Gang Goes Politic

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By DIRK JOHNSON,

Published: February 28, 1995

Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman, who rose to fame in Chicago by denouncing the strong-arm tactics of the old Democratic machine, now faces opposition from an organization of another sort: a street gang.

A group called 21st Century Vote, which has ties to Chicago's largest gang, the Black Gangster Disciples, is trying to oust Ms. Tillman, who represents the South Side neighborhoods of the Third Ward, and elect Wallace (Gator) Bradley, who has served prison time for armed robbery.

Mr. Bradley, 42, who contends that Ms. Tillman has "sold out" to Mayor Richard M. Daley, is not the only convicted felon in the contest, which will be decided in voting Tuesday. Tyrone Kenner, a former Alderman who went to prison for taking bribes, is also on the ballot. In all, five former convicted felons are running for aldermanic posts in Chicago.

Ms. Tillman, famous for her jaunty hats and her shake-the-rafters oratory, is favored to win re-election. But some political experts here say the race could be close.

Campaign signs for "Gator" have been plastered on walls, windows and shuttered storefronts throughout the ward, the poorest in the city. And crowds of young men huddle on street corners to pass out Mr. Bradley's campaign literature.

"Gator's got a lot of kids looking up to him," said an admirer, Troy Porter, an unemployed 33-year-old man standing on a corner. "We've given everybody else a chance. Why not Gator?"

The attacks on Ms. Tillman, who came to Chicago from her native South as a teen-ager in the 1960's to work for civil rights and was appointed to the City Council in 1985 by Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor, have confounded many political experts here.

"Gator Bradley went to jail because he was convicted of a crime; Dorothy Tillman went to jail for fighting for the civil rights of black people," said Conrad Worrill, the chairman of the Center for Inner-City Studies at Northeastern University. "We need to make a distinction between the two."

Ms. Tillman has branded Mr. Bradley a "monster created by the media" and predicted that she will easily