CHICAGO MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION
By Kevin Ryan
Nearly lost in a busy news day was the announcement by Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s first Chief of Staff, that he will not seek re-election to a third term as Chicago’s mayor.
With his city on edge as it awaits the murder trial of police Officer Jason Van Dyke in the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Emanuel made the bombshell announcement alongside his wife.
“As much as I love this job and will always love this city and its residents, I have decided not to seek re-election,” Emanuel, 58, said during a surprise press conference at City Hall.
Chicago is on pace for more than 500 murders for the fourth straight year, and remains mired in more than $30 billion in unmet pension debt owed to city workers. Since 2011, more than 20,000 shootings and homicides have left the city scarred. While property taxes spike higher, the city still borrows for basic operations. The city now taxes plastic bags and even Cubs, White Sox, and concert tickets. One million residents have left Chicago since 1950 and 20,000 fled in the last year alone.
And the controversial killing of McDonald, a troubled black teen who was shot 16 times by a white police officer, has led to widespread calls for Mayor Emanuel to step down.
Violent crime surged during Emanuel’s seven and a half years leading the nation’s third-largest city, despite the fact that crime had been down nationally. Chicago suffered more than 1,400 homicides in 2016 and 2017.
The city has long been dominated by Democrats. The last Republican mayor, William Hale Thompson, left office in 1931.
Emanuel won the mayoral election in 2011 with an impressive Democratic resume: He was a top advisor to President Bill Clinton, served four terms in Congress, chaired the House Democratic Caucus, and became President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff. In 2006, he was the architect of the wave election that delivered his party to the majority for the first time in a dozen years, and made Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House.
President Obama today ignored Chicago’s growing problems and instead praised Emanuel as a transformative leader for the city.
“Chicago is better and stronger for his leadership, and I was a better president for his wise counsel during a particularly perilous time for our country,” the former president said in a statement Tuesday.
Voters thought otherwise. Just 31% of voters said they intended to cast ballots for Mr. Emanuel, while a whopping 62% said they’d look elsewhere.
SOURCES:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ahm-emanuel-wont-seek-re-election/1191517002/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adaman...yor-rahm-emanuel-manage-chicago/#3d776a0d632d
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/emanuel-not-seeking-re-election/
By Kevin Ryan
Nearly lost in a busy news day was the announcement by Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s first Chief of Staff, that he will not seek re-election to a third term as Chicago’s mayor.
With his city on edge as it awaits the murder trial of police Officer Jason Van Dyke in the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Emanuel made the bombshell announcement alongside his wife.
“As much as I love this job and will always love this city and its residents, I have decided not to seek re-election,” Emanuel, 58, said during a surprise press conference at City Hall.
Chicago is on pace for more than 500 murders for the fourth straight year, and remains mired in more than $30 billion in unmet pension debt owed to city workers. Since 2011, more than 20,000 shootings and homicides have left the city scarred. While property taxes spike higher, the city still borrows for basic operations. The city now taxes plastic bags and even Cubs, White Sox, and concert tickets. One million residents have left Chicago since 1950 and 20,000 fled in the last year alone.
And the controversial killing of McDonald, a troubled black teen who was shot 16 times by a white police officer, has led to widespread calls for Mayor Emanuel to step down.
Violent crime surged during Emanuel’s seven and a half years leading the nation’s third-largest city, despite the fact that crime had been down nationally. Chicago suffered more than 1,400 homicides in 2016 and 2017.
The city has long been dominated by Democrats. The last Republican mayor, William Hale Thompson, left office in 1931.
Emanuel won the mayoral election in 2011 with an impressive Democratic resume: He was a top advisor to President Bill Clinton, served four terms in Congress, chaired the House Democratic Caucus, and became President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff. In 2006, he was the architect of the wave election that delivered his party to the majority for the first time in a dozen years, and made Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House.
President Obama today ignored Chicago’s growing problems and instead praised Emanuel as a transformative leader for the city.
“Chicago is better and stronger for his leadership, and I was a better president for his wise counsel during a particularly perilous time for our country,” the former president said in a statement Tuesday.
Voters thought otherwise. Just 31% of voters said they intended to cast ballots for Mr. Emanuel, while a whopping 62% said they’d look elsewhere.
SOURCES:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ahm-emanuel-wont-seek-re-election/1191517002/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adaman...yor-rahm-emanuel-manage-chicago/#3d776a0d632d
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/emanuel-not-seeking-re-election/
