POLITICS ’88 : All Politics Local--Local Politics All : Scrappy Hometown Races Steal Spotlight in Chicago

Young journalists who come to the Windy City to broaden their world outlook quickly learn a parochial lesson: In Chicago, goes an adage, “a dog fight on State Street is more important than a war in the Balkans.”

Presidential candidates racing around this past weekend learned a parochial lesson of their own: In Chicago, not only is all politics local but local politics is all.

“For a fellow like me, the local race is more important. This presidency thing is just a dry run,” said George W. Dunne, the 70-year-old Cook County Democratic Party chairman.

In today’s primary the local race overshadowing national politics is the contest for Cook County Circuit Court Clerk.

Two women, former one-term Chicago Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Sanitary District Commissioner Aurelia Marie Pucinski, are fighting to win the Democratic nomination for the relatively obscure--but patronage rich--court administrative position, which controls 2,000 jobs.

Alderman’s Daughter

Pucinski is the daughter of a Chicago alderman. Byrne, whose bid for a second term was upset by Harold Washington in 1983, has been out of office since. She is trying for a political comeback.

The current court clerk, Morgan Finley, who has held the office for more than 12 years, did not run for reelection this year. A former state senator and veteran Democratic politician, he is awaiting trial on federal conspiracy, extortion, fraud and racketeering charges. A federal grand jury alleged he took bribes totaling $25,000.

In this city where politics is followed with the enthusiasm usually reserved for championship athletic teams, the contest for court clerk is not only sport but a blood feud.

Byrne, once the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer, is not endorsed by the party. Pucinski, whose father was one of Harold Washington’s staunchest opponents, won party backing with Washington’s endorsement. The mayor, who died in November, offered his support in an effort to heal rifts within the Democratic Party and to court the favor of the city’s white ethnic community, which did not support him.

If that sounds a bit convoluted, things, as they often do in Chicago, get even more Byzantine. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Edward Vrdolyak, who is sometimes called “Fast Eddie” by local columnists and who was once the Cook County Democratic chairman but switched to the GOP last year because Washington and other minority leaders were rapidly gaining control of the party’s machinery.

Vrdolyak won his Democratic chairmanship with Byrne’s backing early in the decade, ousting Dunne. When Vrdolyak resigned, Dunne regained party control, and he now sees his support of Pucinski against Byrne as revenge.

The ballot intrigue is complicated by the presence of two disciples of political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. on the Democratic ballot.

One, Janice Hart, helped upset the Democrats’ gubernatorial bid last year when she won the party’s primary nomination for secretary of state. She is challenging Byrne and Pucinski. A second, Mark Fairchild, who won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor last year, is on the ballot as a congressional candidate.

“Watch out for LaRouche candidates,” warns literature mailed to every registered Democrat in Cook County. “Once again they have invaded our ballot. Be safe! Vote the endorsed Democratic candidates.”

No Presidential Candidate

In typical parochial fashion, that same piece of literature lists every Cook County endorsed candidate--but not a single presidential candidate is shown on the sample ballot.

“This is a contest about power and the future of the Democratic Party in Chicago,” said Paul M. Green, director of the Institute for Public Policy at Illinois’ Governors State University.

“There’s no place else in the U.S. where local politics is so visible and so many people live and breathe it,” said University of Chicago political scientist Gary Orfield. “Everybody knows who their alderman is but they might not know their congressman or senator.”

“The turnout in Chicago may be higher than people thought,” said Green, “not because of the presidential primary but because of the race between Byrne and Pucinski.”