The real enemy

The 50th Ward Democratic organization campaigning for Bernard Stone in the 1973 Aldermanic election felt that of the two Independents, Theodore Berland was the real electoral threat, not Ray Cohen. So, they refrained from criticizing Cohen or harassing his volunteer workers, hoping the losing Independents would sit out a runoff election, or maybe even support Stone.

When the Cook County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing on the fate of the proposed Pratt Avenue Bridge over the North Shore Channel, Commissioner Jerome Huppert, the 50th Ward Democratic Committeeman, interrogated Berland about his position on the issue. Cohen was spared that intensity.

On Election Day, a Berland volunteer in one precinct hauled out a construction-style tape measure to prove that the Stone worker was standing only 95 feet from the entrance to the polling place instead of the legally required 100 feet.

The offending Stone worker turned to the Cohen volunteer, shook his head, and muttered, as if to a friend, “They are such amateurs.” 

Cohen finished third and endorsed Berland in the runoff (but didn’t do anything to help him). Berland lost the runoff election to Stone.

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