CHICAGO — In a video Sunday announcing the run-up to his bid to replace Mayor Richard Daley, former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel touched ever so slightly on some of the city’s hot-button issues and said he would spend weeks talking to people “as I prepare to run for mayor.”
Emanuel speaks directly to the camera in the roughly two-minute video on , praising the retiring Daley, a longtime political ally, but citing the need to fix the city’s crime problems, a budget deficit and unspecified “business as usual.” Emanuel offered no specifics and said he will spend several weeks seeking the opinions of Chicagoans.
The “listening tour” is expected to begin today, but potential rivals did not wait for Emanuel to begin his campaign before they served notice that they won’t roll over for the longtime political operative.
One rival fashioned his own welcome for Emanuel, calling on him to disclose everything he can about his role in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s decision to pick a replacement in the U.S. Senate for President Barack Obama.
Gery Chico, head of the Chicago City Colleges board and a former chief of staff for Daley, called on Emanuel to detail his role as an Obama envoy to Blagojevich and the governor’s administration in the weeks before Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges that included trying to sell the Senate seat.
“If Rahm Emanuel wants to run to be the mayor of Chicago, Rahm should clear the air now and disclose all details of his role in negotiations over the U.S. Senate seat,” Chico said in a statement. “The citizens of Chicago deserve to know the truth upfront.”
Chico has said he would run for mayor and is gathering the 12,500 valid signatures he needs to be placed on the ballot.
Blagojevich and Emanuel knew each other well and were viewed as political allies. Emanuel succeeded Blagojevich as the congressman from Illinois’ 5th District, and the two often appeared together while Blagojevich was governor as co-leaders of health care and prescription-drug programs that attracted national attention.
Emanuel did not try to make a deal over the Senate seat, a spokesman said.
