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* 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.
* Back to Clinton’s Emanuel boost…
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…
Kinda long and boring. Here’s the text…
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.
* Related…
* VIDEO: Bill Clinton Campaigns for Rahm Emanuel
* Clinton could cost Emanuel black votes in Chicago, Dem claims
* Why I withdrew from Chicago 2011 Mayoral Race - by Congressman Danny K. Davis
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 12:43 pm
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yes, please, someone handle Carol. the MLK comments were not good. she’s better than that, I hope.
the Rahm commercials are confusing. It sounds like he repeats phrases in a couple of them, safe streets, lots of words starting with S. is it some tactic to get us to remember what he promises? otherwise the commercials seem off in the phrasing.
not warm and memorable.
and Chico’s commercials are a bit wooden. not much personality coming through.
can Bubba run for Mayor?
Comment by amalia Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 12:54 pm
Braun really has no game at all.
I’ve always thought it very sad and misguided that schools and libraries are closed on MLK Day. If it’s just another day off, it’s meaningless. It should be a celebration of hard work, learning and advancement.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 12:56 pm
Not sure that Rahms latest TV ad is going to resonate.
Rahm’s campaign ad says that he is sick of “politicians getting rich off the system.” Seems a little bit ironic, that Rahm is the ultimate political insider and he is tired of politicians getting rich off the system. Is that not how Rahm has made his money?
Comment by Living in Oklahoma Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 1:11 pm
Just to clarify, not referencing the ad on this post. The new ad called “Hard Truths.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOb3xQVgtAc&feature=player_embedded
Comment by Living in Oklahoma Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 1:15 pm
Emanuel is on track to generate new revenue streams. In the spirit the populist tax the rich (not Rich) mentality, how about an excess profits tax on the law firms making millions defending politicians accused of malfeasance.
It would raise untold millions and not hurt the common man. Perhaps they could even buy back the parking meters!
Comment by Plutocrat03 Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 1:38 pm
Emanuel is actually on target, the state should look at halving the sales tax and expanding it to all sales that are not health related. If we do that it’s more of a tax swap and we could probably look at scaling back the income tax even more. DOR would need to run some numbers. This would be a big boost to local governments and the state could look at saving a billion dollars there too.
Comment by Ahoy Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 1:45 pm
It should be noted that President Clinton committed his alleged act of racial disloyalty on the day after the observed holiday celebrating Dr. King’s birthday, not the day after his actual birthday, as Ambassador Braun stated. (Dr. King was actually born on January 15)
It should be further noted that the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday is a celebration of an individual who’s most memoriable statements include the utopian aspiration that individuals should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. I see no reason why Dr. King would be dishonored by President Clinton’s endorsement of a non-African American candidate as long as that endorsement was based on a color-blind assessment of each candidate’s qualifications.
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 1:46 pm
@Ahoy -
I support expanding the sales tax base, but Emanuel is FAR OFF the mark.
Taxing “luxury services” will not generate nearly enough revenue to significantly reduce the current sales tax rate, if you want it to be revenue neutral.
Pet grooming simply doesn’t generate the kind of revenue that taxing hair cuts does.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:00 pm
I don’t want to give out a lot of personal information here on the internets, but the library where I work was open Monday to honor Dr. King. It’s a private school, students didn’t attend class, but we stayed open as a service to the kids and to show them that MLK Day is not a day to celebrate with mattress sales.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:03 pm
When Harold Washington successfully sponsored the King birthday holiday bill in the Illinois House in 1973, he said that people had to have the day off or else no one would pay attention. But he also said that it should be used to teach about Dr. King’s legacy. So the way it could have worked this year, in schools, for example, would have been for teachers to assign projects about King last week, to be turned in yesterday. Enough time to learn about him while libraries were open and then do the project on his holiday.
Comment by been there Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:14 pm
–Rahm’s campaign ad says that he is sick of “politicians getting rich off the system.”–
Okie, I think that’s a shot at Chico, who did get rich off the system.
Emanuel, on the other hand, got filthy, stinking rich off the system in a much shorter amount of time.
Why go with an underachiever, I believe, is the message.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:28 pm
I love the idea that 4 people who have been in chicago for decades now out of the blue all the sudden find so much wrong with the city that they can magically fix.
