Скачать или смотреть CHICAGO MAYOR HAROLD WASHINGTON | City Council | December 1st and 2nd 1987 | Part 3 of 3

This is part 3 of a series of 3 recordings of the Chicago City Council on the evening of December 1st and the early morning of December 2nd, 1987.  The Council met to decide on the replacement of deceased Mayor Harold Washington, who died just before Thanksgiving, 6 months into his second 4-year term.  City Council had the power to name a replacement to serve as mayor until a required special election in early 1989, which was won by former Mayor Richard M. Daley who served from 1989 through 2010, and was succeeded in 2011 by Rahm Emanuel.
This 3-hour final episode was recorded on the floor of the Chicago City Council in an emotional meeting that lasted past 4 AM.  The first 6 minutes of this episode is repeated from the end of part 2.  This meeting is an example of the use of parliamentary procedure in making a collective decision in a situation where there is great conflict.
This episode features five current or recent members of the United States Congress who, in 1987, served as Chicago aldermen:  Roman Pucinski, Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez (1:28), Bobby Rush, and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (2:56:00).  Also featured with speaking roles are colorful Chicago aldermen including (but not limited to) Timothy Evans, Dorothy Tillman (2:43:00), Helen Shiller, Ed Burke, Richard Mell (who stands on top of his desk seeking recognition from the Chair), Burton Natarus (parliamentarian), Fred Roti, Bill Henry (1:34:00), Bernard Stone, Anna Langford, Terry Gabinski and Edwin Eisendrath.  The meeting is chaired by alderman and acting Mayor David Orr who retired rather than seeking re-election to his position as Cook County Clerk in 2018 after nearly 30 years of service.  The episode does not include the actual Council vote to elect the mayor, which occurred only minutes after our recorder ran out of tape!
Alderman Timothy Evans was the choice of the group of Harold Washington supporters who, in Chicago, were the roots of the ongoing 21st century Democratic Party progressive movement.  Evans was Washington’s choice to serve as Finance Committee Chairman (the most powerful City Council committee).  Evans was believed by this group to be the successor Mayor Washington would have wanted, had he named one.  Alderman Eugene Sawyer was the choice of a coalition of white and black, more conservative, aldermen.  Sawyer supporters included all of Harold Washington’s white City Council antagonists, and a group of several “old-school” black aldermen who formerly supported Washington out of racial solidarity, but did not openly espouse his progressive values.  The black defectors from Washington’s narrow 26-24 City Council majority helped elect Sawyer.       
The original news coverage is from Chicago’s WMAQ TV news (NBC), and was later re-broadcast, in the early 1990s, on a local Chicago cable access TV station in a program assembled by the Chicago Bar Association.  These episodes were copied from tapes of those cable access TV programs.