Rahm Emanuel
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| Rahm Emanuel | |
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| In office 2003-present |
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| Preceded by | Rod Blagojevich |
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| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
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| Born | November 29, 1959 Chicago, Illinois |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Amy Emanuel |
| Religion | Judaism |
Rahm Emanuel (born November 29, 1959) is an American politician. He has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing the 5th Congressional District of Illinois, which covers much of the North Side of Chicago and parts of Cook County.
Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2006 elections. After the Democratic Party regained control of the House, he was elected as the next chairman of the Democratic Caucus, making him the 4th-highest ranking Democrat in the House.
Emanuel is noted for his strong partisan style and his fundraising prowess. He is the co-author, with current Democratic Leadership Council President Bruce Reed, of the 2006 book The Plan: Big Ideas for America.
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[edit] Early history
Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father was an Israeli-born pediatrician; his mother was "an X-ray technician and daughter of a local union organizer." The two met in Chicago.[1]
He grew up in Wilmette and attended New Trier High School.[1] Trained as a ballet dancer, Emanuel won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet, but turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College[2] where he graduated in 1981. He received a master's degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. While still a student at Sarah Lawrence, he joined the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.
For a time, Emanuel worked as a professional ballet dancer.[citation needed] During the Persian Gulf War he moved to Israel and volunteered for the Israeli Defense Forces. He is the only member of Congress to have served in the military of a foreign nation. He has never volunteered for or served in any branch of the American military.
[edit] Career as political staffer
He began his political career with the consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action. He went on to serve in a number of capacities in local and national politics, initially specializing in fundraising for Illinois campaigns and then nationally.
Emanuel worked for Democrat Paul Simon's 1984 election to the U.S. Senate, was the national campaign director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1988, and then was senior advisor and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley's victorious campaign for Mayor of Chicago in 1989.
During the 1991 Gulf War, Emanuel was a civilian volunteer in Israel, rust-proofing brakes on an army base in northern Israel.[3]
He joined then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's presidential primary campaign in 1991, serving as the campaign's Director of Finance. Emanuel insisted that Clinton schedule a lot of time for fundraising rather than campaigning in New Hampshire. After much dispute within the campaign about the issue, Clinton eventually agreed, embarking on an aggressive fundraising campaign across the nation. The fundraising paid off later, providing the campaign a vital buffer to keep buying television time as attacks on character issues threatened to swamp Clinton's campaign during the New Hampshire primary. Clinton's most serious primary rival, Paul Tsongas, later withdrew, citing a lack of campaign funds.
Following the campaign, Emanuel became a senior advisor to Bill Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998. In the White House, Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives. Notably, he reportedly told British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "This is important. Don't fuck it up," prior to Blair appearing in public with Clinton for the first time after the Lewinsky scandal emerged.[4]
He left the White House to accept a well-paid position in investment banking at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Chicago, where he worked from 1999 to 2002. During this time Emanuel earned $18m, in part because of the bank's sale and his resulting share.
[edit] Congressional career
[edit] Election in 2002
The US House seat in the 5th District of Illinois was previously held by Rod Blagojevich, who chose not to run for re-election, but instead successfully ran for Governor of Illinois. His strongest opponent of the seven other candidates in the 2002 Democratic primary was former Illinois State Representative Nancy Kaszak, who had unsuccessfully opposed Blagojevich in the 1996 primary. The most controversial moment of the primary election came when Edward Moskal, president of the Polish American Congress, a political action committee endorsing Kaszak, called Emanuel a "millionaire carpetbagger" and falsely charged he had dual citizenship with Israel and had served in the Israeli Army. Moskal's comments were denounced as anti-Semitic by many, including Kaszak.[5] Emanuel won the primary and easily defeated Republican candidate Mark Augusti in the general election.
Nicknamed "Rahmbo," the Congressman is well known for aggression and great intensity.
He represents Chicago's North Side, and serves on the House Ways and Means Committee. He received 78% of the vote in the Democratic stronghold in the last election.
[edit] DCCC chairman
Emanuel was named the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2005. Prior to his work for Clinton, Emanuel had been an employee of the Committee, which principally serves to recruit candidates for the House and to raise funds to assist both new candidates and incumbents from the Democratic party in an effort to gain Democratic representation in the House.
He declared that in his new role "winning is everything," and he urged Democratic candidates to adopt more centrist positions. Emanuel was known to have had disagreements over Democratic election strategy with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Dean favored a "50 state strategy", building support for the Democratic Party over the long term, while Emanuel believes a more tactical approach, focusing attention on key districts, was necessary to ensure victory.[6]
Ultimately the Democratic Party enjoyed considerable success in the 2006 elections, gaining 30 seats in the House. Emanuel has received considerable praise for his stewardship of the DCCC during this election cycle.[citation needed]
[edit] Knowledge of Foley Case
According to a December 10, 2006 story [1], Emanuel knew more about the case of Congressman Mark Foley than he initially let on. Foley was the Florida congressman who resigned shortly before the 2006 elections after evidence of inappropriate conversations with underage pages became public. The story said: "The head of the House Democrats' campaign committee, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, had heard of former Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a former male page a year before they became public, a campaign committee aide told CNN.
