Page 4-Tuesday, April 8 1980-The Michigan Daily
Chicago's love affair with Byrne has soured
I
CHICAGO-It was a tempestuous affair-a
woman in love with a city, its people enamored
of her, their expectations peaked by fresh
promises.
When Jane Margaret Byrne won the mayoral.
election on April 3, 1979, the city cheered her
like a champion. Cabbies spotting her on the
street honked their horns. People stopped to
shake her hand.
"Be assured," she said on Inauguration Day,
"that I did not become the mayor of Chicago to
preside over its decline."
But a year later, the love affair has soured
and decline is what many people sense in
Chicago. The 82 per cent mandate Bryne
brought to City Hall has crumbled. Public
opinion polls indicate widespread disenchan-
tment with the mayor.
To be sure, Byrne, a tough-talking, poker-
faced 45-year-old Irishwoman, still has suppor-
ters who regard her as a decisive, gutsy leader.
. "The mayoi is an extremely quick study. I
found her to be a very decisive woman," said
School Board President Catherine Rohter.
BUT CRITICS of Byrne-dubbed "Mayor
Bossy" by a newspaper columnist-call her a
deceitful, mercurial, and precipitous leader
who has created chaos in the nation's second-
largestcity.
, The mayor "talks first and thinks later,"
says Louis Masotti, a Northwestern University
professor who headed her transition team.
"She's got an ego a mile long and two miles
thick."
In her first year as mayor, strikes in Chicago
closed schools, shut down public transpor-
tation, and left the city with only bare-bones
fire protection.
Chicago's once-strong credit rating has tum-
bled and the Democratic Party
organization-the famed machine that worked
so dependably in the decades when the late
Mayor Richard Daley was at the controls-has
broken down.
Daley, Byrne's political mentor, built a
reputation for running a stable city. But
stability has disappeared since Byrne pulled a
stunning political upset by beating former
Mayor Michael Bilandic and an army of
patronage workers in last year's Democratic
primary. And some blame Byrne.
"DALEY WAS A classic bureaucrat," said
Milton Rakove, a political science professor at
the University of Illinois' Chicage campus.
"Jane's not a good bureaucrat. Daley ran the
politics like a politician. He ran the city like a
mayor. Jane runs the city like a politician, not
like a mayor.",
Moving into the mayor's office was heady
stuff for Byrne, who had been fired as the city's
consumer sales commissioner after accusing
Bilandic of "greasing" the way for a taxi fare
increase.
She immediately found herself facing a
By Sharon Cohen
tangle of labor, fiscal, and political problems.
It is how Byrne has addressed those problems,
and how she may have exacerbated them, that
has kicked up so much controversy in her still-
young administration.
Byrne had campaigned on a promise to give
firefighters a written contract, a change from
the long-standing agreements that relied on
handshakes.
ONE TOP CITY labor leader, who asked not
to be identified, said that promise changed the
tenor of contract negotiations. Talks bogged
down, and firefighters struck.
"She (the mayor) has fomented labor
unrest," independent Alderman Martin Ober-
man charged angrily.
"There's no reason on earth why that strike
had to take place," said Masotti. The city,
Masotti said, wanted the mayor to display
"some signs of class and finesse" in her
dealings with the firefighters. Instead, he said,
she "confronted them."
The mayor doesn't cajole or persuade, said
Masotti. "It is all pound, pound, pound, punch,
punch, punch, hit, hit, hit."
But Byrne's tough demeanor during the
strike also earned her points. Indeed, some city
officials said her confrontation tactics with the
unions are essential if Chicago is to survive.
Alderman Roman Pucinski said Byrne
deserves credit for instilling a sense of fiscal
responsibility lacking in previous ad-
ministrations. ,
"IF SHE HADN'T moved decisively and for-
cefully . . . this city would have been
bankrupt," Pucinski said. "She was able to
stem the tide of economic disaster swept under
the rug by Daley and Bilandic. You've got to
give her a double A-plus for that."
Many of Byrne's scraps have stemmed from
political quarrels. Perhaps the most notewor*
thy was when the mayor, who got into politics
as a volunteer in John F. Kennedy's 1960
presidential race, endorsed the presidential bid
of Sen. Edward F. Kennedy.
The endorsement came just two weeks after
Byrne seemed to endorse President Carter in
front of 12,000 guests at Chicago's biggest-ever
political fund-raising dinner.
"It wasn't what she did," said Rakove. "It
was the way she did it. Nobody likes to see the
president of the United States humiliated."
Other supporters-turned-critics, like Ober-
man, say Byrne has failed to keep campaign
promises-such as her pledge to establish
budget reforms, revitalize neighborhoods, and
end patronage abuses.
Another early supporter, Renault Robinson,
president of the Afro-American, Patrolmen's
League, says she has failed to meet her
promise to appoint blacks to city commissions.
