Chicago’s Mayor Finally Grasps Power and Spoils

The Windy City’s “council wars” are apparently over. The Democratic political machine that has dominated Chicago for decades is in shambles. And Mayor Harold Washington is finally in charge--more than three years after he was elected and just months before a new campaign for mayor begins.

Friday marked Washington’s first full day with all the reins of power firmly in his grasp.

Late Thursday the Illinois Appellate Court cleared the way for Washington and his political allies to take control of City Council committees--a power that old-guard machine Democrats led by party boss Edward R. Vrdolyak had stripped from Washington in a parliamentary coup just days after his 1983 inauguration.

Committee control gives the mayor’s forces the power to award hundreds of millions of dollars in city contracts. It means control of appointments to municipal boards and commissions that, in turn, control thousands of jobs and another small fortune in contracts. And it gives the mayor’s allies, for the first time, the power to determine which legislation will move from committee to the full council for debate and consideration.

End of ‘Council Wars’

The court’s decision, in effect, declared Washington winner of “council wars,” the name a Chicago comedian gave to the loud and disputatious weekly meetings of the city’s 50 councilmen. It is a decision that could, however, be overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court, if machine regulars decide to appeal.

“We are finally resolving the last of the issues that have caused so much disruption over the past three years,” Washington said. “I don’t think there’s a man, woman or child who won’t start to breathe easier now that the City Council can focus, 100%, on the real priorities of city management.”

Washington is expected to reduce the number of City Council committees by nine, to 28, and to fire as many as 150 committee staff members, at a savings of about $2 million. Most of those to be fired are reportedly allies of old-guard machine Democrats.

Series of Victories

The court victory was the latest for Washington, who, in recent months, has outmaneuvered the once-powerful Democratic machine in the City Council and at the polls.

Earlier this week, Washington, who holds the tiebreaking vote in a council that is divided 25 to 25 between his allies and foes, out-foxed machine regulars who were plotting to make reelection more difficult for the mayor. Old-guard Democrats were circulating petitions citywide for a ballot referendum creating a nonpartisan mayoral election.

But the mayor, using his one-vote council majority, blocked the referendum by “stuffing” the ballot with three relatively insignificant referendums. That is the maximum number of local referendums permitted on the ballot by law, leaving no room for the referendum on the nonpartisan election.

“It’s a clever ploy,” bellowed Councilman Edward Burke, a leader of the old-guard opposition to Washington. Then he added, smiling, “But I must compliment whoever thought of it.”

Foes Seek Runoff

Washington’s foes had believed that the change to a nonpartisan election would force the mayor into a runoff with only one other candidate on the ballot. That, they believed, would make it easier to defeat him.

The mayor had called the move an “unconstitutional attack on minority rights,” aimed at defeating the city’s first black chief executive.

Washington has also used his narrow council majority to seize control of the Chicago Park District, a huge independent taxing agency with an estimated 5,000 patronage jobs and a budget of $130 million. The district is not only responsible for all major parks in Chicago but controls thousands of Lake Michigan boat moorings and almost all of the city’s major museums, including the Art Institute.

In taking control of the park agency, the mayor forced the resignation of Edmund J. Kelly, the district’s $85,000-a-year superintendent and head of one of the most powerful Democratic ward organizations in Chicago. Kelly, once thought to be a possible successor to the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, supported Washington’s Republican opponent in the 1983 general election. He is now pledging to put his political muscle behind efforts to defeat Washington in 1987.

Controls School District

Washington will also now be able to control appointments to the Chicago Board of Education, the nation’s third-largest school district, and the huge Chicago Transit Authority, which operates all buses and trains in the city. There are also scores of other agencies that the mayor will now be able to begin to influence through his appointments.

The mayor’s new muscle is the result of court-ordered elections last March and April that wiped out the old guard’s four-vote majority on the City Council. The elections were held because a federal court found that Democratic regulars remapped City Council districts in a way that disenfranchised blacks and Latinos.