* Carol Moseley Braun apparently believes that Martin Luther King’s birthday is so holy that nobody should desecrate it the day after…
“For [former President Bill Clinton] to come on the day following Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday to insert himself in the middle of a mayoral race, when the majority of the population and mayoral candidates are African-American and Latino, is a betrayal of the people who were most loyal to him,” Braun, former Democratic senator from Illinois, said in a statement. “It’s a mistake.”
Dr. King was a great man and he should be revered every day. But that had to have been one of the more desperate cheap shots of the entire season.
* Braun reportedly shook up her campaign staff this week…
Mike Noonan, a former top aide to House Speaker Michael Madigan who served as Braun’s campaign manager, will keep his title but play a new role. He will oversee Braun’s ground game with a little over a month to go before the Feb. 22 election. Noonan will manage 150 canvassers who will go door-to-door to reach potential Braun supporters and another 150 who will works the phones, according to Renee Ferguson, Braun’s spokeswoman.
Ferguson said the re-organization is due to an influx of staffers who left the short-lived mayoral campaigns of state Sen. James Meeks and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis. Braun also will begin shooting her campaign ads, Ferguson said.
Despite the spin, from what I can gather Noonan will run the campaign and Louanner Peters will handle Braun. Peters was a top Blagojevich official who was no stranger to controversy, but Braun apparently listens to her. That is no small feat.
Mr. Clinton, who told his audience of a 20-year relationship with Mr. Emanuel, pulled out his own memoir, “My Life,” and read from a section in which he had described Mr. Emanuel’s departure from the White House, and return to Congress from a district in Chicago — “the city,” Mr. Clinton read, “he thought should be capital of the world.”
Which may be why he’s running for mayor. But Luis Gutierrez begs to differ…
CF: Why does Rahm Emanuel want to be mayor?
LG: Because he can’t be speaker of the House.
* Gutierrez is doing a robocall for Gery Chico. Listen…
This is Congressman Luis Gutierrez calling to ask you to support Gery Chico for Mayor of Chicago. Gery Chico will be a jobs Mayor who fights for working families. Gery has a record of putting people to work. As Mayor, he’ll be on your side – a leader from our neighborhoods with a jobs plan for our neighborhoods. His opponent, Rahm Emanuel, led the fight for NAFTA and against labor unions. Emanuel’s support for big business led to hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. Emanuel’s fight for NAFTA hurt workers and we can’t trust him to stand up for us as Mayor. For Mayor, the choice is clear. Rahm Emanuel let us down. Gery Chico will fight for us.
* Speaking of boring, Emanuel’s completely forgettable monotone voice in his TV ads was finally broken up a bit in his latest spot, where his voice wavers just a little…
* Chico will receive an endorsement today from the Chicago police union. Should be a big boost. He also blasted Emanuel yesterday…
Clinton appointed Emanuel to mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s board in 2000. Emanuel served when Freddie Mac misstated its earnings by $5 billion for 2000-2002. When the problem was uncovered in 2003, top executives were forced out.
Chico alleges Emanuel had a chance to blow the whistle but looked the other way. He called on Emanuel on Tuesday to answer more questions about what he knew.
An Emanuel spokesman says Chico’s claims aren’t credible.
*** UPDATE *** From a press release, Emanuel is dreaming…
Rahm’s plan would cut Chicago’s portion of the sales tax by 20 percent – from 1.25% to 1% – while working with state legislators to expand the tax base by closing the loopholes that allow luxury goods to go untaxed. These goods – like private club memberships, pet grooming, limo services, tanning parlors and interior design services – evade paying their fair share under the current system. Taken together with County action to return its sales tax rate to 2008 levels, these changes will reduce the sales tax in Chicago to 9% from the current 9.75% by 2013.
The General Assembly just raised the income tax. It ain’t gonna institute a brand new service tax now. It should’ve done that before, frankly. But doing it now would cause them even more trouble than they currently have. This is a phony plan.
