Mayor Harold Washington on Friday won his more than three-year struggle to gain control of crucial Chicago City Council committees by stripping his opponents of their leadership positions and stacking the panels with his supporters.
In his long-awaited showdown with anti-administration forces, Washington invoked his controversial tie-breaking vote to slash the number of committees from 37 to 28, reward his allies with key chairmanships and stack the committees with his allies.
Ald. Edward Vrydolyk (10th), one of the mayor`s leading council foes, lost his chairmanship when his committee was abolished, and Ald. Edward Burke (14th), while allowed to stay on as Finance Committee chairman, was stripped of his power over the city budget.
During a stormy session interrupted by parliamentary manuevers by forces led by Vrdolyak and Burke to delay the inevitable committee reorganization, Washington rammed through his committee restructuring plan despite threats of renewed legal battles.
In a separate move, Washington won approval for slashing $1.5 million from various council committee budgets and earmarked those savings to abate part of his recent $79.9 million property tax increase.
Washington also flexed his new political muscle and won confirmation of Walter Netsch, a prominent architect, to the Chicago Park District board in his continuing effort to seize a board majority and dump Supt. Edmund Kelly, 47th Ward committeeman and the mayor`s longtime foe.
The mayor suffered a minor setback in his efforts to have Rebecca Sive-Tomashefsky appointed to the park board when it became apparent he lacked the 25 council votes necessary for her approval. The administration aldermen refused to test the issue, and later Washington hedged on whether he would pursue the controversial appointment.
Ald. William Krystyniak (23d) declined to report the controversial appointment out of his Committee on Beautification and Recreation and administration aldermen balked at a floor fight to discharge the committee and vote on the Sive-Tomashefsky appointment.
With Netsch`s appointment coupled with the earlier confirmation of Margaret Burroughs, Washington needs only one more successful appointment approved to have a majority on the five-member park board.
It is expected the mayor can win this needed appointment with confirmation of Silvia Herrera, which is expected at the next council meeting scheduled for June 25, making the appointment of Sive-Tomashefsky academic.
Following the council meeting Washington restrained himself from gloating and insisted, despite the stacking of committees, that ”power was distributed more or less equally. No one can accuse us of a power grab.
”All in all it was a good day for Chicago. We tried to keep it low key. There was no braggadocio, no flaunting of power. There was no putting of people down.”
An defiant Vrdolyak ripped the actions of the new majority for what he insisted was the flouting of council rules and warned that there will no longer be opposition to higher taxes or watchdogs over the awarding of city contracts and hiring of favored outside lawyers.
”It`s a sham of fairness and reform,” Vrdolyak charged. ”All the phony reformers are out of the closet now for keeps. We know all that phony left-wing rhetoric ain`t going to get it with the people of Chicago when they say, `We`re for you, here`s a higher tax bill.` ”
While Vrdolyak labeled the actions ”legislative piracy,” Burke said,
”The courts will rule what happened here today to be totally null and void.”
Burke said at least 23 aldermen are expected to join in a suit as early as Monday morning to overturn the actions.
The main floor fights erupted over efforts by opposition forces to require a two-thirds majority vote on resolving questions of discharging committees, substituting resolutions and voting on appointments and committee reorganization. The mayor`s supporters argued that a simple majority and the mayor`s tie-breaking vote was sufficient and had been upheld in earlier court fights over the issue.
Besides grabbing control of all 27 council committees, Washington left Burke as chairman of the Finance Committee but stripped him of any powers over the city budget by establishing a new council Budget Committee, headed by Ald. Timothy Evans (4th), his council floor leader.
Washington`s council supporters also approved dumping Vrdolyak as chairman of the Committee on Neighborhoods and relegated the Cook County Democratic chairman to membership on five committees.
Washington was virtually assured of the necessary 25 votes to push through his shake-up of the committees when Ald. Perry Hutchinson (9th)
arrived at City Hall in an ambulance and was wheeled into the mayor`s office. Hutchinson, who came under strong attack from black organizations for denying the mayor a needed vote by leaving last week`s council meeting early, told reporters from his wheelchair, ”I`m ready to do my thing.”
The new council majority abolished council committees on cable television, employment, municipal code revisions, public utilities, human services, municipal institutions, community services, public records and information, alcoholism and substance abuse, and neighborhood and community affairs.
It also abolished the Committee on Leases and merged responsiblities with the new Land Acquisition, Disposition and Leases Committee. And it added the Budget Committee.
In those cases where opposition aldermen were retained in chairmanships, Washington allies were given overwhelming majorities in the committee memberships.
Juan Soliz, newly elected alderman in the 25th Ward, who enjoyed only a few weeks in the role as Aviation Committee chairman, expressed personal offense at being dumped in favor of Ald. Jesus Garcia (22d), another newcomer to the council and a Washington ally.
Supporters cheered as Soliz spoke of his past political support of the mayor and accused him of attempting to split the Hispanic community and warned, ”I am not Vrdolyak`s boy, your boy or anybody`s boy.”
Other aldermen dumped from council leadership roles by Washington in the council shake-up included Krystyniak, George Hagopian (30th), Miguel Santiago (31st), Joseph Kotlarz (35th), Gerald McLaughlin (45th), Patrick O`Connor
(40th), Aloysius Majerczyk (12th), William J.P. Banks (36th) and Jerome Orbach (46th).
Anti-administration aldermen who retained committee chairmanship were Burke, finance; Terry Gabinski (32d), zoning; Fred Roti (1st), buildings; John Madrzyk (13th), administration and reorganization; Eugene Schulter (47th), historical landmarks; Bernard Hansen (44th), economic development; Roman Pucinski (41st), intergovernmental affairs; Robert Kellam (18th), land acquisition; Patrick Huels (11th), licenses; Michael Sheahan (19th), police, fire and municipal institutions; Bernard Stone (50th), ports, wharves and bridges; Thomas Cullerton (38th), streets and alleys; and Anthony Laurino
(39th), traffic control and safety.
Washington`s plans to reorganize the council almost were upset by Ald. Burton Natarus (42d), who during debate on a rules change indicated that he was going to bolt the administration but flip-flopped when a key vote was taken and went along with Washington on the reorganization.
