February 2011
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02/25/11Miguel del Valle Says No to Rahm EmanuelMayoral candidate Miguel del Valle says he declined an invitation from Rahm Emanuel to co-chair the mayor-elect’s transition team. Del Valle told me in a phone interview that he turned the position down because—after his term as City Clerk is over on May 15th—he will work on other projects “organizing around progressive issues in the neighborhoods.”... Posted at 04:01 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (7) |
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02/25/11Mayor-Elect Rahm’s High-Profile BrothersRich Daley suffered his share of controversial stories about his brothers Bill and John, but they were not nearly as dramatic as what awaits us with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Last night on WIND’s Mike Gallagher Show, the conservative host was in full outrage mode over a story... Posted at 11:43 AM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (2) |
02/22/11Could the AP Have Found One Voter Not Voting for Rahm Emanuel in the Mayoral Election?While it’s true that Rahm Emanuel leads his three main rivals in the race today to succeed Richard M. Daley as mayor of Chicago, there are some people in this city who cast a ballot for someone other than Emanuel. Perhaps not, according to an Associated Press story picked up by many media outlets, including Crain’s. The piece, which did not have a byline, includes interviews with six voters—and five are voting for Rahm. (One voter doesn’t say whom he’s voting for.) Posted at 05:59 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (2) |
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02/21/11Controversial Pastor and Chico Supporter Herbert Martin—plus Memories of Steve CokelyAt the ABC7 debate Thursday, the candidates for mayor were asked whom they would name to their “kitchen” cabinets—their unofficial group of advisers. Not surprisingly, Gery Chico named two men whose endorsements are crucial: Congressman Luis Gutierrez and the Reverend B. Herbert Martin, Sr., longtime pastor of the Progressive Community Church in Bronzeville. Martin, 68, is best known for being Harold Washington’s close friend and pastor—and for standing with Steve Cokely in 1988 after Cokely, then 37, made inflammatory recorded lectures at Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam headquarters. Posted at 11:48 AM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (2) |
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02/18/11Tea Party for Chico, Donald Trump for Emanuel—What's the Difference?Rahm Emanuel and his surrogates have been pounding relentlessly on Gery Chico for accepting—sort of—the endorsement last month of the Chicago Tea Patriots, an offshoot of the main Chicago Tea Party group. But late last year, before a new campaign finance reform law kicked in, Donald Trump contributed $50,000 to Rahm’s campaign for mayor. This is the same Donald Trump who appeared in Washington earlier this month before the uber-right group... Posted at 05:35 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (4) |
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02/18/11Telling Moments at the ABC7 Final Mayoral DebateLast night’s ABC7/League of Women Voters mayoral debate, the final one before Tuesday’s primary, featured the same back-and-forth we’ve heard before. As usual, some of the most enlightening moments came post-debate, when the candidates descended into the “press room” for 10 minutes each. Posted at 12:44 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (0) |
02/17/11At Economic Club Dinner, a Mayor Daley LovefestOn Tuesday night, Rich Daley delivered a 30-minute self-congratulatory and, at times, inspiring speech. It was also relentlessly upbeat, even sunny—“the future [of Chicago] is brighter every day,” he said. But the most intriguing aspect of the evening, for me, was what wasn’t said... Posted at 11:09 AM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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02/15/11Not Asked at the WTTW Mayoral Forum: What Would Rahm Do with His Leftover Campaign Cash?Every political junkie watching Monday’s WTTW Chicago Tonight mayoral forum surely has a question or two that he/she wishes the moderator, Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin, had asked. I wish Marin had asked Rahm Emanuel, “Should you get the 50-percent-plus-one vote next Tuesday, will you direct what’s left of the $11 million or so in fundraising money... Posted at 10:21 AM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (1) |
02/10/11Which Chicago Mayoral Candidate Will Get the Youth Vote?For young voters, the February 22nd mayoral primary will be the first time they’ll encounter a ballot without the name Richard M. Daley on it. One of the liveliest efforts to push this group to the polls was started last September by a 25-year-old on the day that Daley announced he wasn’t running for another term... Posted at 10:53 AM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (0) |
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02/08/11David Brooks Sends Rahm Emanuel an Early Valentine—AgainDays after Rahm Emanuel left his job as chief of staff on October 1st to return here to run for mayor, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote the “The Soft Side.” The column was weirdly worded—“Flawed like all of us, [Rahm] is a full human being, rich and fertile from the inside out”—and provided plenty of easy laughs for Brooks/Rahm detractors. Today, Brooks did it again... Posted at 03:59 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (1) |
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02/02/11A Look at Miguel del Valle, a Regular Chicago Guy Who Wants to Be MayorMiguel del Valle doesn’t have much money—peanuts compared to Rahm Emanuel and Gery Chico, and way less even than Patricia Watkins and Carol Moseley Braun. When I asked him yesterday afternoon if there would be runoff on February 22nd, he answered, “My guess is Rahm is going to buy one of the spots; as for the second, I hope I’m that person... Posted at 10:26 AM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (7) |
Felsenthal Files is a blog by author Carol Felsenthal, a lifelong Chicagoan and self-proclaimed political junkie. Her focus here will be Chicago politics, which, in the age of Obama, extends to the national and international spheres. Felsenthal is a regular blogger for The Hill and The Huffington Post and has written several books, including Clinton in Exile: A President Out of the White House. Among her many stories for Chicago are memorable profiles of Michelle Obama and Rod Blagojevich.
