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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=lduncan@igc.org href="mailto:lduncan@igc.org">Larry Duncan</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=lduncan@igc.org
href="mailto:lduncan@igc.org">lduncan@igc.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, November 07, 2010 6:45 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Corporate media, corporate money, and 'Machine' ward
committeemen line up... Ruling class muscling Rahm Emmanuel into mayor's
office</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>from Substance News:</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1764&section=Article">http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1764&section=Arti<SPAN></SPAN>cle</A></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=+1><B>Corporate media, corporate money, and 'Machine' ward
committeemen line up... Ruling class muscling Rahm Emmanuel into mayor's
office</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR>Jim Vail - November 06, 2010<BR><BR>Just when you thought it was safe
to go back in the water after Mayor Daley announced his resignation after 20
years of corrupt machine rule in Chicago, the White House sends its dark horse
galloping into the city on the lake to assure the ruling class their money is
safe and any pesky working class sentiments be squashed.<BR><BR>Then Congressman
Rahm Emmanuel (above left) joined Mayor Daley and others at the dedication of
Chicago's Marine Military Academy at the old Grant Elementary School on the West
Side on October 15, 2007. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.All bets are on
that Rahm Emmanuel, the self proclaimed "deal maker" whose speciality is
acquiring political cash, and lots of it, is now in town ready to take the next
prize he believes he's entitled to - to be the new boss of
Chicago.<BR><BR>Emmanuel was a fundraiser for Daley and raised big bucks for
President Clinton before returning to Chicago to get elected as a congressman of
the fifth congressional district. He then helped get President Obama elected
with his fundraising skills and worked as his chief of staff. Between his time
with the Clinton administration and his return to Chicago to use his financial
muscle to get elected to Congress from the Fifth Illinois Congressional
District, he went to work in the "private sector" for three years, reportedly
earning $18 million as an "investment banker."<BR><BR>Now he is going to be the
mayor of Chicago.<BR><BR>Sure there are other candidates who lined up and
scattered like birds once the Rahm steamroller came rolling down Michigan
Avenue. There was Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart who had the hearts of
southwest siders and his bright yellow signs on many lawns - but he dropped
out.<BR><BR>Suddenly mayoral candidate Alderman Bob Fioretti - who was at almost
every Chicago Teachers Union event from the day Karen Lewis was elected in July
2010 - has a bad cold and is ready to drop out as well after campaigning
vigorously for some time.<BR><BR>Then there's Gery Chico, the former president
of the Board of Education. Chico, former Chief of Staff to Daley (appointed by
Richard M. Daley), school board president (appointed by Richard M. Daley), Cook
County College Board President (appointed by Richard M. Daley), and financial
rainmaker for his Wacker Drive law firm (thanks to the political clout he
received courtesy of Richard M. Daley) is now claiming he's an "outsider." That
was such a laughable statement that even Tribune columnist John Kass (who seems
to be part of the media mafia touting for Rahm Emmanuel) had to make fun of that
one. Chico the lawyer forgot about the Bill of Rights and led the charge to sue
Substance for $1 million for publishing ridiculous CASE exam questions in 1999.
He was one of the Board of Education members who voted to fire George Schmidt
because of the publication of CASE at the Board's August 2000
meeting.<BR><BR>And then there is Rev. Sen. James Meeks, a self-pompous pastor
and state senator who called the Chicago Teachers Union the worst gang in the
city. Chico and Meeks would be the two jokers in the race so that city voters at
least have something to laugh at in an election that will be really no different
than the so-called mayoral elections of the past.<BR><BR>The former US senator
Carol Mosely Braun is also allegedly a candidate. She did blame Emmanuel for the
Democrats losing the House and getting the Sun Times to take her statement
seriously, as though the sad state of the economy meant nothing in the voters'
decision to vote incumbents out.<BR><BR>There's City Clerk Miguel Del Valle, an
independent who passed out his Del Valle for Mayor buttons at the Chicago
Teachers Union LEAD dinner on October 29, 2010, and probably others this very
minute scrambling to get petitions signed.<BR><BR>Emmanuel has the real
Democratic Machine behind him. Two nights in a row while waiting on the L
platform, I was approached by young black women asking me to sign a petition for
Emmanuel. Many alderman are sending out their teams to gather the petitions.
