The Times from Munster, Indiana • 13

Times The state senators win re-election DeAngelis, Dawson win in Illinois Lake County keeps 3 in office By THOMAS INKLE Times Staff Writer ELECTION, CHICAGO HEIGHTS Sen. Aldo DeAngelis, R-Olympia Fields, handily defeated his challenger Tuesday. Unofficial totals show the first-term incumbent with 68 percent of the vote, with 48 percent of Rich and Thornton Township ballots counted. He pulled 69 percent of the vote, with 47 percent of Will County's totals in. Democrat Jewel Kirk of Chicago Heights failed to give DeAngelis significant competition; he rarely appeared at campaign debates.

Kirk's biggest blunder may've been when he admitted he'd been a Republican party supporter for years. DeAngelis will have to run again in two years after picking a short term in the state election lottery. Sen. Glenn Dawson, D-Chicago, will again represent Chicago's East Side and Hegewisch communities in the state senate. Dawson had no opposition in Tuesday's 18th Senate District election, but voting results show he collected only 22,227 votes of 25,910 cast.

Dawson's running mate, Samuel Panayotovich of Chicago, easily declared victory over Republican Elmer Stevenson. Panayotovich gathered 20,621 votes to Stevenson's 3,004 votes in the 35th House District. In the new 17th District, which includes Riverdale and a portion of Dolton, Dolton Mayor Norman MacKay failed to meet the Chicago challenge. Figures were unavailable, but the Republican MacKay, and his 33rd and 34th House Districts running mates, James Stieman and Janet Sullivan, conceded defeat Tuesday night. The three ran well in Dolton, Riverdale and Blue Island, but failed to hang on to those leads Lake County retained three state senators Tuesday.

Sen. Ernest Niemeyer, R-Lowell, was elected to a third four-year term by nearly a 2-to-l margin. Democratic senators Frank Mrvan of Hammond and John Bushemi of Merrillville won re-election to their second four-year terms by nearly 3-to-l margins. Even with Republican remapping of the Senate districts, none of the results were suprising. After trying to protect Niemeyer and Sen.

Ralph Potesta, R-Hammond, in the remap, there was little GOP map-makers could do with the rest of Lake County, which traditionally produces the largest Democratic vote in the Niemeyer and Potesta are the only GOP senators in the county. The rest are Democrats. Potesta's seat doesn't come up for re-election until 1984. Niemeyer's Democratic opponent, Thomas O'Hara, left the country in the middle of the campaign, leaving no way to replace his name on the ballot. In the south Lake-Porter counties district, auctioneer Niemeyer received a 17,000 votes to O'Hara's 9,929.

Mrvan, a banker and former Hammond city councilman, had little trouble beating his Republican challenger, John Drac of Hammond. Mrvan had 22,623 votes to Drac's 5,112. Drac was appointed after the primary to fill a Sen. Aldo DeAngelis re-elected ballot vacancy. Bushemi, a lawyer, easily beat Republican Richard Reed of Hobart.

Reed waged the most visible campaign of any of the three challengers. The former chamber lobbyist turned computer programmer was unable to dent Bushemi's popularity with the voters. Four years ago, Bushemi ran unopposed in the primary and-fall election. A total of 23,521 votes were cast for Bushemi. Reed received 8,134 votes.

Brenda Brdar, the Socialist Workers Party candidate, got 81 votes. Bushemi was elected to his second full four-year term. He also served the remaining two years of the late Rep. Adam Benjamin's state Senate term when Benjamin was first elected to Congress. The election of Sen.

Katie Hall, D-Gary, in the 1st Congressional District creates a vacancy in the 3rd Senate District. The vacancy will be filled by Democratic precinct committeemen before the start of the session in January during a special election. in Chicago. Michael Peck, assistant Thornton Township Republican committeeman, said the team managed to achieve its main goal getting Thornton Township Republican voters out to cast ballots for Gov. James Thompson.

"It's obvious the mayor had Thompson on his coattails," Peck said. "If we didn't have these local Republican candidates in a race, fewer Republicans would have been out and voting." Despite local Democratic victories at the state House and Senate level, Thompson topped Stevenson in Thornton Township vote getting. Marilyn Thomas O'Brien holds off Murer, wins 6th term i i i ii ii mm i I i i I Jli, III By THOMAS HOULIHAN Times Staff Writer JOLIET Rep. George O'Brien, fought off a strong challenge from Democrat Michael Murer Tuesday to win a sixth term in Congress. With 87 percent of all 4th District precincts reporting, O'Brien led Murer, 70,190 to 60,047.

In a contest that was seen as a referendum on economic issues, O'Brien compiled a commanding lead in Bloom and Rich townships, and managed a narrow victory in Thornton Township, which had been believed to be a Murer stronghold. Unofficial vote totals in Thornton Township showed O'Brien ahead, 8,903 to 8,009. Murer was the winner in Joliet and Aurora townships, where high unemployment apparently brought out the vote against O'Brien. O'Brien, however, easily carried Will County townships outside Joliet. In his victory statement, O'Brien said Murer had been unsuccessful in associating him with the state of the economy.

