And just how low can the elected leaders of our city sink? On Friday, a very sleazy and anonymous (natch) letter was sent to aldermen asserting that a member of Mayor Harold Washington`s cabinet was more involved with on-the-job sexual hijinks than with tending to city business. The department head in question tells INC. that the letter-penned on city stationery-was yet another chapter in an ongoing saga of harassment and rightly has taken the position of not responding to such anonymous allegations. But INC. was most struck by reports of aldermen and aldermanic staff members gleefully reading aloud the choicest paragraphs-like adolescents pouncing on dirty books-and lining up at a Chicago City Council copying machine so that the poison pen letter might be read by all. Class act, guys.
POLITICAL SHORTS . . .
Appellate Court Judge R. Eugene Pincham has until Monday to tell Lu Palmer`s Black Independent Political Organization whether he`ll be their candidate to run against State`s Atty. Rich Daley. Palmer tells INC. that if Pincham declines, they don`t exactly have any other candidates waiting in the wings. And that brings up Walter Jones Jr., a 41-year-old former chief of the criminal division for the U.S. attorney`s office, whose former collegues describe him as a ”crackerjack lawyer.” Jones tells INC. that he might be a candidate for state`s attorney, but is quite coy when pressed to identify who`s luring him into the political arena. Palmer says it`s not his group, because by the time Jones showed up offering BIPO his services, they`d already decided on Pincham.
THE PRESIDENTIAL TRAIL . . .
Depending on who you talk to, Gov. Jim Thompson`s support of Vice President George Bush`s presidential bid is resulting in either words of
”encouragement” or ”pressure” being filtered down to the troops. Bush hits town Monday night for a big fundraiser at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, where the guv will officially declare his backing of Bush`s candidacy for president. To wow the media, they`ll also be handing out a laundry list of county party chairmen and other state officials showing that support for Bush goes very deep indeed. But INC. hears the list of names is in large part a result of Thompson`s team reminding folks that their livelihoods are dependent on loyalty to the boss. And then, of course, they agreed that if the boss wanted Bush, they did, too.
REEL NEWS . . .
The Israeli set of Sylvester Stallone`s ”Rambo 3” has become a haven for transient workers. This week`s dropout: Cinematographer David Gurfinkel, who replaced Ric Waite when he walked off three weeks ago. Guess who Gurfinkel had ”creative differences” with? . . . Among the music types with cameo roles in ”Made in Heaven,” starring Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis: Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Ric Ocasek of the Cars. He plays a mechanic. . . . Emily (”Wish You Were Here”) Lloyd, now filming her second feature film, will play a hooker in her third-”Scandal,” the story of how Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies brought down the British government. . . . Most recent blatant cross-promotion in a movie: A scene in Cannon`s ”Dancers” in which a young American dancer is picked up at the airport by a guy wearing a promotional T-shirt for Cannon`s ”Over the Top.”
STAR TRACKS . . .
Mick Jagger received quite a nice offer from New York`s Palladium:
$150,000 to perform on New Year`s Eve, plus a private catered party with an open bar for 500 of his closest friends. Mick apparently hasn`t decided yet if the offer is nice enough to accept. . . . Jean Stapleton, appearing at the Shubert Theater in ”Arsenic and Old Lace,” will speak with De Paul Theater School students-and any regular folks who`d like to stop by-Oct. 20 at the De Paul Performance Center, 2324 N. Kenmore Ave.
THE DUH PATROL . . .
Variety reports that when journalists at the San Sebastian Film Festival tossed some heavy-duty questions at Bo Derek regarding her ability to manage on her own, hubby John stepped in to help with the answers. . . . Blond Australian football player/boxer/TV personality Mark Jackson, touring the U.S. as ”Jacko” for an Energizer battery promotion, saw a striking black singing star in an elevator at Bloomingdale`s the other day. ”Diana Ross!” he shouted intelligently. The woman turned, looked at him, and shouted ”Max Headroom!” End of conversation. Thursday night, a week later, they both showed up as guests on ”The Late Show,” where she learned he`s not Max Headroom (even though he does kind of look like him) and he learned she`s really Anita Pointer.
BOOKS AND LOOKS . . .
– Olivia de Havilland, following the example of Katharine Hepburn and her book about making ”The African Queen,” is going to write a behind-the-scenes book about ”Gone with the Wind.”
– Mamie Van Doren, promoting her ”Playing the Field” book, told an L.A. reporter that she`d thought about having a face lift but decided against it because ”I didn`t want to be like those women who look like they`re going 300 miles an hour in a convertible.”
POLITICS AS USUAL . . .
U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt`s presidential campaign has a new ”management team” out in Iowa. Campaign Director Bill Fleming was summoned back to Washington recently and was replaced by Steve Murphy. But a Gephardt spokesman denies the changes were precipitated by their candidate`s slip in the polls. And the ”slip,” he said, wasn`t really a ”slip” if you take into account some polling changes. But with Gephardt at 18 percent, ”It`s clear we have to do better.” Okay.
INC.LINGS . . .
Former CBS-TV honcho Ed Joyce`s book on the network, expected in the bookstores next spring, isn`t expected to make Dan Rather very happy. . . . Sunday birthdays: Daryl Hall, 38; Dottie West, 55. . . . Bill (”My name Jose Jiminez”) Dana will fly in from Hawaii for the Museum of Broadcast Communications` Oct. 24 Salute to Steve Allen. . . . The Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace production of ”No, No, Nannette,” which opens Nov. 4, will be directed by John Lowe III, son of original ”NNN” star Ruby Keeler.
