Is the Clarence McClain who allegedly accosted a woman early Friday morning the same Clarence McClain who`s a former mayoral aide and the target of an FBI mole probe into city contracts? INC. hears the woman, who reportedly is a city employee, filed a complaint against a Clarence McClain, with whom she once worked. She claimed he attacked her shortly after he picked her up on South Prairie Ave. at 2:45 a.m. Friday. According to the police report (RD H8430188), she bailed out of the 1986 Ford, waved down a police car and was taken to Provident Hospital, where she was treated and released. Police are investigating; no charges have yet been filed. If the subject of the police report is the mole target, wasn`t his driver`s license suspended? Stay tuned. The trash can. . .
— Isn`t it true that just before 42d Ward Ald. Burt Natarus
”heroically” voted for the mayor`s controversial property tax, he was assured of a judgeship if it looked like he wouldn`t be re-elected? Just asking.
— Who said the following?: ”I don`t think my staff and I have ever had an original idea for economic development. We`ve taken ideas from other cities and copied them.” It`s Springfield Mayor Mike Houston, the GOP candidate for state treasurer. That`s what he told the Moline Dispatch.
— State Sen. Adeline Geo-Karis (R., Zion), who is running for state comptroller, got nixed when she tried buying an ad in mayoral aide David Canter`s ”Second Term” newspaper, which supports Mayor Harold Washington and his policies. Canter`s terse response: ”I will not allow anything in my paper . . . that goes against (incumbent Comptroller) Roland Burris and the mayor.” Isn`t the paper supposed to be unbiased. Ya sure. And INC. was born yesterday.
— INC. hears WBBM`s Pam Zekman`s crew had some difficulty last week while interviewing CTA personnel about their maintenance procedures and defective rail equipment. Their main camera broke twice. It was defective.
— Interesting to note that the CHA is so strapped for funds that the elevators don`t work. Funny. They sure didn`t have any trouble coming up with the money to pay for a wedding for 11 CHA couples.
Hmmmm . . .
— Tit for tat. Memo to House Speaker Mike Madigan and State Rep. Ted Leverenz from the Thompson folks: If you`re really serious about cutting state costs, stop sending payrollers to the administration in search of patronage jobs.
— Is it true that a deputy commissioner at Chicago`s Department of Aviation has a chauffeur that`s about to break the record for filing overtime chits? Is the deputy commissioner really working all those hours?
Star tracks . . .
As a young couple walked down a North Side street Saturday night, she thought she recognized one of the guys in a group approaching them. ”Jeff!” she shouted. ”That`s not Jeff,” scoffed her companion. ”Jeff`s in Madison.” Yeah, dude. But Mick Jagger was in Chicago–and you guys didn`t even recognize him. . . . Before Jagger left the Ambassador East on a club-hopping tour of the city with manager Alan Dunn and JAM`s Arny Granat and Dede Lynch, he stopped in the bar at Byfield`s and had a quick ginger ale; two women offered the bartender $20 for the straws touched by those legendary lips. . . . At Clubland, waitresses Karen Garfinkel and Marla Anderson had the other staffers green with envy; they got to serve him his club sodas with lime. The group left a $40 tip. . . . At The West End, manager Sue Miller got a permanent personal memento of Mick`s visit. He signed the back of her T-shirt: ”She`s so hard. Mick Jagger.” Says Miller: ”Of course I`m never washing it.”
Ups and downs . . .
— Flying high: Young actor Peter Billingsley just had to decide between his vocation and his avocation–the Young Astronauts program. Instead of leaving Oct. 16 for a 10-day tour of Russia with the YA program, he accepted a role in a feature film (titled ”Russkies”) that begins shooting that very day. He`ll take a couple of days off in December to greet a group of Russian YAs in Washington, D.C. Billingsley costars with Linda Evans in CBS-TV`s
”Last Frontier” mini-series, which airs Sunday and Tuesday of next week.
— Crash landing: How do you say ”big career mistake” in Polish? Bobby Vinton burned up the phone lines Thursday to inform several journalists
(including INC.) that he was negotiating with CBS-TV to host a ”Breakfast Club” program. As soon as the stories hit print, CBS said Vinton was dreaming. Whether Vinton was hoping to boost a concept the network had expressed an interest in, or just plant an idea, the Polish Prince learned firsthand the meaning of ”Backfire.” Kaboomski!
INC.lings . . .
Will someone arrange a blood transfusion for Jon Voight? He`s dreadfully pale. . . . Now that there`s no ”P.M. Magazine” to cohost, Dave Saint is going back to his radio roots. Beginning this weekend, you can hear the former radio personality Saturday mornings on Z95. . . . Tuesday birthdays: State Sen. Bill Marovitz, 42; Angie Dickinson, 55; Deborah Kerr, 65; Johnny Mathis, 51; WMAQ Radio`s Pat Cassidy, 36. . . . Forrest Tucker, still hospitalized in California with heart problems, could use some cheering up. Send cards to him in care of 10455 Valley Spring Lane, North Hollywood, Calif. 91602.