"I don't think anyone blames me personally," O'Brien said. "I didn't feel any animosity against me when I was campaigning." O'Brien said this year's campaign had been "like starting all over again." Due to congressional re-districting, O'Brien lost much of his former constituency, George O'Brien (right) receives good news. might have been a different story," Murer said. "As it turned out, I feel we won the campaign, but lost the election." O'Brien credited a phone bank as an important factor in his victory. The phone bank was used the last three weeks of the campaign to identify prospective supporters.

Calumet City Mayor Robert Stefaniak, Murer's campaign manager, said he fears O'Brien will ignore the eastern portion of his district. "He'll never know where we are," Stefaniak said of O'Brien. "We are on the far end of the district, and we can just forget about our congressional representation." and was forced into a primary fight with Rep. Edward De-rwinski this spring. The new 4th District stretches from the southern half of Calumet City on the north into Will County on the south, west through Joliet, and into a portion of Aurora.

O'Brien said Tuesday he hasn't yet decided how to service his new district. "But you can be assured we're going to service the area widely," he said. Murer, who has now lost two elections in a row to O'Brien, said the race might have come down to which candidate spent the most money. "If we had enough money, it Times Photos by John Sralerclak Democrat Michael Murer receives consolation after losing bid for Congress. Democrats hold Council ByPETRALUKE Times Staff Writer ELECTION 1 I Eost Chicago" Gary Hammond I HHHiBMa Lake Station Munster I I Highland I Hobart 6 1 Schererville Merrillville pj St.

John mjm LHH i Crown Point Corey carried all parts of the district, winning in Calumet Township, 285 to 121; Merrillville, 5,385 to Lake Station, 2,421 to 810; Hobart, 4,154 to and Hobart Township, 735 to 256. The totals were Corey, 12,980, and Eich, 8,447. In the other council races where there were Republican challengers the 2nd and 3rd districts the GOP lost heavily to Democrats. Incumbent Rudolph Clay, D-Gary, retained his 2nd District seat by beating Republican Joseph Stojakovich of East Chicago, 22,083 to 929. The 2nd District includes Gary and a small part of East Chicago.

Clay won in Gary, 16,692 to 382, and East Chicago, 5,391 to 547. Democrat Andrew Smith of Gary will join Wieser as new councilmen beginning in January. Smith beat John Bowman, who is the Gary Republican chairman, for the 3rd District seat now held by Rolland Beckham, D-Gary. The totals were Smith, 18,458, and Bowman, 2,319. Two incumbent Democrats Richard Blastick of Hammond and Richard Galambos of Griffith had no Republican opposition.

Blastick got 14,540 votes for the 1st District seat, and Galambos got 12,998 votes for the 4th District seat. CROWN POINT The Lake Count) Council is still dominated by Democrats 6tol. Tuesday's election left one Republican on the council, despite the redisricting that was supposed to guarantee the GOP at least two of the seven seats. Incumbent 7th District Councilman Sydney Garner, R-Crown Point, kept his seat by 1,033 votes over Democrat Nick Anast of Crown Point. Garner's strength came in Crown Point 3,003 votes to Anast's 1,999.

Garner also won in Center Township, 1,201 to 675; Hanover Township, 363 to 287; West Creek Township, 523 to 438; Winfield Township, 524 to 389; Cedar Creek Township, 1,051 to 936; and Eagle Creek Township, 193 to 75. Anast took Schererville, where he is the town attorney, 1,767 to 1,173. He also won In St. John, 490 to 461; St. John Township, 800 to 633; and Cedar Lake, 950 to 714.

The part of the 7th District that usually gave Garner a comfortable lead Munster became part of the 5th District this year to win another Republican seat on the council. Council districts were redrawn by the Republican-dominated state election board and the Republican-dominated Lake County Redistricting Commission. Their efforts failed in the 5th District, where Republican Don P. Johnson of Munster lost by 2,141 votes to Democrat James Wieser of Highland. The totals were Wieser, Johnson, 9,961.

Wieser, on the Highland Town Board and the county council's attorney, has said he will give up both those jobs for the council seat. Vote totals show Johnson carried the race only in Munster, winning 4,149 votes to Wieser's 2,890. Wieser carried Griffith, 946 to 500; Hammond, 1,684 to Highland, 5,073 to Schererville, 417 to 343; and Dyer, 1,092 to 1,015. The other council district Republicans had some hope of capturing the 6th came up dry. Incumbent Steve Corey, D-Hobart, beat Republican Paul Eich of Merrillville by 4,533 votes.

Map shows boundries of the seven districts.