Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel | |
|---|---|
| File:RahmEmanuel.jpg | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 5th district | |
| In office 2003-present | |
| Preceded by | Rod R. Blagojevich |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Democratic |
Rahm Emanuel (born November 29 1959), an American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing the 5th Congressional District of Illinois, which covers the northside of Chicago and parts of Cook County. Emanuel is chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which recruits and raises funds for Democratic congressional candidates. As the Democratic Party regained control of the House in the 2006 elections, Emanuel is thought to be a leading candidate for the post of Majority Whip. Emanuel is noted for his strong partisan style and his fundraising prowess.
Early history
Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois, to an Israeli pediatrician and social worker four months after they moved to the United States. Trained as a ballet dancer, Emanuel won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet but turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College[1] 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]
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.[2]
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.
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.
Congressional career
Election in 2002
The US House seat in the 5th District of Illinois was previously held by Rod Blagojevich, who resigned to successfully run 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.[3] 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 this Democratic stronghold in the last election.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
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 this 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 has declared that in his new role "winning is everything." Indeed, Emanuel has urged Democratic candidates to adopt more centrist positions. Emanuel has had many disagreements over Democratic strategy with DNC Chairman Howard Dean. Dean favors a so-called "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, is necessary to ensure victory in November.[1]
Views and voting record
He has maintained a 100% pro-choice voting record and has aligned himself with the Democratic Leadership Council and the Party's centrist wing.
Personal life
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. 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, whose first name, Rahm, means "high" or "lofty" in Hebrew, and his wife are active members of a Modern Orthodox congregation in Chicago.
Bradley Whitford's character Josh Lyman on NBC television series The West Wing is rumored to be based on Emanuel.[1] His younger brother, Ari Emanuel, is a Hollywood agent and inspired Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage.[1] His older brother Ezekiel Emanuel is an oncologist and medical ethicist who has yet to inspire a television character.
Trivia
- Emanuel lost part of his right middle finger to a meat slicer as a teenager.[1]
References
- ^ 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)
- ^ Jodi Wilgoren, "Ethnic Comments Rattle Race for Congress", New York Times, March 6, 2002.
External links
- Official website
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Washington Post profile of Emanuel (October 22, 2006)