The Race To City Hall: The 1983 Chicago Mayoral Debates--excerpts

. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. I have been I have been urged by the earnest pleas of thousands of people to enter this race.

Therefore, I hereby declare my candidacy for Nancy. To race to City Hall, Channel 11's coverage of the mayoral debates featuring incumbent Jane Byrne and challengers Richard Daly and Harold Washington. Today's debate, the second in the series, comes to you from the international ballroom of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. I'm John Calloway. The candidates are in place about 2,200 persons have gathered here at the Conrad Hilton for the second debate. And as the introductions were made to the candidates, it was a great deal of noise. This debate will be different from the first one and it will only be two panelists instead of four. And questions will be taken from the audience. I am deeply aware that the public safety involves far more than the actions of the police, the sheriff, the state's attorney, and the courts. Jobs, education, parks, decent housing, health, support, in short, good neighborhood in a caring city. These are the essentials of public safety.

And these will always be my priorities. Congressman Washington. APPLAUSE Congressman, you have three minutes in closing statements. During my legislative career, I have been the chief sponsor of four major pieces of legislation, three of which passed, which always were designed to give greater protection to the citizen in our citizen. So I was the chief sponsor of a code of corrections, which is now the state law, which deals with sentencing and incarceration of those who have plenty crimes against our city. We're going to continue to make the tough decisions, even the ones my opponents don't like. And today, in spite of the national economy, Chicago is moving forward. And we're very proud of the part that we played in the history of this city. Thank you. All three of our distinguished mayoral candidates, I would personally like to thank all of you

for my self and in behalf of WBMX Radio. A special thanks to Mr. Bruce Dumont and his true at Channel 11 WTTW and Mr. Edmont Son, the main president of Son and the radio corporation. I've got a coach and the next advantage of this story will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. Here at the time of our event. Thank you for joining us. Does government have an obligation to do whatever it can during times like these when the burdens of unemployment are reaching across this nation? Of course it does. You wouldn't have it any other way. And neither would I. Thank you, Mayor Byrne. State's attorney daily. You're closing statement. We'll hold your applause, please. So another debate is finished. The cameras will be turned off. And we will leave the hall talking about who won and who lost. I know who lost.

Those hungry people lost. Those people hanging on by a thread lost are children lost. Because I fear this was just more empty talk like all of those television commercials that have had tried to hide the truth and convince some that Jane Byrne really did inherit the problems that she created, that the city is in good shape and that crime is reduced. The people lost tonight. The truth was stretched and distorted by her New York advisors and carefully written scripts. Our debates have just turned into long television productions to present the new Jane Byrne package instead of dealing with the truth. Last week, as we walked from the stage, the mayor went at her New York advisor and asked back to the script, back to the script he answered.

And Mr. David Sawyer can be proud tonight. She stuck to the script again. And she will, until the election day, will hold her applause, please. We are not numbers, Mayor. We are not stupid. We are the people of Chicago. And we deserve the truth. Not the truth from New York, but the truth that will allow us to make decisions. We have one more debate. Let's demand the truth. Chicago deserves no less. Thank you. Not a 10-week job program that ends after the election. But to go to the business community before and say to them, we want to hire three or 4,000 people,

where we train them, put them on your payroll, can they be part of your company? And that is the key. Mayor Byrne, please. Could we let Mayor Byrne answer this question, please? We'll take a pause here for just a minute while we get the situation in hand. For the benefit of the persons at home, there is quite a loud disturbance here, even if it doesn't sound that loud on your television sets at home. So we'll just take a pause for a second. We'll just take a brief pause, and then we'll come back to this discussion. We're here at Clemente High School, we are here at Clemente High School, where we've had a disturbance at this debate.

And while it is being quieted, while it is being quieted, we will take a brief pause while that disturbance is being quieted. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your attention. And now we will go back, if we can, to the response on this question. And the question is relates to youth and adult vocational programs, which would be established in this area where there has been a very high dropout rate in this area and in this school. And the next response, the one-minute response will come from Mayor Byrne. Yes, once again, it really has already been accomplished. Oscar Shabbat, the chairman of City College at Oscar Shabbat. Ladies and gentlemen, please give the mayor an opportunity to speak. Oscar Shabbat, the chancellor of City College,

has announced over six weeks ago, recognizing the need of the Latino community and the vocational training that is needed and appointed a committee of city colleges to search out the area for the appropriate school. And the funding is there, it is available, and there will be a vocational training center in this community just as there is in uptown. Another point I'd like to make. Please give the mayor an opportunity to finish. Another point. Would you please give the mayor a chance to finish? Another point that I'd like to make is we're hearing a lot about this community development core of what have you. Take, Mayor, take a minute. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, if you would, please give us your attention. We respectfully ask you for your attention. Please give the mayor an opportunity.

Take another half minute if you would to finish off this. Well, I would just like to point out that as we talk about this job service core or whatever, which is to be a union of business, the educational world, the private sector, and federal funds, that is already mandated and in place. As the Congress faces out CETA and goes to the new federal job training programs, it was required that we establish this particular organization which is called PIC, and PIC is made up of both professional, academia, the business community, and the federal funds through the mayor's office of manpower and training. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Congressman Washington. Mr. Keller, I have an answer, but in light of the confusion has been so long, I mean, I'd have the right questions. Would you like the questions again? Would you like it? No, I think I could. Okay. One of us, Mr. Washington or myself, will be the next mayor of this great city.

Beyond our stands on the specific issues, you will have a right to ask each of us certain fundamental questions. Will he obey the law? Will he do what he promises? Will he tell the truth? The only way I know to judge what a person will do in the future is to know what he has done in the past. As these documents indicate, we have taken a very thorough look, and frankly, Mr. Washington's past record is very disquieting. Will he obey the law? Mr. Washington was convicted of repeated criminal violations of the federal tax laws and sentenced to prison. The United States attorney said he has not even filed income tax returns for 19 consecutive years. Will he do what he promises? The Illinois Supreme Court found Mr. Washington guilty of converting the funds of legal clients to his own use. People came to him for help as a lawyer.

Poor people. He took their money and then did nothing for them. He was suspended from law practice for five and one half years. Will he tell the truth? In 1975, when he applied for reinstatement as a lawyer, Mr. Washington submitted a statement, a sworn statement, to our Supreme Court saying that he had not been a party to any civil or criminal actions during the period of his suspension. He swore to that. But in fact, Mr. Washington had been deemed to defend it in no fewer than five civil suits, including one half of the violation. Thank you very much. The first 30-second question will be asked by Harry Golden Jr., Sometime City Hall reporter. The question is to both candidates, who each will have up to one and a half minutes to respond, Harry. The President's city budget relies on one-time revenues and has an $85 million short for. In the absence of any unlikely bonanza from the state,

what revenues will you raise in the 1984 budget? Or what parts of the city payroll will you cut? I will answer your questions, Crawford. But first of all, let me respond to my opponent. He's been saying that he's going to take off the gloves. Well, he forgot. He didn't take off the gloves. He took off his shoes. And he didn't wash his feet. He didn't wash his socks. And he has scurrously attacked him and avoided the record. I have set over and over again for the past 12 years. Never avoided the question. Faced up to it. What happened in 1972 has been explained over and over and over again to the people of this city. They're all aware of it. We didn't profess to have done right. He did wrong. We've been punished for it and punished for it adequately. And since that time, we have an exemplary record which we put before the people of the state in every single election. And endorsed by all the major metropolitan papers endorsed by labor organizations up and down the line.

We have outlived that issue, we think.