Foley, a Republican, resigned after the scandal broke. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans have suggested repeatedly that some Democrats knew about the e-mails earlier than they have acknowledged, but waited till midterm elections approached to bring up the issue.
Emanuel's campaign committee aide said Friday that the Illinois Democrat was informed in 2005, but never saw the correspondence and did not have enough information to raise concerns. The aide said Emanuel took "no action" because his knowledge was "cursory" and little more than "rumor."
The aide's acknowledgement differs from the flat "no" Emanuel gave in October when asked -- during an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" -- if he or anyone on his staff knew of the e-mails before the scandal broke."
[edit] House leadership
After his role in helping the Democrats to win the 2006 elections, Emanuel was believed to be a leading candidate for the position of Majority Whip. Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to become the next Speaker of the House, persuaded him not to challenge Jim Clyburn, but instead to succeed Clyburn in the role of Democratic Caucus Chairman. Current caucus vice-chair John Larson will stay in this role instead of running for the chairman position.[7]
[edit] Views and voting record
He has maintained a 100% pro-choice voting record and is generally liberal. He has aligned himself with the Democratic Leadership Council and the party's centrist wing, but is not among its more conservative members.
[edit] Controversy
Speculation has been raised regarding the connection of Emanuel's Congressional election success to convicted former Chicago water department boss Don Tomczak.[8]
[edit] Electoral History
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| Year | Winning Candidate | Party | Pct | Opponent | Party | Pct | Opponent | Party | Pct |
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| 2002 | Rahm Emanuel | Democrat | 67% | Mark Augusti | Republican | 29% | Frank Gonzalez | Libertarian | 4% |
| 2004 | Rahm Emanuel (inc.) | Democrat | 76% | Bruce Best | Republican | 24% | |||
| 2006 | Rahm Emanuel (inc.) | Democrat | 78% | Kevin White | Republican | 22% | |||
[edit] Personal life
His father, a pediatrician still practicing near Chicago, immigrated to the United States from Israel and spoke Hebrew with his son, when Emanuel was a boy.
Emanuel's wife Amy Rule, and their three children, Zachariah, Ilana, and Leah, live on the North Side of Chicago, in the Roscoe Village neighborhood. Emanuel, whose first name, Rahm, means "high" or "lofty" in Hebrew, and his wife are active members of a Conservative congregation.[9]
Bradley Whitford's character Josh Lyman on NBC television series The West Wing is rumored to be based on Emanuel.[2]
His younger brother, Ari Emanuel, is a Hollywood agent and inspired Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage.[2]
His older brother Ezekiel Emanuel is an oncologist and medical ethicist.
Rahm also has a younger sister named Shoshanna, 14 years his junior.
[edit] Trivia
- Emanuel lost part of his right middle finger to a meat slicer as a teenager.[2]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Rod R. Blagojevich |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 5th congressional district 2003-Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hendrix, Steve, "Fighting for the Spoils," Washington Post, October 22, 2006; p. D01. [URL http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102101049_pf.html]
- ^ a b c d Joshua Green, "The Enforcer", Rolling Stone, Oct 20, 2005.
- ^ Roger Simon, "The man who would be George: Rahm Emanuel, centrist of the universe", New Republic, February 3, 1997 (vol.216 no.5 p17)
- ^ Guardian Unlimited (2006). Former ballet dancer turned political fixer. Retrieved November 11, 2006.
- ^ Jodi Wilgoren, "Ethnic Comments Rattle Race for Congress", New York Times, March 6, 2002.
- ^ Allen and Bacon Jr., Mike and Perry. "Whose Party Is It Anyway?", Time, June 4, 2006.
- ^ Babington and Weisman, Charles and Jonathan. "Reid, Pelosi Expected to Keep Tight Rein in Both Chambers", The Washington Post, November 10, 2006.
- ^ Kass, John. "Emanuel makes a point of airing peeve", The Chicago Tribune, November 22, 2006.
- ^ Hillel Kuttler, The view from the top, Jerusalem Post, July 1, 1997
[edit] External links
- Representative Rahm Emanuel official US Congress website
- The Washington Post - Members of Congress: Rahm Emanuel profile, roles, votes, district information and financial disclosure
- Steve Hendrix in The Washington Post, "Fighting for The Spoils", October 22, 2006 profile
- Naftali Bendavid in The Chicago Tribune "Special Report: The House that Rahm Built", November 12, 2006
- The Age - Democrat duo the new darlings of US politics[2]
