Battle for City Hall Continues : Chicago’s Washington Assails 2 White Rivals

The bitter, racially heated battle for control of City Hall continued unabated Wednesday despite Mayor Harold Washington’s Democratic primary victory over challenger Jane M. Byrne, his predecessor.

After turning back Byrne’s comeback bid by a 53%-47% margin Tuesday, Washington wasted little time before lashing out at two other prominent white Democrats who have mounted third party bids to oust him from office in the April 7 general election.

He charged that Edward Vrdolyak, his arch-foe in the City Council, and Cook County Assessor Thomas C. Hynes showed a lack of integrity by sidestepping the Democratic primary, adding: “Their main vulnerability is that they’re open to the charge of being opportunistic.”

Predicts Difficult Battle

Washington said the general election battle would be “difficult,” but insisted the primary results proved he was gaining in acceptance from whites as well as blacks in this highly segregated city. While noting that he won 12% more of the white vote than he did when first elected four years ago, the black mayor acknowledged that more than 500,000 residents, almost all whites or Latinos, voted against him.

“Everybody doesn’t love me,” Washington admitted sarcastically. “It boggles the imagination to realize it, but it’s true.”

Both Hynes and Vrdolyak kicked off expensive media blitzes aimed as much at trying to force each other out of the race as at Washington.

Both challengers realize that the incumbent, who enjoys virtually monolithic support among the blacks who make up 44% of Chicago’s electorate, would be unbeatable if opposed by two or more whites, who would split the white vote. Also complicating the picture is the Republican candidacy of Donald Haider, a former Democrat and aide to Byrne, who is also white.

‘People Want a Change’

Hynes characterized Washington’s support as “soft” and said the heavy anti-Washington tally in the primary highlighted voter dissatisfaction with his administration. “The people of Chicago are not satisfied with the leadership they have received,” Hynes insisted. “. . . People want a change.”

Vrdolyak, glib and acid-tongued, spent much of the day trying to goad Washington, the front-runner, into a debate. “For the next several weeks he’s going to be running and hiding and not wanting to participate in the debate concerning the issues in the city of Chicago because he doesn’t want to stand next to me and he doesn’t want to go face to face, issue to issue,” charged Vrdolyak, noting the mayor has shunned his previous efforts to arrange a debate.

Meanwhile, controversy still raged over a major election day foul-up in which thousands of persons seeking to vote in the Byrne-Washington Democratic primary battle were handed color-coded computer ballots for Vrdolyak’s splinter party instead.

Call Mistakes Accidental

Election officials contended the mistakes were accidental, but outraged Washington supporters noted that most of the problems occurred in black neighborhoods. They charged the mistakes were actually part of a deliberate plot to sabotage the mayor’s reelection bid.

Washington predicted that a “crescendo” of indignation over the problems would force the resignation of Michael Lavelle, city elections board chief and an old-line Democrat with whom the mayor has frequently feuded.

Lavelle, however, told The Times he would not quit and said the fraud allegations were trumped up by Washington to whip up his backers. “He’s got the most corrupt administration around,” Lavelle said. “. . . He’s a big zero.”