Two of Chicago’s most durable officeholders finally meet Tuesday in a mayoral election that will elevate the winner to political dominance for the balance of the decade.
Although Mayor Richard Daley and independent challenger Roland Burris, the former Illinois attorney general, have been on parallel career tracks as lifelong Democrats, they never have met head-to-head in an election until now.
Both have counted on Chicago voters as their base, Daley in 10 primary and general-election victories for Cook County state’s attorney and mayor since 1980, and Burris in five successful runs for statewide office between 1978 and 1990.
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During Chicago’s politically turbulent ’80s, each man stumbled.
Daley lost the three-way Democratic mayoral primary in 1983 to the late Mayor Harold Washington’s historic candidacy. In 1984, Burris, who had opted not to run for mayor the previous year, ran second in the U.S. Senate primary.
But each demonstrated his resiliency during the remainder of the decade.
Daley, 52, wound up serving nine years as state’s attorney, and he has been mayor since a special 1989 election to fill the remainder of Washington’s second term. Burris, 57, won three terms as state comptroller and was promoted to attorney general in 1990, but he lost the March 1994 Democratic primary for governor.
As they square off, their respective election returns over time suggest that Daley has developed a broader constituency in Chicago.
Daley’s campaigns for state’s attorney were in presidential election years, when voter turnout is highest, and his banner year was 1984, when he was re-elected on the strength of 892,509 votes in Chicago, or three out of every four cast in the city.
Burris ran in off-presidential years, and his best showing was in 1982, when he won a second term as comptroller and led the state Democratic ticket with 2.3 million votes, including 840,716-or 85 percent-in Chicago.
In recent elections, the mayor has melded the lakefront and Latino vote into his white ethnic base to win a consistent six out of 10 votes in elections. Burris, meantime, saw his city vote slip in his last two races, and the 223,157 Chicago votes in the primary a year ago marked his worst showing in 16 years.
Daley and Burris spent part of election eve in a South Side church, symbolic of their struggle for the African-American vote. Burris is counting on a monolithic black vote, while Daley hopes for more than one-quarter of the African-American ballots, as he attracted in winning the Feb. 28 primary.
At the funeral for Bishop Louis Henry Ford of the Church of God in Christ, Daley reminded mourners of his close relationship with the prominent South Side clergyman and Ford’s support of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley.
“He was not embarrassed to walk arm-in-arm with anyone in this city, and he knew his contribution was important,” Daley said of Ford during the service at the St. Paul Church of God in Christ.
Seated in the pew behind Daley and his wife, Maggie, were Burris and his wife, Berlean.
Burris said, “The bishop and I were very close. He’s a great man. It’s a great loss for Chicago.”
Later in the day, Burris alleged that a supervisor at O’Hare International Airport who also played a role in Daley’s campaign was directly or partly responsible for a series of mishaps that imperiled airline passengers and resulted in the death of at least one airport employee. Burris said his campaign was given the information late Thursday by airport employees who work for the supervisor. But Burris and his staff would not release the employees’ names.
Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Lisa Howard said Burris’ “anonymous and unsubstantiated” charges were incorrect. Howard added that the accused supervisor had a “very good work record,” and she called “absolutely false” Burris’ claims that the airport or its staff compromised passenger safety.
Howard said that the aviation department had previously received letters of complaint regarding the supervisor, but had investigated the charges and found them to be “unsubstantiated and unfounded.”
Daley’s campaign manager, Carolyn Grisko, said the last-minute charges by Burris were an act of desperation and another in a string of unsubstantiated charges by the underdog.
“As a political matter, it is rather late in the game to bring airport saftey into the campaign as an issue,” she said. “The weekend and the last few days of the campaign have been full of extremely wild charges flying around.”
As Daley and Burris tried to contend with predictions of a near record-low turnout of 40 percent of Chicago’s 1.47 million registered voters, law-enforcement authorities detailed plans to pre-empt polling place intimidation.
Cook County State’s Atty. Jack O’Malley said nearly 400 assistant state’s attorneys will be assigned to election duty. In addition, Chicago police and Chicago Housing Authority police planned stepped-up patrols.
Officials also planned similar efforts in suburban Harvey and Chicago Heights, where heated municipal campaigns have resulted in a higher than normal number of complaints.
“This is a thin line to walk to ensure the right to vote unfettered and to ensure the right to campaign,” O’Malley said.
Chicago Republican mayoral nominee Raymond Wardingley predicted victory, which would break a string of 3 percent showings by GOP candidates since 1987.
“People want a change. I’m first on the ballot for the second time, which means someone up there likes me,” said Wardingley, who parlayed the top ballot position in the primary into an upset win.
The fourth candidate in Chicago’s mayoral race is Harold Washington Party nominee Lawrence Redmond, who was a threat to take a fraction of the black vote from Burris or Daley.
Meanwhile, suburban voters also go to the polls Tuesday to elect municipal, school district and library officials, as well as decide referendum issues.
In the north suburbs, Glencoe’s Village Caucus Party faces an opposing slate for the first time in almost 60 years from the Sensible Taxation & Open Policies (STOP) Party. Glencoe voters also will be asked to approve $1 million in borrowing for capital improvements.
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Voters in Wilmette at one point faced an uncontested election after three Village Board candidates were removed from the ballot by a circuit judge after a technical challenge. But the three ousted candidates are waging write-in campaigns.
In the northwest suburbs, Arlington Heights voters will say in an advisory referendum whether Richard Duchossois should have a casino at his Arlington International Racecourse.
In the west suburbs, Oak Park-River Forest High School District 200 voters will be asked to approve an 18 percent tax increase to erase a $3 million budget deficit.
And in nearby Bellwood, voters will decide whether the six-member Village Board should be elected by districts or to continue with at-large elections.
In the south suburbs, Harvey’s David Johnson, who became the city’s first black mayor in 1983, faces stiff competition from three opponents. Mayoral races also are on the ballot in Chicago Heights and Bridgeview.
ELECTION DAY
TUESDAY, APRIL 4
Voting for: Chicago mayor, city treasurer, city clerk, alderman in 11 wards; municipal elections and referendum proposals in suburban Cook County.
Polls: Open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. To learn the location of your polling place in Chicago, call 269-7976. In Cook County suburbs, call 312-443-5150.
Vote questions: For complaints about voting procedures in the city and Cook County suburbs, call the state’s attorney’s hot line, 312-443-7960, or the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hot line, 312-269-7870.
What’s open: State and federal offices will be open. Cook County Circuit Court and county offices will be open. Chicago’s City Hall and other city offices will be open. City and suburban public schools will be open. Regular mail delivery. Banks open.
TV coverage: Television coverage of the election begins at 7 p.m. on cable on ChicagoLand Television.