— Aaron Copland lost out to the New York Giants` Joe Morris Sunday if the number of empty seats at Sunday`s Inaugural Celebration Concert by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra was any indication. More than a few pols
–including Lt. Gov. George Ryan–were no-shows, preferring instead to stay home to tune in the NFC championship game.
— Gary Dotson, the man Gov. Jim Thompson sprang from the slammmer after those racy rape recant hearings, kicked off his own inaugural festivities Saturday by getting arrested in Matteson on drunken driving charges. Gary will be given a choice: attend AA meetings or head back to the pokey.
Ins and outs . . .
— It`s unlikely that current Illinois Department of Mental Health director Ann Kiley will preside over the department overhaul that the guv has indicated he`ll undertake this term. Insiders say her husband, Jim, director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority, is looking for a new job. Finding one will provide his embattled wife with a graceful way to resign (and wouldn`t that make Thompson happy.)
— Both Republicans and Democrats are saying Jay Hedges, the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs director whose embarrassed the Guv more than once will have a very hard time getting senate confirmation if Thompson reappoints him. The governor has to decide if he can overcome that opposition –and if Hedges is worth it.
— Republicans are upset over rumors that Thompson wants to name Taxpayers Federation of Illinois head Doug Whitley state revenue director. Whitley`s a life-long Dem and GOPers feel one of their own should get the post.
— Downstate Dems socked it to Sen. Howard Carroll (D., Chicago). They`ve diluted his authority as appropriations chairman by getting Senate President Phil Rock (D., Oak Park) to put two Downstaters on appropriations conference committees, where the real deals are made. That`s if Carroll doesn`t try to derail Rock`s re-election as the Senate leader.
Airwaves, away . . .
After pollster Paul Maslin advised Mayor Harold Washington (and then the world found out) not to run on his record because folks weren`t buying it, what was left? Washington`s campaign television commercials, which will begin saturating the airwaves Tuesday, are playing on the theme that he`s ”the right choice for Chicago`s future.”
Getting plastered . . .
With all those aldermanic candidates vying for public attention, Ald. Perry Hutchinson (9th) has taken a stand against ”city pole pollution”
caused by placards and posters. Hutchinson has called for city code changes to ”give our law enforcement officers the hook to harpoon some of these political fish who desecrate our hallowed neighborhoods.”
Star tracks. . .
Okay, let`s see if we can all keep straight faces in March when Jerry Lewis makes his TV dramatic debut (the telethons don`t count) as a father fighting to get a miracle drug approved to save his child. . . . Dustin Hoffman and Albion Dudley, the caretaker at Hoffman`s house, are being sued by a relative of Dudley`s late girlfriend. The suit claims that she died in Hoffman`s hot tub, where Dudley took her after they got drunk together. Hoffman was nowhere near the happy couple at the time, but the suit alleges that he should have instructed his caretaker in hot tub safety measures. Top priority for Hoffman, we`re sure. . . . Are we about to get hit with a bunch of new comedy albums? Richard Pryor, Jimmy Walker, Roseanne Barr and Howie Mandel are among the stars who have shown up at the Comedy Store in Hollywood in the last month to try out new material.
News notes. . .
— WBBM-TV`s report from last week`s politician-heavy dinner honoring WBBM-AM`s John Madigan made no mention of Madigan because 10 p.m. news co-anchor Walter Jacobson saw that it didn`t. (Media critic Madigan frequently attacks Jacobson`s commentaries.) A Channel 2 spokesman said that the report, by Mike Flannery, ”was the reaction of all the politicians to Washington`s announcement that day that he was staying in the Dem primary, which John surely would understand.” Another Channel 2 source: ”Madigan is always attacking him on the air, and won`t even respond when Walter says hello in the hallway. What do you expect Walter to do?”
— The publisher of Fun, a Detroit magazine that reported it will print the ”Diary of Peggy Iacocca,” Lee`s estranged wife, actually got a call from the National Enquirer last week, offering to buy the diary. ”They apparently thought we really had such a thing,” said a Fun staffer. ”So we said the price was whatever they would be willing to pay for the Hitler Diaries. Then they got it.”
— Los Angeles news anchor Tawny Little, who once was married to John Schneider, was not at all amused last week when another newswoman called her
”Tawny Schneider” in an on-air introduction to her KABC-TV newscast. Snapped Schneider, er, Little: ”That is not my name.” Off the air she was less civil.
INC.lings . . .
Monday birthdays: Glenn Yarborough, 57; JAM`s Dede Lynch, 34; County Clerk Stan Kusper, 52.