Emmanuel was getting his signatures in from precinct captains on the Northwest
Side even before Tom Dart dropped out of the race, and now it's likely that the
aldermen and ward committeemen on the Southwest Side are also going to line up
behind him.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>So what does a mayor Emmanuel mean for Chicago public schools teachers,
union workers in the city and everyone who grew tired of Daley's disasterous,
corrupt privatization policies?<BR><BR>Ten months before Barack Obama was
elected President of the United States, Rahm Emmanuel, then Congressman from the
5th Illinois Congressional District, helped then President George W. Bush, then
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings (hidden behind Emmanuel above), and Mayor
Daley stage a heavily guarded "anniversary" party on January 7, 2008, on the
anniversary of the signing of "No Child Left Behind." Daley and Emmanuel brought
out a smiling background of children for President Bush's photo op, while
snipers on the rooftops and phalanxes of mounted policemen outside kept
protesters away from Greeley Elementary School, where the event was staged.
Chicago Tribune pool photograph provided to Substance (which was barred from
inside Greeley during the event). Emmanuel said it all in former "Car czar"
Steve Rattner's book. Rattner and his team were put in charge of General Motors
by Barack Obama after the administration agreed to bail out GM. According to the
book, Emmanuel blurted out "Fuck the UAW" when told tens of thousands of
autoworkers' jobs were at stake in the restructuring of the auto industry and
that the union had to be part of any agreement.<BR><BR>Substitute that with
"Fuck Chicago Public School Teachers" and we might have an Emmanuel version of
how he'd succeed Ron Huberman. Emmanuel is now giving interviews saying there
should be more private money supporting public education. Translation: less
union involvement and more charter schools. While campaigning in the Pilsen
neighborhood, he carefully avoided showing any support for the Whittier
Elementary parents who were demanding a new library for their school with a
courageous sit-in. Even the city council supported them, forcing schools chief
Ron Huberman to make a deal.<BR><BR>Emmanuel is Obama's hope to keep the
horrorific Race to the Top alive after the Republicans landslide has come with a
promise to slash stimulus money. But cutting stimulus money might not be a bad
thing for public school teachers.<BR><BR>Race to the Top has focused on rating
teachers on standardized tests and pushing for more charter schools. Tax payer
dollars via stiumulus funding has financed this vicious attack on public
education.<BR><BR>At the October 15, 2007, dedication of the "Marine Military
Academy" high school on Chicago's West Side, then Congressman Rahm Emmanuel
bragged to the audience that he had long supported the expansion of military
schools in Chicago. Emmanuel told the audience that he had personally gotten a
$1 million "earmark" for the Marine Military Academy, while then CPS "Chief
Executive Officer" Arne Duncan (second from left above) and Rick Mills, then an
"Area Instructional Officer" in charge of military schools, looked on. Substance
photo by George N. Schmidt. One could argue that Chicago received $100 million
from Washington to save the teachers jobs - but ask the Chicago Teachers Union
how much of that money actually saved any jobs. More than 1300 teachers lost
their jobs over the summer, and according to the union more than 400 still have
no jobs despite this so-called Jobs Bill.<BR><BR>Insiders say the Board of
Education told the union they already got their money when they refused to give
up teacher salary raises and Board President Mary Richardson-Lowry has stated
she intends to use the money for "programs" instead. At a CTU press conference,
federal legislators danced around the question if CPS is breaking the law, but
Rep. Bobby Rush did say "we have given them an excessively abundant amount of
money" with no indication that the Board used it to save teachers'
jobs.<BR><BR>The corporate media was more interested in knowing why Emmanuel was
not at the press event. According to ABC correspondent Jay Levine, Emmanuel is
the one mayoral candidate who has made the most noise about
education.<BR><BR>When I was approached by Emmanuel's volunteers to sign his
petition, I asked them why they are gathering signatures for him. One said she
likes his character, he is a liberal and those in his congressional district
like him. Another said he'll be good for education because he supports charter
schools.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>To understand Emmanuel better - for those who support him or not - it
is important to take a closer look at the policies he has
promoted.<BR><BR>Emmanuel was one of Clinton's chief political strategists who
pushed NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA spelled doom for
tens of thousands of union factory jobs here, that were moved to Mexico where