150 canvassers seems a bit low for a citywide campaign for the 3rd biggest city in america.
Comment by shore Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:32 pm
I’m surprisingly disappointed so far with the Rahm commercials. I don’t think any of them have been memorable. I expected more from his campaign.
Comment by Because I say so Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:38 pm
Agreed. They do nothing for me.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:41 pm
“City government isn’t about making sure that those who are best connected or have friends are getting jobs.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOb3xQVgtAc&feature=player_embedded
Really?
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:47 pm
- I’m surprisingly disappointed so far with the Rahm commercials. -
Completely lame, I agree. He needs Simon Edelman.
Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 2:53 pm
Yellow Dog,
Very good point, I should have said Rahm is on track, not on target. We need to look at comprehensive reform (or bringing our tax code into the 21st century) not just taxing doggie haircuts.
Comment by Ahoy Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 3:07 pm
Great timing!
More taxes and a few more increases, this time in the City of Chicago according to Emmanuel. I can’t wait for the City Council to debate this issue and promptly blame all the Republicans in the City Council for not issuing their own plan!
(snark!)
Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 3:24 pm
@Ahoy -
On the other hand, I don’t believe Rahmbo has explained how he plans to pay for 1000 new police.
That makes cutting sales taxes sound like a pipe dream.
@Louis -
For the record, Alderman Reilly has issued a pretty comprehensive plan that includes - GASP! - eliminating unnecessary middle management, combining departments, and requiring multi-million dollar non-profits to pay their own water bills.
It was ignored by Mayor Daley, has been ignored by Rahm, but might get some notice during the next budget, since the parking meter money has been exhausted.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 3:35 pm
So what kind of penalty to we assess Carol for saying something completely out of this world two days after MLK day?
Comment by GetOverIt Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 4:09 pm
Great. Let’s ding the ULCC and University Club by taxing them out of existance. They don’t do anything good for the City. Why, in fact, why have any remaining corporate culture here. Let’s grind the noses of those corporate fat cats into the mud and tax the backsides off of them in the process. “Hope you all stay here to do business in Chicago — here is a foretaste of what I think about you!” Sorry for the snark, Rich.
Comment by Chad Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 4:28 pm
==On the other hand, I don’t believe Rahmbo has explained how he plans to pay for 1000 new police.==
TIF funds, and restructuring or reforming departments to better utilize and deploy resources. Whether it would work or not is up for debate, but I’ve heard other candidates promising 2,000 officers with no way of paying for it, either.
Comment by SR Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 4:45 pm
@SR -
We’re going to change Illinois’ TIF laws to allow those funds to be used to pay for police? Has Rahm talked with Speaker Madigan about that?
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 5:17 pm
I have no idea, but I remember he proposed using TIF funds for 250 new officers. I believe the theory behind it was more officers would improve the safety and therefore business climate of the communities they would serve.
Comment by SR Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 5:28 pm
Emanuel’s commercials have been unusually tepid.
Comment by Honest Abe Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 7:54 pm
The mouth on this woman…first tampons, now this:
“For [former President Bill Clinton] to come on the day following Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday to insert himself in the middle…”
Comment by Returning Dog Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 8:12 pm
I love the D on D fighting. But is CMB saying that, whenever a black politician (even the weakest candidate humanly possible, like her) is in a race, no white D politician can endorse another? Really?
Comment by park Wednesday, Jan 19, 11 @ 9:09 pm
@SR -
I understand the “theory”, but legally we can’t use TIF funds to pay the city’s operating budget. In fact, TIFs were created to divert tax money from the operating budgets of local government.
That would require a change in State Law. I won’t say its NEVER going to happen, but until Rahm says he’s spoken with Quinn, Madigan or Cullerton it’s really just a Pipe Dream, not a possibility.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Jan 20, 11 @ 8:06 am
Snooze alarm.
“Voters of Chicago, it is I, Rahm Emanuel, you are beginning to get sleepy, your eyes are getting heavy and tired, close your eyes and fall asleep…”
This hypnotic trance worked so well that Emanuel himself looked semi-comatose in his own ad.
Comment by Vito Thursday, Jan 20, 11 @ 8:53 am
Someone needs to tell Rahm that there is a $4.00 limo tax already–on O’Hare and Midway pickups.
Comment by John Ruberry Thursday, Jan 20, 11 @ 9:50 am