Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel won’t say Tuesday’s City Council runoff is all about him — but he comes close.
CHICAGO (AP) — Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel won’t say Tuesday’s City Council runoff is all about him — but he comes close. "I need a new partner," Emanuel told reporters on the eve of the election in which 14 members of the City Council will be picked. "That partner is a City Council that wants to work in the spirit of reform and change the way business is conducted in city government." Emanuel has spent nearly $250,000 on the races, contributing to the campaigns of seven candidates, including six incumbents. He also endorsed — but did not give money to — two other incumbents, including Alderman Willie Cochran, a former police officer who faces Grammy-winning rap artist Che "Rhymefest" Smith. With plans for dramatic changes in the way children are educated, neighborhoods are protected and city services are provided, Emanuel will need every vote on the council that he can get. The races are especially important to Emanuel because of who he is not: Mayor Richard Daley. One of the most powerful mayors in the United States, Daley could push through initiatives thanks to a compliant council filled with his supporters. Daley appointed nearly half of the current aldermen to their jobs. Emanuel has appointed none of the 50 aldermen and hardly knows some of them. "It is safe to say he doesn’t yet have 26 votes," said Dick Simpson, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a former alderman. Officials with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners predicted voter turnout on Tuesday would be in the 20 percent range, which is lower than municipal elections. The turnout on Feb. 22 was about 42 percent; in 2007 it was 33 percent. One race that the city is watching closely is between longtime Alderman Bernard Stone and challenger Debra Silverstein, the wife of a Democratic state senator. "He wants a puppet in the City Council and I’m not going to be a puppet," Stone said of Emanuel, who provided financial support for Silverstein. Silverstein disputed the contention that Emanuel is buying her vote with the money she’s received from Emanuel in in-kind contributions for mailings and polling. "We’re going to agree on some matters and disagree on other matters," she said. But Emanuel made it clear that he was careful about the people he endorsed — with a key criteria being that when he talked to them they agreed with him on education, ethics reform and other issues. "As I talk to the individuals, they have to be committed to that," he said. "Where are you on the goals I’ve set for the city and achieving those goals." Simpson also noted that if Emanuel’s candidates win, it will help him gain the support of those aldermen who didn’t face a runoff election this time around. "Others will take a look and say, ‘He won all of those, I sure don’t want him giving my opponent $50,000 four years from now,’" said Simpson. "He begins to build what Daley had." Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this report. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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