Big Send-Off For Jesse Jackson

On his last night as a registered D.C. voter, Jesse L. Jackson (D) celebrated his 55th birthday Monday with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hollywood stars and plenty of District politicians at Union Station. In many ways, the night was proof of how much times have changed.

When Jackson's father was returning to the South after serving in World War II, the depot was segregated -- with separate waiting areas for blacks and whites and, on South-bound trains, separate cars for each race.

"It is symbolic for Reverend Jackson to be here," said actress Cicely Tyson, who was among those attending the birthday bash at B. Smith's restaurant. "His father was never allowed to be in this [part of the] station."

Ernest Green, one of the students who integrated Little Rock's Central High School during the 1950s, also couldn't resist taking note of the moment. In one room, he observed, were blacks and whites, united in one administration, poised to be the first Democrats to win a second term in the White House since Franklin D. Roosevelt. "This is historic," he said.

Jackson and his family are moving back to Chicago, where he has deep roots. He was elected to a six-year term as a D.C. shadow senator in 1990. The city's two shadow senators and one shadow representative are elected to lobby members of Congress for D.C. statehood, but they have no official standing in the Senate or the House. They are unpaid.

Monday night, Jackson told The Post: "Unless we change the Congress, we don't stand a reasonable chance of getting statehood. So much of my activities for statehood are to gain a new House and new Senate. You cannot change it from within D.C."

Although the prospects for D.C. statehood look dim these days, many of the partygoers praised Jackson's efforts on behalf of the District.

"The District better remember we would have never gotten 25 senators to support the D.C. statehood bill without Jesse," Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said. "He paid his dues to statehood."

Former mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly (D) said Jackson "was one of the first people, along with my husband, James Kelly, to be arrested for D.C. statehood. For that I will always love him."

Many of the partygoers had been involved with Jackson's Rainbow Coalition. "Reverend Jackson has opened doors for so many of us," Rep. Cleo Fields (D-La.) said.

Jackson said he decided to move back to Chicago and transfer the headquarters of his Rainbow-PUSH Action Network there because, "I want to be available to my children. Our children still see Chicago as home." Three of Jackson's five children, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), live in the Chicago area.

Jackson's move means his shadow seat is up for grabs. Democrat Paul Strauss and Umoja Party candidate George Pope are vying for the post, as is Republican Gloria Corn.

Strauss said that if he's elected, he wants to build on the foundation Jackson built. Pope said: "Filling Jesse's shoes is not the question. We need someone who is going to push and fight for statehood, as opposed to Jesse, who has pulling on him causes around the country."

Strauss scored a victory of sorts at Monday's party by outbidding everyone else in a silent auction to have dinner with Jackson at Georgia Brown's restaurant.

"Why did I pay $575?" Strauss asked. "The money is for a very good cause; it helps get the Rainbow off the ground as an organization; it's an opportunity to strategize about statehood; and I hear the food is really good."

Democrats Bury the Hatchet

With the primary election over, D.C. Democrats pried the hatchets out of one another's backs last week and pledged to work together to elect the party's slate next month.

Harold Brazil, Ward 6 council member and winner of last month's Democratic primary for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council, was host of a unity reception last Thursday at the Washington Court Hotel on Capitol Hill. All the Democrats who ran for the seat showed up except Joseph P. Yeldell, who placed a distant second, and Ernest E. Johnson, who came in last in the field of eight.

"In case I said anything bad about you, Harold, I take it back," said Kathryn A. Pearson-West, one of the unsuccessful at-large candidates.

Candidates for the council races in Wards 2, 4, 7 and 8 also were invited. Sandy Allen, who defeated Ward 8 council member Eydie Whittington in the hottest contest of the primary season, sported a power-red suit and a stars-and-stripes scarf. Whittington did not attend.

Mayor Marion Barry (D) who passively opposed Brazil and actively worked to reelect Whittington, stopped by the party and pledged his support for the winners.

"I'm a registered Democrat and proud of it," Barry declared during brief remarks before the large, noisy crowd that seemed more interested in nibbling on the hors d'oeuvres and chatting with one another than listening to political speeches.

"I'm going to vote for Clinton and Eleanor Holmes Norton," Barry said. "And then I'm going to vote for Harold Brazil, and since I live in Ward 8, I have another vote, and I'm going to vote for Sandy Allen."

Although he did not endorse any candidate in the Democratic primary for the at-large seat, Barry took a swipe at Brazil, a frequent critic of the mayor's administration. In remarks to reporters several days before the election, Barry said Brazil was "the laziest" member of the D.C. Council.

Last week, he said he hadn't meant anything by the remark. "That's all in the past," he said with a wave of his hand. He declined to comment further.

Also last Thursday, the D.C. Democratic State Committee opened its "Victory '96" campaign headquarters at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. At a noon news conference, party Chairman Amanda Hatcher Lyon and numerous candidates for local office made rousing speeches about making sure that Democrats get elected to offices ranging from U.S. president to the District's shadow posts in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

"We must avoid apathy and the low turnout of the September primary," Lyons said, referring to the fact that less than 15 percent of the District's registered voters turned out for the Sept. 10 contest. "We need to energize the electorate both to win and to assure a mandate for national and local reform."

Hawkins Gives Notice

Vernon E. Hawkins and the D.C. government seem to be parting ways at long last.

Back in June, the financial control board told the mayor that Hawkins did such a poor job running the $1.6 billion Department of Human Services that he had to go. But Barry put up a fight, and Hawkins was given a 90-day assignment in the office of Corporation Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff.

The 90 days were up in September, and control board officials started asking the Barry administration about Hawkins's status. Last week, sources said, Hawkins sent the mayor a letter that said in part:

"This is to inform you that I will officially retire from the District of Columbia government effective Friday, October 11, 1996. I consider it an honor to have had the opportunity to serve the citizens of the District of Columbia for more than 33 years and consider it my duty as a native Washingtonian to continue to work with you and your administration in making Washington, D.C., a better place to live, work and do business."

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.