Though the presidential nominating express will barrel into Illinois in six weeks, local primaries are shaping up that could alter the political tenor of Chicago and other parts of the state long after the brief stop by national contenders.
The stakes are high. Democratic politicians are vying to fill the power vacuum left by the death of Harold Washington. Republicans, while feuding among themselves, are hoping to play the fallout from that battle into local gain.
Political strategists, experienced campaigners and just plain voters indicate that smart candidates will get the most accomplished between now and the ”Super Tuesday” of presidential nominating tests in other parts of the country on March 8, before the spotlight swings toward Illinois and its March 15 primary.
Oscar Stanton knows who`ll get his vote for president in the Democratic primary, but as for his choices farther down on what will be a crowded ballot, Stanton says that at this point, he hasn`t got a clue.
”I don`t even know who`s running; they haven`t come knocking on my door yet,” said Stanton, of the South Side. ”I`ll go for (Jesse) Jackson for president, but I won`t even make my choices on the others until much later.” And what an abundance of choices Roseland voters such as Stanton and Davis Johnson will have to make on March 15, with contested Democratic primaries for 9th Ward committeeman, both state representative seats that serve the neighborhood, the 2d Congressional District, a half-dozen Cook County offices and, of course, the presidential nomination.
Johnson said she won`t make any decisions ”until it`s just about time to vote. That`s when I form an opinion.”
Many voters are like Johnson and Stanton, so political strategists such as William Daley are advising local candidates not to hoard their campaign money. ”Spend it to make your case now, before the presidential road show comes through Illinois,” Daley says.
Joseph Gardner, a former deputy executive director of the CHA, is one candidate doing just that. Making his first political race for one of the more obscure elective offices in Cook County, the Metropolitan Sanitary District board, Gardner is in a crowded field that includes an opponent with the same last name, Frank Gardner.
”I`m doing 10 to 12 events a week now, in advance of the onslaught of the national press,” Joseph Gardner said.
Activity in primary elections important to arenas ranging from the mayor`s office in Chicago to the Illinois Supreme Court can be found throughout the city, in some suburbs and Downstate. Here`s how things are shaping up in some key areas:
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Cook County
The Democratic Party power struggle that occurred after Washington`s death continues to stir controversy in nominating contests for normally obscure offices, and in elections of ward committeemen.
Warring factions have made referendums on the rightful heir to Washington`s legacy out of committeeman elections in nearly half the city`s 50 wards, and out of the primaries in 6 of the 7 countywide offices being contested.
Also likely to get caught in this cross fire are several of the 16 House districts with Democratic primaries.
Getting most of the media attention thus far has been the four-way Democratic primary for clerk of Circuit Court. Former Mayor Jane Byrne and Metropolitan Sanitary District Commissioner Aurelia Pucinski lead the field.
Washington supporters who back the mayoral aspirations of Ald. Timothy Evans (4th) over Eugene Sawyer, who won the Dec. 2 mayoral succession vote in the Chicago City Council, are hinting they will work against Pucinski despite the late mayor`s endorsement.
Sawyer has warned that a boycott of that candidacy in black wards could lead to reprisals in ethnic wards, which could lead to the defeat of State Rep. Carol Moseley Braun in her bid for recorder of deeds.
Though the presidential primary is supposed to be the chief attraction, it won`t be the only reason voters will go to the polls.
In the 9th Ward, where Oscar Stanton and Davis Johnson live on the same street but in different state legislative districts, Ald. Robert Shaw is one of those who supported Sawyer`s election last month and has been targeted for retribution by the Evans faction.
Though the alderman is not on the ballot, his twin brother, State Rep. William Shaw, appears in two places. William Shaw faces opposition both in his bid for re-election and his efforts to be elected Democratic ward committeeman.
State Rep. Nelson Rice, of the legislative district next to Shaw`s, also has a handful of challengers.
The Near Northwest Side also has some unusual circumstances. For example, State Rep. Joseph Berrios wants to win the 31st Ward Democratic committeeman post he was appointed to last May, and the longtime party regular is opposed by Ald. Raymond Figueroa, an Evans supporter.
Berrios is leaving the House to run as the party-backed candidate for the Cook County Board of (tax) Appeals and is opposed in the primary by Jeffrey Paul Smith, the 9th Congressional District state central committeeman.
On the Republican side, an unprecedented number of races for ward committeeman and a spat between county Chairman Donald Totten and the party`s newest star, former Democrat Edward Vrdolyak, over contested primaries for three county offices, are likely to result in an attempted shakeup in the party hierarchy after March.
Republican Gov. James Thompson said last week of Vrdolyak, the unopposed GOP candidate for clerk of the Circuit Court: ”He`s either got the votes or he doesn`t. . . . If Ed`s calculated wrong, and his tactics are alienating more people, then he`s going to be the loser. If the suburban committeemen want to continue to be able to name the county chairman, all they have to do is turn out more voters than in the city. . . . What`s wrong with competition in the Republican Party?”
Du Page County
It`s Republicans who get the attention in this GOP stronghold, and the party`s battle for the presidential nomination and election of delegates to the national convention commands the attention.
Major Republican political leaders are split: County Chairman and Senate Minority Leader James ”Pate” Philip of Wood Dale joined Thompson in backing Vice President George Bush; House Minority Leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst is Sen. Bob Dole`s campaign chairman; and U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde is allied with Totten in support of U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp.
And campaign strategists are wary of the impact the county`s large evangelical Christian population might have in favor of former television evangelist Pat Robertson.
Attention has also been riveted on the three-way GOP primary for a Circuit Court judgeship, with former Chicago Bears kicker Bob Thomas, a Wheaton lawyer, facing Judge Michael Galasso and Associate Judge John Nelligan, who have split the backing of the regular party organization.
Will County
For the first time in years, Will County will have a contested Republican primary for all the countywide offices up for election.
Joliet Mayor Charles Connor, a former Will County chief judge and a maverick Republican, has constructed a renegade slate.
Connor himself is running for state`s attorney against the party`s candidate, 1st Assistant State`s Atty. Edward Burmila. County Auditor Ann Morgan, who had unsuccessfully sought the party`s endorsement is also running, backed by County Sheriff John Johnsen.
Whoever wins, the primary assures one thing-Will County will have its third state`s attorney in as many years.
Missing from the ballot this election is Coroner Robert Tezak, who decided not to seek re-election. Although Tezak is one of the county`s most influential Republicans, he also has been a headache because he has been the target of several criminal investigations.
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Downstate
A Kane County legislative race could become a litmus test for support of Thompson`s proposal to reprise a scaled-down version of a state tax increase that lawmakers refused to support last year.
State Rep. James Kirkland, a moderate Republican who voiced conditional support for a tax increase last spring, faces primary opposition that includes conservative Peter Fitzgerald. Backing Fitzgerald is the United Republican Fund, an organization helped efforts to block Thompson`s tax plan last year.
Retirement of veteran officeholders has resulted in political movement in the 21st and 22d congressional districts. Four Democrats are vying for their nomination to succeed Democratic Rep. Melvin Price in the 21st District, and three Republicans are competing to challenge Sen. Glenn Poshard (D., Carterville) for the 22d District seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Kenneth Gray.