workers were paid much less. Now those jobs in Mexico are leaving for even
cheaper pastures in China. This free trade agreement also resulted in exporting
cheap subsidized US grain to Mexico, undercutting Mexican farmers' prices, thus
bankrupting their farms and forcing many of them to take the dangerous path
north to earn money for their families.<BR><BR>Then there's Emmanuel's flat out
lies about jobs. While in Congress, Emmanuel voted against Rep. Rosa DeLauro's
legislation to ban government contracts from going to companies that abuse
offshore tax loopholes and evade US taxes, even though he earlier wrote an
opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal where he chastised President Bush for
"blocking Democratic efforts to stop American companies from incorporating
through a postal drop in island tax havens." Emmanuel was appalled that "some
corporations are actually rewarded with federal contracts while they move their
corporate headquarters to Bermuda" - the very thing that this legislation he
voted against would have stopped.<BR><BR>Before running for Congress, Emmanuel
"never ran for office, never led a grassroots movement, never joined a community
group, never participated in any citizen fight against the bureacracy and his
children don't attend public schools, and he's never sat on a local school
council," according to a profile on Emmanuel written by Ben Joravsky in the
Chicago Reader.<BR><BR>One of the interesting aspects to Emmanuel's election
strategy - as if he needs one - is how much he wants to be aligned with the
mayor. While it's important for the corporate leaders here to know he will
continue Daley's close ties to their interests, it isn't clear how much he will
mention the name Daley to the people. But make no doubt about it, this
self-proclaimed "New Democrat" is the machine candidate. When he ran for
Congress - and received the Chicago Teachers Union endorsement - he met
privately with Daley and received his blessing as well, according to
Joravsky.<BR><BR>Rahm is the money guy - the neoliberal poster child. In 1989 he
was Daley's chief fundraiser, and then he helped raise $71 million for Clinton's
first presidential run at a time when publisher Al Neuharth said no one in
Arkansas thought the former governor had a serious chance to be president
because of his legendary womanizing that eventually led to Clinton's hilarious
impeachment hearings.<BR><BR>"These traits (arrogant and brash) served
(Emmanuel) well as a fund-raiser," Joravsky quoted a political insider in the
Reader. "He didn't ask - he demanded. And he refused to take no for an answer.
He'd call people once, twice, or three times if he had to. If somebody gave
$100, he would call back and say, 'How about $200?"<BR><BR>After his Clinton
days, he went to work as an investment banker at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein,
though he never worked in a bank before. Between 1999 and 2001, according to the
Reader, he helped put together four major deals that made him $8 million.
Translation: payoff from corporations who donate to campaigns to get what they
need.<BR><BR>In other words - politics has made Rahm Emmanuel rich, while what
he voted for and promoted as a politician has impoverished many people in this
country.<BR><BR>The ruling class always seems to be a step ahead of its
detractors who bemoan where this country is headed. After the dark days of
President Bush and massive wars and massive protests, people cried with joy
after having elected the first African American president of this country. Obama
then helped lead the attack on public school teachers, bailed out the banks and
hardly stopped Wall Street from its rapacious ways as more and more of the
people who elected him lose their jobs and benefits.<BR><BR>Now Mayor Daley -
who infuriated the public when it came out how corrupt his parking meter
privatization deal was rewarding JP Morgan a lucrative city asset while the city
lost over a billion dollars in the process - has a new, young outside candidate
here to "change" things.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>Emmanuel, who is particularly sensitive to building up relations in the
the black and hispanic communities, already has his volunteers believe he will
be better.<BR><BR>"My parents did not like Daley's father and I know people like
Emmanuel when he was a representative," the volunteeer told me, though she
couldn't name one bill he voted on. "I just like his character."<BR><BR>The
other volunteer said Emmanuel will be great because we need year-round schools
and charter schools. I then asked her if when she was a child she would want to
be sitting in a classroom all summer long. And how are charter schools better
when research shows they mostly perform worse than public schools while removing
many special education and English language learners.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>She just looked at me in a puzzled way and smiled.</DIV></BODY></HTML>