Rahm Emanuel is preparing a run for mayor of Chicago.
Rahm Emanuel made his first public statement directly addressing the mayoral race in a video on his official Web site he launched Saturday: chicagoforrahm.com.
Emanuel is expected to begin what he is calling a “Tell It Like It Is” tour of Chicago neighborhoods Monday — his first step to get close to Chicago voters living and working in Washington D.C. as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
Gery Chico, head of the Chicago City Colleges board and a former chief of staff for Mayor Richard Daley, called on Emanuel to disclose everything he can about his role in ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s decision to pick a replacement in the U.S. Senate for then-President-elect Barack Obama, and to provide details about his role as an Obama envoy to Blagojevich and the governor’s administration in the weeks before Blagojevich’s arrest.
Emanuel delivered a list of Obama-approved candidates for Blagojevich to consider, and two more names were added last minute — Attorney General Lisa Madigan and then-Chicago Urban League President and onetime Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson.
A wiretap on the telephone of John Harris, who pleaded guilty to taking part in a plan to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat in exchange for financial benefits for the governor or his wife, captured Rahm Emanuel urging Cheryle Jackson for the Senate seat. While Jackson and Blagojevich had a falling out, Emanuel said selecting her would make a statement that would play well for the beleaguered governor.