http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept Emanuel makes a point of airing peeve John Kass
November 22, 2006
Powerful U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak) just hates it when I use the D-Tomczak reference in my column. [clip] Emanuel is the political operative being credited these days with the Democratic takeover of Congress. He's ruthless and hardworking and, in victory, deserving of post-election applause.
But if City Hall had not sent Don Tomczak, the corrupt city water department boss, to Emanuel's congressional campaign in 2002--and Tomczak's political army of hundreds of city workers who stumped the precincts with the promise of overtime--then Emanuel wouldn't have narrowly defeated a local grass-roots Democrat. [clip] And Emanuel wouldn't have been in a position to bask in all the national media love.
The national media narratives involving Emanuel and another Chicago Democrat, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Rezko), have already been approved and written.
They're scripts to congeal the national mind, not to be deviated from in polite society. So you're not supposed to mention the soon-to-be imprisoned Tomczak around Emanuel. And never, ever mention the indicted Chicago political Real Estate Fairy, Tony Rezko, to Obama, or ask if Rezko sprinkled magic fairy dust just as Obama purchased his fine home for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than the asking price.
So, the national story lines have been completed, and uttering "Tomczak" or "Real Estate Fairy" is considered almost rude.
But in federal court the day before, I watched four of Mayor Richard Daley's underlings sentenced to federal prison for their roles in amassing giant and illegal patronage armies of city workers who pounded the precincts for the mayor's candidates, including Emanuel. [clip]
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No politician comes from Chicago to the "big time" without the approval -- even aggressive approval == of criminal elements in Chicago. The political careers of Adlai Stevenson and Paul Douglas were launched by Jake Arvey, who was a close associate of the Chicago mafia and instrumental in mob control of Las Vegas.
John Kass is a conservative but with a wonderful obsession with corruption in Illinois in both the DP & RP.
Carrol