"As much as I fought with Daley over the
years, he was more responsive to the black
community that she is," said Robinson. "A
least under Daley you knew what to exW
pect ... We don't know what to do with Jane
Byrne."
Sharon Cohen is
Associated Press.
a
writer for
the
Jane Byrne
U ___
s f r 4
vol. XC, No. 149 News Phone: 764-0552
edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Our answers to the MSA
candidate questionnaire
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AS STUDENTS vote today and to-
A1 morrow for a new Michigan
Student Assembly (MSA), the time is
ripe to change the Assembly's focus
and philosophy. By voting for
candidates who promise to provide a
new direction for MSA, students can
trans form their government into an
effective, grassroots organization.
Because more'than 120 students are
running in the MSA election, it would
have been impossible for the Daily to
have spoken with each candidate
individually. And because it would be
irresponsible to endorse any
candidates without first talking to
them in person, we have decided not to
support any individuals.
Instead, we have provided each
candidate with a questionnaire, the
results of which are printed on the
facing page. Although the questions do
knot allow respondents to detail or
expand their beliefs, each question was
chosen for its pertinence, and the+
answers provide a quick profile of each
candidate's opinions.
If we were completing the
questionnaire, we would answer in the
following manner.
Perhaps the task for which the
Assembly is best suited is advising and
educating students. By sponsoring and
organizing programs that directly
affect the everyday lives of individuals
on this campus, MSA can make itself
,visible and viable. For this reason,
<MSAI should fund only groups which
deal exclusively with cam pus and
:University-related issues. Of course,
the definition of University-related
issues is flexible; it can be expanded to
oinclude any issue in which a significant
;number of students express a genuine
Iinterest, such as the reinstatement of
registration and the draft.
MSA's current relationship with the
University administration is far from
jappropriate. Because the University
collects MSA's funds, the
administration has ultimate control
over the Assembly. Unfortunately, if
MSA were to break with the University
entirely, it would doubtless have great
trouble collecting its funds, thereby
undermining its ability to function as a
strong student government. Therefore,
Ithe most practical answer seems to be
,a change within MSA that would
narrow its focus to student-related
sending members out of state to attend
conferences. Such conferences can
sometimes help solidify student voices
across the nation on important issues.
Neither MSA representatives nor
officers should be paid for their
services. Student money should be
used for student programs, and those
who aspire to be student
representatives should be willing to
devote their time and energies without
payment.
We do not wish to dictate how many
hours each week MSA members should
devote to Assembly activities. We
would hope that members would put in
as much of their time as possible, and
certainly more than the five hours per
week that comprise regular meetings.
Because we believe MSA should
become a grassroots organization,
responding to specific student
concerns and needs, projects such as
student counselling services, minority
services, course evaluations, campus
secutity, and allocations to student
groups should be top priorities. Goals
such as increased input into the
University budget and tenure
processes, and the placement of
student members on executive
committees and the Board of Regents,
while admirable and important, are
less immediate and urgent., Students
will appreciate the results" of rape
awareness workshops or thorough
course evaluations before they will
grow concerned about the tenure
process or a student Regent.
A change in MSA's philosophy is long
overdue. Respect and recognition of
'the Assembly will follow programs
that students can feel. Vote with us in
today's elections and help re-vitalize
student government.
.*vmt:v :::,. *?. :?{::?;. . '{.r "\ s:.
Editorial policies
Unsigned editorials ap-
pearing on the left side of this
page represent a majority
opinion of the Daily -s Editorial
Board. Letters and columns
N
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
CARP's activities should be scrutinized
To the Daily:.
In light of its recent attack on the
Public Interest Research Group in
Michigan (PIRGIM) (Daily, April
2), we think it is time to take a
serious look at the Collegiate
Association for the Research of
Principles (CARP), the political
arm of the Sun Myung Moon cult.
The unpatriotic disregard which
CARP has shown for the right of
University students to peacefully
express their support for non-violent
change has been clearly demon-
strated time after time. During the
recent rally for the Teach-In on
Peace and Politics (March 17),
members of CARP used a hand-
held amplifier in an unsuccessful at-
tempt to disrupt the legal and
legitimate activities of the pro-
peace demonstrators. When
representatives of the Committee
Against War (CAW) approached
the CARP-ers, members of the
CARP group were unable to
produce either a use-permit for the
Diag or a permit for the use of the
hand-held electrical amplification
equipment. Instead, the CAW
emissaries, Dan Uselman and
Henry Hardy, were characterized
as "Jewish Commie Fags" and
were threatened with having their
"heads broken" by the illegal
demonstrators. At least five of us
have been threatened with serious
bodily harm and/or death by CARP
members as a result of having been
present at one or more anti-draft
rallies or meetings.
