The Illinois Supreme Court will announce its long-awaited decision Monday on whether a special mayoral election will be held in Chicago in 1989, or whether Mayor Eugene Sawyer can serve two more years in office without a popular vote.
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The state high court, with a brief notice released Wednesday, set the stage for a ruling that could finally give the formal launch to an election campaign that began informally the morning that Sawyer took office nearly one year ago, following the death of Harold Washington.
If the court rules that state law mandates an election in 1991, it could touch off a challenge in federal court by Sawyer`s opponents, although mayoral hopefuls were politicking Wednesday as though the decision was already made in favor of 1989.
There were these developments in the campaign:
– The 50 ward committeemen in the Cook County Democratic Central Committee voted unanimously not to make an endorsement for mayor, a move designed to avoid a bitter party battle that no one, at this point, could win. – Ald. Edward Burke (14th) moved closer to affirming that he might remain in the race even if Cook County State`s Atty. Richard M. Daley enters it.
– Ald. Lawrence Bloom (5th) rebuffed Jesse Jackson, announcing that he would not be a part of discussions coordinated by Jackson to settle on one candidate who was part of the coalition that elected Washington in 1983 and re-elected him in 1987.
The ongoing political deliberations are all contingent on the Supreme Court upholding the decision of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to hold a special election in 1989 to fill Washington`s unexpired term. The board ruling was upheld by a Cook County Circuit Court judge and appealed to the Supreme Court.
The imminent decision was announced by the high court in a one-page notice that included the elections case in a list of seven decisions that will be announced Monday.
The flock of mayoral candidates and many political leaders have anticipated that the decision will be for 1989, which would mean that party primaries would be held on Feb. 28 and a general election on April 4. But several influential political figures, including Cook County Democratic Chairman George Dunne, want the election delayed until 1991.
That did not stop the ward committeemen from preparing for a 1989 free-for-all with a formal decision that discretion, in the form of no
endorsement, is the better part of valor.
Mayoral challengers tried to paint the decision as a snub to Sawyer, who has said he deserves the backing of the party rank-and-file.
”What they`re saying to the acting mayor is, `Gene, you`re an enigma, you`re an asterisk in the history book of Chicago, let`s move on, call the next case,` ” Burke said.
But the decision not to endorse had been widely expected, and ward committeemen emerged from a brief meeting at county Democratic headquarters with a sense of relief that they would not have to do battle. No more than 21 of the 50 ward committeemen have indicated publicly or privately whom they support in the race.
The party endorsement, in recent years, has also done as much harm as good for its recipients.
The party made no endorsement in 1987 rather than risk a civil war among themselves over whether to back Washington`s re-election bid. The party also decided earlier this year to make no endorsement in the Illinois presidential primary rather than risk a rift between supporters of Sen. Paul Simon (D., Ill.) and Jesse Jackson.
The last two incumbent mayors who had the endorsement of the party, Michael Bilandic in 1979 and Jane Byrne in 1983, lost.
”If I were Gene Sawyer, I would have liked to have had the endorsement,” said John Stroger, 8th Ward committeeman, who supports Sawyer. ”But you have five or six strong ward committeemen who are vying for position, and it could not do anything but cause chaos.”
Bloom, meanwhile, served notice that he has no interest in discussions commenced by Jackson that are designed to settle on a single ”Washington coalition” candidate for mayor, a candidate who almost certainly would be black. Bloom said he was contacted by Jackson on Tuesday.
”As long as he is publicly identified with a process that encourages some candidates to withdraw and some to stay in the race for mayor, I will not meet with him,” Bloom said. ”I think it is an inappropriate exercise, for either whites or blacks, to try to winnow down the field on the basis of race.”
Burke also came closer to declaring his independence from the constrictions of Chicago politics that dictate more than one black or white ethnic candidate in the Democratic primary sounds a death knell for that faction of the city.
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Burke had previously indicated that he would defer to a Daley candidacy, but he said at a news conference that his ”intention” is to run no matter who is in the race.
”You can`t plan your campaign on those kind of question marks,” Burke said. ”I`ve already made my decision, and my decision is we`re going ahead.”