Sweet vengeance
Forget all that good government blather about the Supreme Court`s anti-patronage ruling against the Thompson administration. Political vengeance is what`s going on here. The folks clapping their hands with glee were big political players in Dan Walker`s administration. Mary Lee Leahy, the attorney who won the suit, was Walker`s very, very controversial head of the Department of Children and Family Services. Thompson promised to fire her during the 1976 campaign, a statement Leahy recalled after the court`s decision. Her late husband, Andrew, was one of Walker`s top aides and no stranger to the patronage game.
And what goes around
. . . could come around and dump all over Neil Hartigan if he is elected governor. The Walker expatriates may have gotten even with Republican Gov. Jim Thompson. But if Hartigan wins in November, he could be barred from finally giving Democrats jobs after 14 long years. Then again, a class-action suit might include thousands and thousands of Dems who will claim they were denied employment because they belonged to the wrong party. At stake? The governor of Illinois has at least some control over more than 80,000 state jobs.
Planning ahead
. . . way, way ahead: Developers of the proposed Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle building still are trying to put together a financing package for the world`s tallest skyscraper, but it`s pretty obvious they`ve got friends in City Hall. Their 1,950-foot tall building, which under the best of circumstances couldn`t be completed for several years, is part of the city skyline on the cover of the June program schedule for MUTV, the municipal information cable channels. Tom the tease
Tom Cruise has this image thing-he wants to be considered an ac-tor rather than a hunk, so ever since that underwear scene in ”Risky Business,” he`s managed to avoid being filmed or photographed in hunk-specific situations
(i.e., undressed). For instance, during filming on ”Cocktail,” his unsuccessful professional suicide attempt, he refused to go shirtless but instead wore a tank top in a love scene, even though it was filmed under a waterfall. And things haven`t changed; his Rolling Stone cover shows him looking ever so chilly in a wet T-shirt (rather than shirtless), even though he`s standing thigh-deep in a body of water.
And speaking of T`s
. . . Mr. T has a court date next month with Miss T to discuss Baby T. Mr., of course, is Lawrence Tero, would-be actor and Lake Forest deforestation consultant, and Miss T is Vanessa Taylor, who`s already got one Baby T (2-year old Alexander) and is expecting her second in August. Vanessa`s lawyer, Todd Lyster, tells INC. that Mr. T has been extremely generous to Vanessa but that he doesn`t have a lawyer. He told Lyster he doesn`t like lawyers, accountants, managers or agents, and he likes to do everything himself. Obviously.
We`ve come a long way
But it`d be pretty hard to prove if you watched Channel 7 Thursday night. First, an hour of Nelson Mandela; then news; then more Nelson. And then, the movie . . . which opened with Eddie Cantor in blackface, singing ”If You Knew Susie.”
Chicago law
Court buffs were surprised to see former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Seymour Simon turn up as an attorney in Cook County Divorce Court. Turns out he was representing his son in a child support case. Simon, who had never been in divorce court, was pressed into service because his son`s regular counsel was in Florida. It may be hard to believe, but the case went to trial earlier than anyone expected.
Springpatch
If you want to find the state`s movers and shakers, try Washington Park in the capital a little after 6 a.m. One day last week, Transportation Secretary Mike Lane was there jogging, House Assistant Majority Leader John Cullerton was running, and Senate President Phil Rock and Gov. Thompson were walking. . . . The fitness frenzy extended to back-benchers. Ten House Democrats bought dinner for 10 House Republicans after the Repubs lost an average of 5 1/2 pounds in two weeks and the Dems lost a mere 3 1/2 pounds. . . . Willie Nelson has been appointed by Thompson to the Southwest Regional Port District Board. No, not that Willie. This one is from East St. Louis.
INC.lings
Sunday birthdays: Peter Weller, 50; Jeff Beck, 46; Nancy Allen, 40; Georg Sanford Brown, 47; Marge Hartigan, 50; Michelle Lee, 48; Mick Fleetwood, 48. . . . Billy Lee`s may open up after all; INC. hears owner Bill Spatz is negotiating to sell the plagued-with-permit-probl ems club to someone who owns a couple of restaurants.
