Senator William A. Marovitz, endorsed Orbach, as did the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune. "His [Orbach's] relationship to large real estate developers is very important. He's become more of an advocate for people outside of the ward than for people here," Shiller charged. Some of Orbach's allies spread a rumor, aimed at lakefront Jewish voters, that as alderman Shiller would support a Palestinian state. Shiller's forces called Orbach a racist, although a large number of blacks backed Orbach in his early campaigns. Shiller later said, The machine alderman who won in 1983 [Orbach] had a chief of staff who was engaging in racial organizing. There were white gangs up here. One of them he helped organize into a consciously racially white-power gang. They hooked up with both the Klan and the Nazi Party. In the months leading up to the election, the Heart of Uptown Coalition and a Shiller supporter who was director of the Center for Street People, 4455 N. Broadway, organized a voter registration drive that registered 80 homeless people using the center's address, and on election day fed them a meal at a local church hall and helped them vote. Jesus People USA, a 500-member commune/business/charity/religious group with many members living in the ward, had supported Orbach throughout his career, but switched to Shiller before the run-off. Jesus People's spokesman explained "We think Jerry Orbach is a lovely man, but he doesn't have what it takes to stand up to the development ... If things keep going there will be massive displacement. People will be thrown out of their homes. We decided that Helen Shiller would do the most to prevent displacement." Orbach supporters charged that a City official had offered City contracts to the Jesus People's construction firm if Shiller were elected. On Tuesday, April 7, 1987, Shiller defeated Orbach by 498 votes, 9,751 to 9,253, and contributed to a narrow, pro-Washington, reform-minded majority in the City Council which helped draw the Council Wars era to close. Aldermanic career In her six terms as alderman, Shiller served on eight committees: Budget and Government Operations; Buildings; Committees, Rules and Ethics; Finance; Health; Housing and Real Estate; Human Relations; and License and Consumer Protection. First term (1987–1991) On December 16, 1987, Shiller was among the supporters of the 1988 City budget, proposed by Washington in late 1987 and passed 29-19 under Mayor Eugene Sawyer after Washington's death in