Mayor Harold Washington will file for renomination Monday in the Democratic primary, but in announcing his plans Saturday, the mayor left open his option to drop out at the last minute to run as an independent or third-party candidate.
The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners opens the one-week filing period Monday for the Feb. 24 Democratic and Republican mayoral primary elections, with the mayor and at least a half-dozen challengers vying for the office.
After months of trial balloons and endless scenarios about the 1987 mayoral election, the filing period should bring an end to the kidding and separate the candidates from the great pretenders of Chicago politics.
But the kidding continued Saturday. The mayor, visibly amused, chuckled as he teased reporters who attempted to pin him down on his absolute plans for the race during a press conference called in his office to discuss the city`s new stadium for the Chicago White Sox.
Washington confirmed he would file Monday as a Democrat, but said he still might drop out by 5 p.m. on Dec. 26 and refile next month as an independent or third-party candidate in the April 7 general election.
He said he would file 50,000 signed petitions supporting his candidacy on Monday.
Former Mayor Jane Byrne, a declared candidate for more than 15 months, has indicated that she also will file Democratic petitions on Monday with more than 60,000 signatures.
Byrne alone among the Democratic contenders has ruled out the possibility of running as an independent. ”I`m a Democrat and this is a Democratic town,” she said at a recent press conference.
Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th), chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, formally announced his mayoral candidacy Thursday night, and Democratic sources have indicated Vrdolyak will file his petitions late next week or a week from Monday.
If Washington chooses to remain in the Democratic primary, Vrdolyak has vowed not to be ”a spoiler” by splitting the white vote with Byrne, as Cook County State`s Atty. Richard M. Daley was accused of doing in the 1983 mayoral primary.
Under those circumstances, Vrdolyak is saying that he would withdraw the day after Christmas with the intention of re-entering the mayoral race on Jan. 19 as an independent.
If Washington drops out to run as an independent, Vrdolyak said he will contest Byrne for the Democratic nomination.
Asked about the Vrdolyak bid, Washington countered, ”I dare him to stay. I`ll pay all his expenses if he stays in there.”
The suspense likely will go on until the last minute Dec. 26.
Vrdolyak`s political strategist, Joseph Novak, said Saturday that the mayor`s announcement would not alter Vrdolyak`s strategy.
Another Democratic candidate expected to file next week is Sheila Jones, a follower of political eccentric Lyndon LaRouche.
Even though Jones is a perennial candidate who was overwhelmingly defeated in the 1983 Democratic mayoral primary and the 1986 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, her candidacy is generating attention because of the stunning victories in last March`s statewide Democratic primary by two of her LaRouche allies.
Whatever happens on the day after Christmas, the only certainty about the 1987 Democratic mayoral primary is that it will be contested. ”Nobody is going to get this thing by acclamation,” said one of the candidates.
For the first time in 48 years, there may even be a Republican primary election. Northwestern University professor Donald Haider, a nationally renowned scholar of municipal finance and a former city budget director in the Byrne administration, was drafted last week as the GOP organization`s endorsed candidate for mayor. Haider, a lifelong Democrat, switched political parties to make the race.
Another Democrat, State Sen. Jeremiah Joyce, a lawyer and former Chicago police officer, said he is planning to file in the GOP primary Monday, and will challenge Haider for the nomination.
Former State Rep. Bernard Epton, the 1983 Republican mayoral candidate who came within 50,000 votes of defeating Washington, announced his candidacy last week and said that he is prepared to spend $400,000 in the primary.
Haider, who is hoping to raise about $200,000 for the primary, said during an interview on ”City Desk,” to be aired Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on WMAQ-TV (Channel 5), that he is an underdog to Epton and Joyce but that he expects to overtake them by waging a vigorous, issues-oriented campaign. Other Republican contenders who have indicated that they are planning to file for mayor Kenneth Hurst, Republican committeeman of the 39th Ward; Chester Hornowski, 35th Ward GOP committeeman; and professional clown Ray ”Spanky”
Wardingly.
All 50 aldermanic seats will be contested in nonpartisan elections on Feb. 24, with April runoffs in store for top vote-getters in wards where no one gets a majority vote.
