumbent Ald. Wallace Davis (27th) is upheld. Butler, an administrative aide in the Oak Park Library, was only 4 years old in 1965 when Ald. William Laurino (39th), the present dean of the council, was first elected. A major issue in her campaign against Davis was her father, Rev. Jesse L. Butler, an aide to Cook County Sheriff James O`Grady, who permitted Jane Byrne to speak at his West Side church during the February primary. Opponents contended Butler was a stalking horse for her father who would function as a shadow alderman if she were elected. But Butler said,
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”I`m my own person. I have a mind of my own. I think for myself. I can`t take Daddy down to City Hall with me. I`m going to be down there by myself.” — In the 31st ward, Raymond Figueroa, 39, an attorney who has specialized in civil rights cases, said he sees his victory as a move toward
”empowerment of the people. We are tired of the old machine and old politics where our vote and our people were not respected.” Figueroa is a staunch Washington supporter. He has also had the backing of State Sen. Miguel Del Valle (D., Chicago). The 31st Ward is a predominantly Hispanic and black area where the major problems are poor schools, unemployment, a lack of adequate housing, poverty and gang crime.
— Lemuel Austin, 41, has been elevated from precinct captain to alderman with his win in the 34th Ward. The ward`s Streets and Sanitation superintendent since 1981, Austin said that he believes he will be low key in his first term in the council, but said his constituents have asked him to fight any property tax increases. ”We need more efficient collection of bills owed the city,” Austin said. ”My ward doesn`t want property taxes. They`re homeowners. Not renters. That`s the last thing they`d want their alderman to do.”
— In the 43d Ward, Edwin Eisendrath leaves his job as a public school teacher to succeed retiring Ald. Martin Oberman in representing one of Chicago`s wealthiest wards. The demographics of the area are reflected in Eisendrath, who is 29, a Harvard graduate and who raised $225,000 for his campaign, outspending every other aldermanic candidate in city history. Eisendrath underscored two issues in his campaign–schools and city finances. He also preached a platform of nonallegiance to either of the council`s political factions, rendering Eisendrath one of the council`s most
unpredictable votes. ”Everybody looks at me with a little bit of suspicion, which I suppose is okay, and a little bit of hope, which is also okay,” said Eisendrath. ”They all want to know, `Who is this guy?”`
— For 75 years, Patrick Levar`s family has lived within a nine-block radius in the 45th Ward, making the new alderman a self-described
”neighborhood boy, from the neighborhood, for the neighborhood.” Levar, 36, leaves his post as executive assistant to the Cook County Circuit Court associate clerk after 13 years to replace Ald. Gerald McLaughlin in the working-class ward. However, Levar, the father of three, is expected to carry on McLaughlin`s tradition of opposition to Washington. ”My three big issues will be service, service, service,” said Levar. ”We pay some of the most taxes in the city and we don`t get enough for it.”
— Helen Shiller, 39, is a longtime community activist in the 46th Ward with close ties to the Washington administration. She is president of a graphics firm and publisher of All Chicago City News, a pro-Washington newspaper. During the election, Shiller`s detractors tried to portray her as a loose cannon who is too close to Slim Coleman, the controversial North Side activist. But her supporters, including the mayor, said Shiller will work hard to keep the ward`s real estate boom from displacing the poor. Shiller said her key priorities include resolving parking headaches around Wrigley Field, housing and putting an end to the council`s obstinant opposition to the mayor. ”It`s important that the council be reorganized so the mayor can function as the mayor and the councilmen can be legislators,” she said.
— Kathy Osterman, 43, is supervisor of the community unit in the Cook County State`s Attorney`s office, a job that fueled criticism that she would do Richard Daley`s handiwork if elected to alderman in the 48th Ward. Osterman countered that she is an independent with no particular allegiance to her boss. She has been a community activist in the ward for 23 years and is founder of Operation Lakewatch, an anti-pollution group. Osterman said she will push to solve crime problems, alleviate lakefront erosion and push for more economic development in the ward. ”These are exciting times to be in the 48th Ward,” she said.
Chicago`s new council