House Speaker Mike Madigan is nixing rumors that he wants Ed Vrdolyak`s job as Cook County Democratic Party chairman. Who wants to field a candidate to run against Mayor Harold Washington? Not Madigan. Nobody wants Eddie`s job. Not even Eddie. But his ego says don`t quit now. Some pals, however, are telling Eddie to get out now, say it`s for the good of the party and sit back and see if he doesn`t become a hero later on. Hmmmmmm.
LEAVE IT TO DEAVER. . .
Mike Deaver, President Reagan`s surrogate-son-turned-political-consultant, is getting $105,000 a year to promote U.S. acid rain control, and he probably never figured that Reagan`s support would work against him. U.S. Rep. Thomas Luken, a Dem from the sulfur-dioxide-producing state of Ohio, attacked a new acid rain bill in the House because Deaver supports it! Luken, whose state would pay heavily according to the terms of the bill, said the bill should be renamed to reflect that it was good for Canada and Deaver. ”It should be called the Mulroney-Deaver bill, because that`s where all the benefits lie,” Luken said, referring also to Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. ”Mike Deaver no doubt will get a bigger contract.”
REST IN PEACE . . .
The body of shuttle astronaut Ellison Onizuka will be buried in Hawaii
”because his wife didn`t want his grave to be alone,” according to Mitsue Onizuka, the mother of the late astronaut. ”She feels she will be moving from Houston someday, so she didn`t want him buried there. Ellison was raised in Hawaii, and the rest of his family lives here.” The shuttle cabin was discovered several days before the Onizukas celebrated the 49th Day Buddhist service commemorating the day the soul finds its resting place. ”It was so ironic that the cabin would be found at that time.”
NOTE TO THE GUV . . .
Dear Big Jim Sir: It might not be a bad idea to make nice with the Northwest Suburban Association of Commerce and Industry. You probably don`t even know about it, but when NSACI, whose 1,000 members are suburban business leaders, contacted your office last October to see if you could speak at the group`s May 8 meeting, your aides said your schedule never was planned more than six weeks in advance, but golly, they sure would pencil it in on the schedule and why didn`t the NSACI get back to them six weeks before May 8 and see how things looked then. When they did, they were informed that you just couldn`t do that on your birthday, for heaven`s sake. Wasn`t May 8 your birthday when NSACI first asked back in October?
CITY DITTIES . . .
A Chicago schoolteacher who complained to the Chicago Teachers Union about being hounded to contribute to the United Negro College Fund says she was told the union was ”not aware” of the problem. She thinks that`s odd, since the packet of materials given to union delegates at last week`s meeting included a letter from CTU pres Jackie Vaughn identifying her as ”honorary chairman” of the UNCF drive. . . . INC. hears the Chicago Police Department is going back to Chevrolets. The Chevy bid was the lowest, which helped, but weren`t a lot of those Ford engines causing headaches? . . . After 40 years of walking through the same door at the Englewood District police station, John J. Ryan got a surprise when he reported for work last Thursday: Supt. Fred Rice saluting him under arched batons while the Emerald Society Police Bagpipe band piped away. It was Ryan`s last day, and his wife, kids and caboodle were all on hand to make it memorable.
AIR WAVES . . .
INC. hears a Channel 7 reporter and a member of Gov. James Thompson cabinet have become veryclose. . . . Chicago deejay Turi Ryder, who`s taking over as evening jock on San Francisco`s KFRC-AM, will broadcast her first show Monday from 30,000 feet–on her Chicago to San Francisco flight. . . . Lee Iacocca`s guest shot on ”Miami Vice” airs Friday.
CHICAGO PLACES . . .
Representatives of Chicago`s Ukrainian community will plant a Siberian white birch in honor of the victims of the Soviet nuclear plant meltdown when the Greenpeace Garden opens May 24 in the park at 4200 N. Marine Dr. . . . There`ll be free wine, soft drinks and pizza from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at the grand opening of Boot`s, 332 S. State St.
INC.LINGS . . .
The fourth annual Today`s Chicago Woman award will go to Mundelein College President Sister Mary Breslin. . . . Monday birthdays: Pat Carroll, 59; Tammy Wynette, 44; Alice Faye, 71; State Rep. Dick Klemm (R., Crystal Lake), 53; Morrie Mages, 70; and JAM`s Arny Granat, 38. . . . U.S. Rep. Bill Lipinski (D., Ill.) got a standing ovation during his recent speech to Cleveland Dems when he annouced that he would suppport President Reagan on aid to the contra rebels–a position most Dem congressmen oppose. . . . State Rep. John Cullerton (D., Chicago), father of the Illinois seat belt law, is joining in Wyoming`s efforts to make motorists buckle up. . . . The restaurant reviewer for the River North News, which makes its debut Tuesday, will be a Catholic priest. The semi-monthly publication is the product of former Lerner newsman Les Sussman and freelance writer Noreen McBride.
