Today the city of Chicago will bid a solemn farewell to Mayor Harold Washington, who died of a heart attack last Wednesday morning. Schools all over the city—both public and private—are closing for the public memorial service. This weekend thousands of mourners stood in line at City Hall to pay their last respects.

Naturally, politics being what it is, jockeying for positions in the competition to fill Washington’s seat began almost immediately after his death. Three aldermen already have started working to gain support, and more are expected to follow.

Obviously it’s not possible to leave Chicago without a leader, even for a short time. But it does seem that the succession laws take care of the problem—by providing for the vice mayor to become interim mayor until the city council votes on a replacement to hold the seat until the next general election.

One of the “almost-announced” candidates stated that Washington would have expected people to “be involved in the art of politics.” That’s probably true. Certainly Washington never turned down a good fight himself. But he also might have expected them to wait until he was in his final resting place before they started tearing his city apart.

As early as last Friday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson called for a quick decision on the mayoral appointment. He was promptly and respectfully requested to mind his own business—namely his national agenda and presidential campaign—and not interfere in the appointment process. Jackson needn’t be in such a hurry to see his candidate appointed mayor.

While it is important to have a permanent appointment to the mayoral seat soon, Interim Mayor David Orr is quite capable of holding down the fort for a few weeks. There’s no need for the aldermen to start sharpening their battle axes so soon. There’s plenty of time for the candidates to garner their supporters and proceed to engage in a long and messy fight for the mayoralship.

But for now, it doesn’t seem too much to ask for a little respect for the dead. And a little time for the living to say goodbye.