Want to know how Gov. James Thompson slipped through the front door of General Motors faster than the governor of Michigan to plead his case for the new Saturn plant? INC. hear
— It`s good news and bad news time for the governor`s chief of staff, Jim Reilly. The bad news: Thompson signed the seat belt proposal that Reilly opposed, heeding instead his transportation secretary, Greg Baise, who backed the bill. The good news: Top Republicans speculate that if House Minority Leader Lee Daniels (R., Elmhurst) forgoes a 1986 bid for attorney general, Reilly, a Downstater, will be the GOP nominee.
CABLE CAPERS . . .
As the cable world turns, Part IX: The Better Government Association is considering filing a suit that would require the Chicago City Council to get off the stick and act on Mayor Harold Washington`s appointments to the cable commission. The cable communication ordinance, passed by the council in 1982, provided for a cable commission to ensure that Chicago would have the finest and fairest system in the country. Mayor Washington did his part by submitting names in 1983. But the council has been sitting on its hands. We all know how time flies when you`re having fun, but this is ridiculous . . . .
SMALL SCREEN SCENE . . .
Is Roone Arledge really going to take out his magic ”zap, you`re an anchor” wand and wave it over the touped dome of Howard Cosell? INC. hears that Cosell is dying to get out of sports and into ”hard news.” If Arledge won`t let him anchor a news broadcast, he`d like to set himself up as a Mike Wallace kind of interviewer. So far, the closest Arledge will let Cosell get to the news is to read the sports on Kathleen Sullivan`s Saturday night newscast . . . ”Good Morning America” executive producer Phyllis McGrady is denying reports that ABC`s news division may take over the show to boost the ratings and provide a new direction. . . . The Lucky-Nobody-Wanted-Hot-Dogs Dept: Most tasteless story line on a soap opera, according to Soap Opera Digest, goes to NBC-TV`s ”Santa Barbara,” in which a mother killed her daughter`s pet pigeon and served it as hors d`oeuvres. . . . Kate Vernon, who plays Lorraine Prescott on ”Falcon Crest,” says that she has a long way to go until she`s as good an actor as her father, John (”Animal House”) Vernon. Kate once auditioned for the part of a young cowgirl, and her dad played the part to show her how to do it. ”He was terrific!” Kate told INC. ”It was funny watching him play this young girl, but he was so good it made me jealous because I wasn`t nearly as good. I didn`t get the role, but I think he could have.” . . . Channel 7 weatherman Steve Deshler disputes John Coleman`s claim that he was the only Chicago weatherman to predict the New Year`s Eve snowstorm. ”We called it Sunday night,” Deshler says. ”And we predicted it would be rain changing to snow.”
POSTCARDS FROM PALM SPRINGS . . .
Chip . . . Chip . . . Dip! Yep, folks! That was tired House Speaker Tip O`Neill, who can hardly walk from cart to course, mired in a sandtrap at the Bob Hope Golf Classic. Puff . . . Puff . . . Yep, folks! That was INC. chasing around the pols and the rest of the celebs at the golf classic. Thank God O`Neill`s moving so slowly. . . . U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D., Ill.) and former President Gerald Ford were look-alikes in orange sweaters. Guess who played the better game of golf? INC.`s not telling . . . While women oohed over Arnold Palmer`s pink sweater, sideliners joked that baseball great Johnny Bench`s ball was ”somewhere between first and second.” . . . Hope will not play much golf this tournament because of a kidney problem. . . . Actor Hal Linden, who lost his 3-iron minutes before the tourney began Thursday, is still nursing the blues over his ”forced TV retirement.” Linden tells pals that TV producers are reluctant to give him a series because he still is associated with the Barney Miller character.
— Playing golf/talking baseball: Cosell tells anyone who will listen that baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth may one day be president of the United States. ”He`s so brilliant, he`ll leave baseball in a couple of years because it is too limiting and boring . . . he could easily be elected governor, senator or president.” . . . Millionaire cowpoke Gene Autry, who left the lonesome trail many moons ago to buy the California Angels, may shell out big bucks for a left-handed relief pitcher. The rumor? San Francisco Giants` Gary Lavelle.
POLITICAL POSTSCRIPTS . . .
The honeymoon may be over before it begins for State Rep. Robert Krska
(D., Chicago), a pol pal of Ald. Ed Burke (14th). Krska was just sworn in this week, but INC. hears that 12th Ward Democratic Committeeman Robert S. Molaro is about to announce that he`ll field a candidate to challenge Krska in the 1986 primaries, less than 14 months away. Seems that the 22d District is almost evenly divided between the 12th and 14th Wards, and the 12th Ward contingent thinks that Krska`s connection with Burke will mean that their half of the district will continue to play the ”poor sister” role.
INC.LINGS . . .
New York Times movie critic Janet Maslin, Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman and Tribune TV critic Marilynn Preston will discuss the lively arts on ”Back of the Book,” a new weekly half-hour program that debuts Feb. 14 on PBS. . . . Friday birthdays: Rod Taylor, 55; Bobby Goldsboro, 44; Body Politic`s James O`Reilly, 58 . . . Saturday birthday: Glenn Yarbrough, 55 . . . La Costa resort in California looked like Chicago West over the holidays with the likes of State Sen. Bill Marovitz (D., Chicago), Marshall Korshak and Judge Saul Epton looking for relief from the Big Chill and spending New Year`s Eve with former Chicago Bears assistant coach Sid Gillman. . . . After last week`s INC. item about Channel 2 staffers having difficulty getting cabs to take them to their South Side homes, Yellow Cab President Jeff Feldman promised the station that he will deal with any driver who won`t take a fare home.
