— Watch for the Chicago library board to pick Dr. Cannutte Russell, the mayor`s dentist, as its next president! INC. hears outgoing board president James Lowry tested the political waters for re-election and found them cold.
”Lowry no longer has any support from the fifth floor,” said an INC. source. ”Instead of uniting the board, he was divisive. Now maybe we will have an end to all the controversy. Cannutte is probably the hardest working member of the board. The board members are all delighted.” Will Russell be elected unanimously Thursday? Stay tuned. Psssst. INC. is told that Mayor Harold Washington originally wanted Russell to be the board president, but when INC. leaked info that his pick was also his dentist, hizzoner quickly chose Lowry instead. INC. had quite an impact. Sort of like a rotten tooth.
— INC. hears rumbles that former State Rep. Monica Faith Stewart, a Washington ally, wants to run for 18th Ward alderman now that the area, represented by Ald. Robert Kellam, has been redistricted.
— Rumor has it that the Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry and the Civic Federation will in the next few days join the long line of those filing suit unless the 6 percent tax on commercial leases, passed by the city council recently, is rescinded.
— Watch for fireworks if Ald. Allan Streeter (17th) introduces an ordinance Thursday for 10 special police officers for Rev. Louis Farrakhan`s Nation of Islam church! ”May peace be unto you. . . . My church is in need of 10 special police officers,” wrote Abdul Akbar Muhammad, Farrakhan`s national assistant, to Streeter. ”I would like the (application and processing) fee reduce(d) from $100 to $10 per person.” Only a city council ordinance could approve such a move. Not too hard to figure out what the Jewish aldermen will think of this request. Stay tuned.
THE BIG PROBE . . .
— Mole mail: Note to FBI ”mole” Michael Raymond: You might want to stop at your fake North Side address to pick up your mail, including notification that your fake driver`s license has been revoked.
— How quaint of Lee Miller, business associate of former mayoral aide Clarence McClain, to show up at City Hall driving a two-door hardtop bearing license plates ”Who Me?” Wouldn`t they look better on a car driven by McClain, who has emerged as a heavy part of the FBI probe on corrupt city contract practices?
— Political paradoxes: 1) Not only was it disclosed that McClain had not paid his water bills when disclosures of his police record cost him his city job, but McClain`s waters bills still aren`t paid. Hmmmmm. Isn`t McClain being investigated for allegedly helping a company get the city contract for collecting unpaid water bills! Conclusion? Guess he was only helping the company get a contract to collect unpaid bills from deadbeats like him. 2) It didn`t take Washington long to call the FBI probe ”racist.” Interesting that two out of the three men zapped by hizzoner as a result of the probe are white.
THE MYSTERY CANDIDATE . . .
INC. hears a Cook County ”lawyer” running for circuit court judge in the Republican primary has got top GOPers scratching their heads. Isn`t it true that the ”alleged lawyer” not only filed for judge for four separate vacancies–but one of the vacancies is also being sought by Associate Judge Anton Valukas, father of the U.S. attorney! And the GOPers, who have their own endorsed candidates for those vacancies, are still trying to find the
”candidate.” Isn`t it true that the candidate is not listed in Sullivan`s directory–the official attorney`s directory; he is not a registered voter;
and the secretary of state`s office can`t even find a driver`s license for the mystery man. So what gives? P.S. The same GOPers are laughing over an associate judge from suburban Cook County running for full circuit court judge who didn`t even bother to register to vote himself! The upshot: It`s too late to file complaints to knock anyone off the ballot. P.S.S. The ”mystery candidate” has since withdrawn from Valukas` spot.
STAR TRACKS . . .
Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, Jami Gertz, Tom (”Tank”) Howell, and Bud (”Harold and Maude”) Cort spent last week in Chicago, learning and practicing improvisational ”games” under Del Close and Charna Halpern of the Improv Olympics. Director Sidney (”Out of Africa”) Pollack watched. Why? Not even Del and Charna were told. Also part of the group: Olan Shepard, ex-wife of playwright Sam Shepard. . . . All the extras who showed up the other night for filming on ”New Orleans” at That Steak Joynt were dressed to the nines, so when owner Billy Siegel noticed a guy in a stocking cap and a brown leather jacket, he commented to someone that there obviously had been a breach in security because people were being let in ”off the street.” Not exactly. That was Richard Gere. . . . Nobody paid much attention to Detroit deejay Martin Ciccone until last weekend, when he volunteered to see if he could get the station an interview with his sister. Her name is Madonna.
INC.LINGS . . .
Some patrons of the Drury Lane Oak Brook Theater thought the language in the theater`s current production sounded like something you`d hear in a whorehouse, so the offending words have been changed to ”goldang” and
”shoot” in ”The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” . . . Wednesday birthdays: Margaret O`Brien, 49; Lloyd Bridges, 73. . . . Can`t beat `em? Join em–like WCKG (106 FM), which has decided that instead of trying to compete with the Super Bowl, the station will broadcast only crowd noises from a northwest suburban bar during the game.
