— Call it the Bilski backfire. Mayor Harold Washington`s aides were calling Chicago Board of Election Commissioners chairman Michael Lavelle
”incompetent,” and the mayor`s lawyers were racing back to court Tuesday because voters requesting Democratic ballots instead were handed Illinois Solidarity Party ballots. But the Washington camp played a major role in Tuesday`s headaches. The write-in candidacy of city worker John Bilski that forced their arch-foe, Ald. Ed Vrdolyak (10th), into a primary battle, was engineered by a Washington strategist. And instead of nettling EV, Bilski`s candidacy boomeranged back at them.
— Remember how both candidates said pollsters couldn`t be trusted? Jane Byrne should know. Her number was one of the ”at random” dialed by a polling outfit during the campaign. And the pollster wouldn`t believe her when she kept saying ”I`d vote for me.”
AND STARTING OVER. . .
— Some high-profile Democrats, unhappy about Tuesday`s outcome, have begun thinking about throwing their weight behind non-Dem candidates like Vrdolyak, Chicago First Party candidate Tom Hynes or even a Republican. Before the screaming about turncoats starts, there is historic precedent: In 1972 and in 1976, a Democrat named Harold Washington endorsed Republican Bernie Carey in his races against Dems Ed Hanrahan and Edward Egan for county state`s attorney. In 1980, Washington stayed neutral in Rich Daley`s bid to unseat Carey. In case you were wondering.
— So why is Ohio businessman Ed DeBartolo so enthusiastic about Vrdolyak`s political aspirations that he`s writing $250,000-plus checks? INC. hears that EV did extensive legal work (about $500,000 worth) for some of DeBartolo`s business dealings in Chicago. But EV never sent ED a bill, and so ED`s ”contribution” to EV came in lieu of payment. And (talk about coincidences) Irwin Jann, one of EV`s major fundraisers and best friends, sits on the Illinois Racing Board, a position he held when ED owned Balmoral Park racetrack and couldn`t give politicians money. And that`s why some of ED`s business associates are saying he doesn`t make contributions. They say: ”He makes investments or satisfies obligations.” Oh.
TOWER AND POWER . . .
White House aides are debating what President Reagan should do once the Tower Commission`s scathing report on the Iran-Contra affair becomes public Thursday. One side is pushing for an immediate television address in which the President would ”act decisively”; others suggest he sit back and wait to see if public opinion warrants something as rash as a decision. Meanwhile, some senators are starting to call the mess ”Gipper Gate.”
GRAMMY, HOW I LOVE YA . . .
Backstage Tuesday at Los Angeles` Shrine Auditorium, production assistants for the Grammy Awards were busy coddling the stars. . . . Don Johnson`s dressing room was stocked with nonalcoholic beer and Pouilly-Fuisse wine. Go figure. . . . Production assistants went scrambling to find Peanut M& M`s for Whitney Houston. She wanted the new kind that has red ones. . . . Janet Jackson complained of being sick, then of being tired, but perked up when somebody brought her a McDonald`s double cheeseburger. . . . Billy Crystal, fighting a bad case of the flu, was being administered to by a special cook brought in to fix him chicken soup. . . . A producer who`d been meeting demands made by Stevie Wonder`s ”people” asked if they might have some albums for the staff. No can do, said Stevie`s assistant. ”We didn`t sell any this year.”
SOME KIND OF BUSINESSMAN . . .
Moviemaker John Hughes surely knows his market. More than half of the journalists he flew into Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas for press junkets to promote ”Some Kind of Wonderful” were writers for high school and college newspapers. . . . Hughes also realized that he was missing out on a major moneymaking aspect of his movies–the soundtracks. Hughes Music now has been established to take care of that.
STAGE STUFF . . .
Brian Dennehy announced at a Palm Beach polo game last week that he and Linda Hunt would like to team in a production of ”Macbeth” at the Goodman Theater. . . . Kazuko Hillyer, who produced the Chicago City Ballet`s Thanksgiving presentation of ”Cinderella,” tells INC. that there are still some i`s to be dotted and t`s to be crossed, but it now appears she`ll be taking the CCB`s production on a tour of the Far East this summer, then on to South America and Europe in the fall. . . . Dan Castellaneta and Ann Wendel`s ”Omnioptics” was one of the three-act plays that opened Wednesday in the Organic Theater Greenhouse`s ”The Seed Show: Untitled II.” Wendel was there but Castellaneta wasn`t; he just landed a role on ”The Tracey Ullman Show,” and rehearsals began Wednesday in Los Angeles.
INC.LINGS . . .
Paul Simon has added a second show March 14 at the Civic Opera House;
tickets go on sale Monday. . . . In response to audience surveys taken during previews of ”Benefactors,” Northlight has made several changes in the play, including shortening it by 10 minutes.