The lengths to which the Moon
fanatics are willing to go to in-
timidate peaceful citizens were
perhaps best exemplified by the
behavior of members of CARP at
the anti-draft March on Washington
on March 22. There CARP mem-
bers, including five or six Ann Arbor
CARP-ers, were restrained by
police only after three violent, free
swinging attempts to take the stage
by force. As usual, CARP had ap-
parently ignored laws requiring
permits for the march and rally.
Contrary to the assertions in Mr.
Humbert's letter, the support on
campus for peace and peaceful
change is broadly based. The recent
two-to-one vote by which MSA ap-
propriated monies to help defer the
cost of transportation for draft
protesters traveling to Washington
is only one prominent indicator of
-the profound anti-draft sentiment
among the students that PIRGIM
represents.
By questioning the finances of
PIRGIM, a public-interest lobbying
organization whose membership is
open to aiyone and whose finances
are public, CARP perhaps wishes to
divert attention from the
mysterious source of its own fun-
ding. We challenge CARP to make a
full and detailed public account of
its resources and expenditures. In-
deed, it is long past time for an ac-
curate accounting of the activities of
certain "student organizations." We
urge the Daily and its readers to in-
vestigate both PIRGIM and CARP
and draw their own conclusions.,
For our part, we the undersigned
students and alumni of the Univer-
sity of Michigan find the presence
on campus of a violence-prone
cultist organization like CARP
repulsive. We hope that the Univer-
sity community will be articulate in
its support for its Public Interest
Research Group, and equally vocal
in its condemnation of the anti-
democratic tactics employed by
CARP members and their cultist
mentors.
-Lisa Dershin
Daniel Frohling
AA CTdeserv
To the Daily :
Has the Michigan Daily aban-
doned The Ann Arbor Civic
Theatre (AACT)? For many
years the AACT was considered
to have many ties with the '
University community. Not only '
were the performances heavily
laced with students from the
music school, speech dept.,
drama dept., as well as faculty
members, but the performances
were (and still are) held in the
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in
the Michigan League. AACT
members anxiously waited for
the Daily's review of, each '
play-feeling that it was a more
accurate critical review than the
syrup handed out by the Ann Ar-
bor News.
The Thursday morning after
the opening of the last AACT play
(Curious Savage) Ieagerly scan-
ned each page of the Daily and
found not one word! The current
AACT production opens in Men-
delssohn Theatre April 9 and the
Ann Arbor News has discovered
that there are some interesting
tidbits about both the play and
the cast of The Crucible to
warrant one or more human in-
terest articles (one of them being
Sublet ad ob
To the Daily:
On Wednesday, April 2, 1980, on
page 6 of the Daily, the following
sublet ad appeared:
"CALL ME MASTER! CALL
MV CR R n,, nn't call m
Steven Graff
Henry E. Hardy
Christine Huntman
Kim Leith
Karen Messerman
James E. Richmond
Joel Strenk
Scott Sueskind
James Todd
Dan Uselmann
April3'
coverage
a
that a number of the same people
working on this production were
also involved when AACT
initially presented The Crucible 18
years ago.)
The University TV station has
covered (and aired) a part of-one
of the rehearsals and WUOM's
Ed Burrows has interviewed two
members of the cast for its,
"Eleventh Hour" program.
WHERE IS THE DAILY?
This is AACT's 50th anniver-
sary and it has certainly come a
long way. Even a brief resume of
its growth and accomplishments.
would takeamore than could be-
covered in one article; the latest,
is the purchase of the Elks Club'
building on South Main St. Not
only is this building closer to the
Central Campus area but it car
accommodateplargeraudiences
for minor productions (the'
growth of which has been
phenomenal).
The list could go on. Right now
I am hoping that this letter
reaches the Daily in time for me
to see .a review of The Crucible
next Thursday-instead of a long
and dull synopsis of a lone and
dull movie.
-Rovella Woodson
April 3
jectionable
in poor taste and offensive to thye
black community. We feel that
The Michigan Daily has a respon-
sibility to its readers to refuse
advertisements that are blatan-
tly racist. We do not consider this
Hubbard misleading
To the Daily:
I notice that Mr. Don Hubbard
in his Daily ad has refrained from
mentioning that he is a
Republican, not even in small
print. He also omitted reference
$o his affiliation in the April 3 Ann
Arbor News in two different ads
not directed at students.
Therefore, I must conclude' that
this omission was not a little
oversight. Since this candidate
- n ~
Republicans) and for smoke
detectors in rental units. She
strongly supported the Tenant's
Rights Booklet and Truth-in-
leasing, which have been upheld
by the courts. She opposed the
Republican-sponsored "derelict
law" which can violate all of our
civil rights and can be used
against students. At the begin-
ning of her term, Susan Green-
berg, with other Council
represent the opinions of the
individual author(s) and do not
c
G