— And observations: Caught napping? An INC. spotter saw State Rep. Judy Koehler, GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, snoozing while her chauffeur sped faster than hair spray whooshes from a can Sunday afternoon on the East-West Tollway. And even when Koehler awoke, the car continued lickety split. Hmmmm. Isn`t it true that President Reagan is going to come out for higher speed limits? Maybe Judy already knows? Whadda gal.
— If Sadly Adlai Stevenson continues at the torrid pace of raising $4,000 a day–which he claims he`s getting since U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D., Ill.) wrote a letter pleading for buckeroos–during the next 70 days to election day, the campaign contributions will still be less than $300,000 . . . hardly enough to pay for another 10-day media buy, huh, Adlai?
REFERENDUM DA DUM DUMB . . .
— The Dumber-than-a-Box-of-Rocks Award this week goes to U.S. Rep. Bill
”The Lip” Lipinski (D., Ill.) for admitting right off the bat that one in five of the signatures on the mayoral election referendum petition
(takeabreath) was very likely fraudulent! Mayor Harold Washington`s forces need only prove that a little more than one in four is false to get the referendum tossed off the ballot. Maybe that`s why he`s called ”The Lip.”
— Behind the scenes: INC. hears the referendum sponsors thought the Washington forces would be so overwhelmed by the volume of signatures over the 142,000 needed that they wouldn`t look at them that closely! Yeah! That`s the ticket!
— INC. hears a step by U.S. Atty. Anton Valukas, who made a preliminary inquiry into the Washington bloc`s charges of massive petition forgeries, is already having a chilling effect on petition circulators. ”Without federal intervention, they would have only been a wee bit nervous,” said a City Hall source. Hmmmmm. Although Valukas` inquiry is being done on a very low-key basis, ya gotta bet his pal, Gov. Jim Thompson, wants the referendum to die a fast death. Stay tuned. Double hmmmm. If the referendum is thrown out based on wholesale fraud, how do you think this makes Cook County State`s Atty. Rich Daley look? His mayoral bid is the main reason behind the move.
— Delivering the vote . . . er, pizza. Andy Pappas, a Chicago Board of Election Commissioners supervisor, had more on his hands Monday then overseeing the Washington bloc`s checking of fraudulent petitions. He was also supervising a fraudulent pizza shipment. ”Someone got angry with Andy and sent a $150 pizza order to him. So in the hubbub, a deliveryman shows up with a hand truck of pizzas,” chortled an INC. source. A mad scramble to sell one at a time ensued. Sue `em.
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH
. . . the tough go shopping. Monday morning. A limousine double parks in front of the Gianni Versace boutique on trendy East Oak Street. The passenger: Elton John. The reviews from his Poplar Creek shows: yuck. The mission:
shopping. John spent half an hour shopping. The tab: $10,000. The double-parked limo: no ticket. Some people just know how to live. . . . More how to live: The same morning, John dropped into the fur salon at Stanley Korshak, having been lured inside by two Tibetan lamb coats in the store`s North Michigan Avenue display window. He bought the two display pieces, as well as a third fur off the rack. The tab: $3,000. . . . Even More: EJ must have been running out of money by the time he hit My Sister`s Circus, where he spent only $800 on some Philip Cantrell rhinestone jewelry.
TV TIDBITS . . .
Danitra Vance is hardly champing at the bit to rejoin the cast of
”Saturday Night Live,” even though she has been ”in discussions” with SNL producer Lorne Michaels. The actress-comedian, whose talents were pretty much wasted on the show last year, just signed with Joe Papp`s Public Theater to star in ”The Colored Museum,” which opens in October. . . . Second City`s Isabella Hoffman is in Santa Fe, N.M., where NBC-TV is filming
”Independence,” a two-hour romantic Western pilot set in the 1880s. Hoffman is the female lead in the movie-that`ll-probably-become-a-series. The network has it on the schedule for the November sweeps. . . . The premiere of Joan Rivers` late night Fox TV talk show has been moved from Oct. 6 to Oct. 9. AIRWAVES . . .
From the Loop to the Loop: Will WL-FM morning man Jonathon Brandmeier and the Leisure Suits sing ”We`re All Crazy in Chicago” from the stage of the Chicago Theatre before the year is out? Stranger things have happened. . . . From the Loop to the Boonies: Will WLUP`s Steve Dahl and Garry Meier be the opening act when Rich Uchwat opens a Mt. Prospect branch of Zanies Comedy Club in October? That`s what INC. hears.
INC.LINGS . . .
INC. hears Veep George Bush plays in Peoria Sept. 9 at a fundraiser for Gov. Thompson. . . . Is there a joint checking account in the future for Channel 2`s financial analyst Terry Savage and Ed Harshfield, president of Household Financial Services? Just asking. . . . Tuesday birthdays:
Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, 65; Geraldine Ferraro, 51;
Little City`s Norman Dachman, 54. . . . To celebrate its grand opening, Melange, 1515 Sheridan Rd., Wilmette, is giving free samples of the restaurant`s homemade white chocolate ice cream through the end of the week. . . . And it`s free pizza every night between 3 and 7 p.m. at Diva, 525 W. Monroe St.
