Tag: rahm emanuel

It is always nice when you are in line somewhere and you have to leave the line to do something else and the person behind you says, ‘go ahead, I’ll hold your spot.’
Chicago Alderman Pat O’Connor is that kind of guy.
From today’s Sun-Times:

Emanuel was on track to become U.S. House speaker someday before accepting Obama’s offer. He has told Democratic ward bosses that he would like to reclaim the seat after a few years as chief of staff.
He was believed to be leaning toward O’Connor, in part, because the alderman might be amenable to giving up the seat at some point.

But in light of the Blagojevich scandal, probably not. Emanuel, according to a Dem operative and quoted in the Sun-Times article, has “gone underground.”
I saw this story first on Progress Illinois (I read all of those progressive sites, you know). The author there, Josh Kalven, seemed surprised Emanuel would angle for his spot back.

When rumors surfaced in mid-November that Rahm Emanuel was hoping to find a placeholder to sit on his House seat until he finished up a stint as White House chief of staff, it left a lot of folks — including myself — scratching their head. The idea that Emanuel would attempt to pull off such a maneuver amid all the intense media scrutiny on Illinois seemed a bit far-fetched.

Today’s Sun-Times article, quoted above, seems to indicate the story was more than a rumor.
Kalven says the Blago mess may have a positive effect on the 5th District race.

CQ’s Emma Dumain called me on the day of Blagojevich’s arrest to gauge the impact on the 5th Congressional District race. I hinted at the time that I thought the governor’s scandal would prevent any of the rumored manuevering from advancing and allow for a relatively clean race. Spielman’s report seems to indicate things are moving that direction. We’ll see if it lasts.

Here is what Kalven said to the Congressional Quarterly writer:

“This could actually be good news for the people of the district,” said Josh Kalven, editor of the news and commentary Web site Progress Illinois. “It creates an opportunity for a candidate who’s squeaky clean — who’s an outsider in terms of machine politics in the city and state — to have a shot at the seat.”

Dribs and drabs – Emanuel did talk directly to Blago. When the headlines say Emanuel pressed for Jarrett, read Obama pressed for Jarrett. Rahm doesn’t roll without Obama saying go. How it looks to me is that Obama wanted this to look like Blago was running the selection but was putting some pressure on behind the scenes. Nothing illegal if no quid pro quo is revealed but the reality is at odds with the portrayal. Now the seat is radioactive and will probably come to a special election — unless IL Dems can find some other way to fill the seat without putting it to a vote.

Michael Sneed reports:

Sneed hears rumbles President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is reportedly on 21 different taped conversations by the feds — dealing with his boss’ vacant Senate seat!

According to the Blago criminal complaint, Blago’s staff leaked several items about the Senate seat to Sneed. It seems entirely possible that she is correct given the contacts she has. It could also be misinformation based on the contacts she has.
If Obama’s account is to be believed, all those calls were conveying appreciation for any consideration Blago might give to Obama’s wishes.
However, Obama still has not addressed important questions in this matter. Politico.com lists 7 questions and this US News & World blog runs down thoughts on where this goes from here.

Conservative blogs are reporting that there is pressure on Obama’s Chief of Staff selection, Rahm Emanuel to resign. However, a look at the links to the foreign papers finds mixed reporting with one paper taking a more cautious stance.
Patriot Room quotes an Aussie paper saying there is pressure on Emanuel to resign his post. However, clicking the link goes to a story describing vague pressure without mention of resignation.

BARACK Obama’s chief of staff is under pressure over reported contacts with Illinois’s corruption-tainted governor, who faces impeachment proceedings this week.
Rahm Emanuel, a combative congressman from Illinois who will serve as Obama’s political gatekeeper in the White House, was reported to have been in touch with Governor Rod Blagojevich about Mr Obama’s Senate seat.

An (apparently) earlier version of the paper said this:

BARACK Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was under pressure to resign last night after it was revealed he had been captured on wire taps discussing candidates for the US president-elect’s Illinios Senate seat.
Mr Emanuel’s presence at the heart of the scandal threatens to roil Mr Obama’s administration as a Chicago prosecutor builds his corruption case against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, The Australian reports.

The UK Times reports the pressure is to resign.

THE bullish, foul-mouthed but effective Chicago arm-twister Rahm Emanuel has come under pressure to resign as Barack Obama’s chief of staff after it was revealed that he had been captured on court-approved wire-taps discussing the names of candidates for Obama’s Senate seat.
Emanuel’s presence at the heart of the scandal threatens to roil the president-elect’s administration as a Chicago prosecutor builds his corruption case against Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor.

The UK Guardian says the pressure is to disclose his conversations:

Barack Obama’s choice to be his White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is coming under mounting pressure to make a full disclosure about his contacts with the disgraced governor of Illinois over the billowing Senate “seat for sale” scandal.

On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Emanuel may not even have talked directly to Blago.
Obama supporters are correct that no direct deal making has been reported involving Obama, Emanuel and Blagojevich. However, the deal making is not the point given the information available to the public. One issue now is why has Obama taken days to respond to this. Almost a week after the Blago criminal complaint surfaced, Obama has not disclosed a clear picture of what he did. This should be easy. Either he gave Emanuel some names and authorized contact or he didn’t. What is so hard about disclosing which it was? Perhaps one problem is figuring out how to reconcile his initial statements regarding no contact if indeed he directed Emanuel to float some names.