* Last week, the Chicago News Cooperative reported that Paul Vallas’ brother Dean will be running Gery Chico’s mayoral campaign. Not true, says Vallas. From an e-mail…

[The CNC reporter] misunderstood my role in the Chico campaign. Thankfully, the last thing I want, or need, at this point of my life is a job. I told him I would do whatever is necessary to insure that everybody involved in Gery’s campaign is overachieving and no money is wasted. Same as I would do if Paul were running.

In a subsequent e-mail, Vallas said Chico was “like family.” Ironically enough, Chico supported Rod Blagojevich against Paul Vallas in the 2002 primary.

* “Relatively soon” is the new watchword…

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel would leave his job in short order if he decided to seek the Chicago mayor’s job, a senior administration official said Friday.

“He’s still working this through,” the official said. “And If he makes the decision to do it, obviously he’ll leave relatively soon, because there are filing deadlines and there’s work to do.”

The official was not more specific about whether Emanuel’s departure would come before or after the Nov. 2 mid-term elections. The Chicago filing deadline is Nov. 22; the election is Feb. 22.

Trying to parse DC Speak is impossible. Take that story for what it is. Not much.

…Adding… More DC Speak…

Democratic insiders say the polling looks good for White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s prospective Chicago mayoral bid, and sources say he has all but decided to jump into the race. […]

That same source said results of a poll conducted by Stan Greenberg were “very positive.”

However, another Democratic insider noted that the results weren’t overwhelming.

They “came back solid but not so strong as to scare away everybody,” he said.

* Laura Washington pleads with black politicians to slow down and try to unite…

The parade of politicians should take a breath. There is still time to plan, methodically and thoughtfully. Step back, do some vetting, tap into a broad cross-section of the community. A major piece that’s missing from this discussion are the legions of activists and professionals who toil and volunteer in community organizations, civic groups, the schools, social service agencies, who are doing a lot more than talking. They are on the front lines of neighborhoods crushed by devastating joblessness, crumbling schools and rampant violence. Those folks feel the needs and know the solutions far better than the mouths in City Hall and the state Capitol.

For more than a generation, Chicago’s African-American leadership has failed to coalesce in one voice around the key challenges facing their communities. Now is the time. Let comity ring from the stocky three-flats in North Lawndale. Let comity ring from the trim bungalows of Chatham. Let comity ring from Atgeld Gardens’ public housing low-rises.

* A large group of black ministers is trying to get out in front, but their straw poll allowed for three top choices…

Dozens of Chicago ministers met Friday to discuss the race for mayor. The group conducted a straw poll to determine their favorite candidates.

The poll was a small part of a discussion that is in its very early stages. Each minister was asked to list his or her favored candidates to come up with a list from which a consensus candidate might emerge. […]

State Senator Rev. James Meeks was listed as one of three candidates preferred on over 72 percent of the ballots.

West Side Congressman Danny Davis came in second as one of three choices with 60 percent.

While Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun tied for third with 32 percent each.

* And Kass takes a walk down a not-so-pleasant memory lane to the time period right after Harold Washington died and Gene Sawyer was picked to be the new mayor…

Sawyer, who had marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in his college days, was quickly portrayed by his rival, Ald. Tim Evans, 4th, as an Uncle Tom, a tool of the white guys. Evans, who’d spent his youth marching with his Chicago machine boss, was cast as the hero of the independents and progressives.

Evans’ slogan at the time was “No Deals.” And at a Washington memorial rally — actually a pro-Evans campaign rally attended by thousands at the University of Illinois at Chicago — in that emotionally charged vacuum after Washington’s death, black politics was broken.

Vernon Jarrett, a friend of Washington’s and a columnist at the Sun-Times, stood before the crowd and portrayed Sawyer in the most vicious terms, as a puppet of white racists, as one of the African militiamen who killed black children. […]

It got worse. A few days later, Sawyer was installed as mayor by white politicians. To counter the portrayal as an Uncle Tom, he brought into government supporters of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and that sparked charges of black anti-Semitism.

The big worry, of course, is that African-Americans will bitterly divide again when this thing heats up.

Thoughts?

* Roundup…

* Dart Circulating Petitions for Mayoral Run

* Del Valle, Hendon Say They’re Not Stressing Fundraising

* Flores collects signatures for possible mayor run

* Moseley Braun Expected To Announce Mayoral Bid

* Moseley-Braun supporters to begin mayoral push

* Mirror, mirror on the wall, do I join mayoral ball?

* GRAPHIC: Mayoral scorecard

* Even if the Daley shirt fits, it still has a flaw

* 10 things you might now know about Chicago mayors not named Daley

* Daley mentored others as he reshaped Chicago

* What Do Chicagoans Want In A New Mayor?