Ald. Ed Burke (14th) has ordered the Chicago City Council Finance Committe to investigate allegations that mayoral speech writer Brian Boyer used city employees on city time to appear in a film he was making for private industry. ”It raises serious questions,” Burke told INC. ”Besides, I hear Boyer, who is paid by city funds, uses the press office as a base of operations for his personal business.” Boyer says he did nothing improper.
— Top Demoratic strategists are betting that Pat Quinn, a leading party activist, will mount a successful campaign for statewide office in 1986. A top party official tells INC. that Quinn, a member of the Cook County Board of
(tax) Appeals, will ”highlight his numerous independent causes during the last decade in a bid to become attorney general, comptroller or treasurer. And he has a better chance to win than most organization Democrats.”
— The Black Hawks, who change coaches almost as often as their skates, are considering former stars Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito for a role in the front office, and both men reportedly would love to jump back into the hockey net.
— Cable News Network staffers in Chicago are chuckling over reports that CNN`s Beirut bureau chief, Jeremy Levin, is free this week after being kidnaped by terrorists 11 months ago. The local staffers characterize Levin, who was once CNN bureau chief here, as ”extremely energetic, aggressive and difficult,” and are suggesting that his captors set him free when they got tired of hearing him criticize the food and accommodations.
CITY DITTIES . . .
Ah, patronage! Joe Gardner, former head of Mayor Harold Washington`s political education project, was quietly made a part of the CHA Board Wednesday. Gardner claims he`s against patronage, but it looks like hizzoner just gave one of his top political aides a job. How quaint. . . . Watch for State Rep. Al Ronan (D., Chicago), who is leading the charge against an elected Chicago Board of Education, to appear before 80 Hispanic leaders next Wednesday to express his key concern: guaranteeing Hispanic representation on the board. . . . Comic Aaron (”Council Wars”) Freeman, addressing the council earlier this week as part of his involvement in UNICEF`s ”Skip-A-Meal” program, began his speech with ”Fellow comedians . . .”
SMALL SCREEN SCENE . . .
INC. hears that Channel 7 is contacting employees this week about training to fill positions that would be vacant if members of the National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians go on strike when their contract with the network expires March 31. Negotiations on the union`s contract–which covers engineers, newswriters, traffic workers, communications workers, phone operators and music clearance employees at the Chicago station –are to begin early next month in San Diego, but station management obviously wants to be prepared. In 1977, a strike by union members here lasted four months. . . . Adrian (”T.J. Hooker”) Zmed will replace Denny Terio as the host of ”Dance Fever.” We knew you`d want to know. . . . INC. hears that Andrea Evans, who returned to the role of Tina Clayton on ”One Life to Live” last month after a two-year stint on ”Young and the Restless,” was lured back with a one-year contract and a six-figure salary rumored to be among the top five in daytime TV. . . . Since the Feb. 1 kickoff of Channel 5`s ”Write Bruce (Weitz)” antidrug campaign, the ”Hill Street Blues” star has received about 100 letters a day from kids listing their concerns about drugs–and the No. 1 problem so far has been noninvolvement of parents.
STAR TRACKS . . .
Liza Minnelli is lifting her self-imposed ban on TV interviews (she even said no to Barbara Walters) for a no-holds-barred interview on ”Entertainment This Weekend.” So how come? Let`s call it an offer she couldn`t refuse. The show has devoted a full hour to a subject only twice before–for MGM`s 60th anniversary, and for a special on Elvis, and that`s pretty heady company. And the timing wasn`t bad, either. Liza`s personal coming-out is a prelude to an all-out professional coming-out, so watch for news on several big projects. . . . Lily Tomlin, touring the country with her one-woman show, erased a two- week stint in Dallas from the schedule and headed for Aspen, Colo. Small sales in Big D?
INC.LINGS . . .
Friday birthdays: Cesar Romero, 71; Harvey Korman, 61; Marisa Berenson, 39; Claire Bloom, 54; Kevin McCarthy, 71; Melissa Manchester, 34.
. . . Saturday birthdays: Anthony Dowell, 42; Sonny Bono, 45; Brian Bedford, 50; Patti Andrews, 65; John Schlesinger, 59; John McEnroe, 26; Andy Taylor, 24. . . . A publication party for Tribune reporter Jeff Lyon`s new book,
”Playing God in the Nursery,” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Richard Gray Gallery, 620 N. Michigan Ave. . . . Jinx, the local band that was signed to a Chrysalis recording contract last year, will start recording its album next month in London.
