Rahm Israel Emanuel

This is the next in my series of profiles of the President’s Cabinet.

It seems neither right nor left are enamored with President-elect Obama’s choice for Chief of Staff. Stephen Zunes is on the verge of tears in his article on AlterNet while NewsMax correspondent Ashley Martella says of the new Chief of Staff, he is a “combative partisan liberal.” Perhaps the only faction in this fractures nation that are happy with Obama’s choice would be the financial and investment sectors, who have spent enough of their money to ensure favorable legislation out of the Chicago Democrat…and let us not forget why we are in a financial melt-down.

Emanuel, Rahm Israel

· 2008 Nov05: President-elect Barack Obama chose Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) to be his White House chief of staff.

· 2007: Selected Democratic Caucus Chair within the US House of Representatives.

· 2006: With Bruce Reed, wrote The Plan: Big Ideas for America.

· 2005-2006: Appointed by Rep Nancy Pelosi as Chairman, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

· 2002-2009: Elected as a Democrat Representative to US Congress from Illinois 5^th District. Member, House Ways and Means Committee, as well as the Subcommittee on Health and the Sub-committee on Select Revenue Measures.

· 2000: Appointed to the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) by then President Bill Clinton.

· 1998-2002: Managing Director/Investment Banker for Wasserstein Perella, (now Dresdner Kleinwort); involved in eight deals, including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC Communications.

· 1993-1998: Served as Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to President Bill Clinton for Policy and Strategy.

· 1991: Served as a civilian volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces during the Persian Gulf War, as a mechanic.

· 1989: Served as senior advisor and chief fund-raiser for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

· 1985: Graduated with a Master’s Degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

· 1984: Worked on the Senatorial campaign for Paul Simon.

· 1981: Graduated Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY.

· Worked on the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.

· Worked with the consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action.

· 1959 Nov29: Born, Chicago, IL, an Israeli citizen due to his father’s (dual) Israeli-U.S. citizenship, but relinquished his Israeli citizenship when he turned 18 to Dr. Benjamin M. Emanuel, a pediatrician and Martha Smulevitz, an X-ray technician and civil-rights activist. Emanuel’s older brother, Ezekiel, is an oncologist and bioethicist, and his brother Ari is a talent agent in Los Angeles.

Position and Views Summary

· On his congressional web site Emanuel lists top concerns as Veteran’s Affairs, Energy Legislation, Lobby Reform, Prescription Drug Reform, Savings Agenda, Social Security, Student Loans, and Tax Reform.

· One of the major goals he spoke of during the race was “to help make health care affordable and available for all Americans

· Maintained a 100 percent pro-choice voting record and is generally liberal on social issues.

· He has aligned himself with the centrist wing of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Leadership Council.

· Emanuel is an influential member of the New Democrat Coalition, and a prominent proponent of economic liberalization.

· Seen as a strong Israel partisan.

· Advocated a three-month compulsory universal service program for Americans between the ages of 18 and 25

Notes

· reputation as a fierce partisan with strong ties to the Clinton White House, where he worked as an aide and ran damage control for the Monica Lewinsky affair and campaign-finance scandals.

· Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Emanuel is known for raking in huge amounts of campaign cash.

· At some point during his high school years, while working at an Arby’s restaurant, Emanuel severely cut his right middle finger. He sought medical attention only after suffering severe infection as a result of the wound, resulting in the partial amputation of the finger.

· David Axelrod signed the ketuba, a Jewish marriage contract, at Emanuel’s wedding, an honor that goes to a family friend or distant relative.

· Jewish; member of the moderate orthodox Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel in Chicago. Resident of the Ravenswood neighborhood in Chicago, IL. Married to wife Amy Rule with three children, Zachariah, Ilana, and Leah. Emanuel has said of his Judaism: “I am proud of my heritage and treasure the values it has taught me. A devout Jew, he reportedly obtained a special waiver from his rabbi in order to work through the holiday of Rosh Hashanah during the $800 billion Wall Street bailout.

· In his youth trained in ballet and was offered a scholarship with the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet Company. He turned it down to study dance at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College. Emanuel trains for and participates in triathlons.

· Emanuel’s knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped Clinton amass a then-unheard-of sum of $72 million.

· He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.

· Emanuel is said to have mailed a rotten fish to a former coworker or pollster after the two parted ways as a warning never to cross him again. On the night after the 1996 election Emanuel was so angry at the president’s enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting ‘Dead! … Dead! … Dead!’ and plunging the knife into the table after every name. His “take-no-prisoners attitude” earned him the nickname “Rahm-bo.” His favorite expletive can serve as subject, verb or adjective when he is facing down opponents.

· In 2006 Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass reported he had a newsroom confrontation with Emanuel over Kass’s continued speculation Emanuel only won his 2002 election because convicted former Chicago water department boss Don Tomczak sent in his employees to work for Emanuel. He also speculated that Mayor Richard Daley’s “underlings” who were sentenced to federal prison for organizing “patronage armies” also helped Emanuel.

· According to OpenSecrets.com:

o Rahm Emanuel is a top recipient from the following industries for the 2008 election cycle: Hedge Funds, Motion Picture production & distribution, Private Equity & Investment Firms, Securities/Invest, Telephone Utilities, TV production & distribution, TV/Movies/Music

o In the 2006 election cycle Hedge Funds and Private Equity & Investment Firms made up his top industrial contributions.

o Rahm Emanuel is a top recipient from the following industries for the 2004 election cycle: Hedge Funds, Private Equity & Investment Firms, Securities/Invest, TV production & distribution.

Affiliations

Rabbi Asher Lopatin, spiritual advisor.

David Axelrod

Governor Rod Blagojevich (IL)

Mayor Richard M. Daley (Chicago)

Links

Detailed Congressional Voting Record, from On the Issues

Congressional Voting Record

Federal Election Commission Candidate Contribution Disclosures

Further Reading

Naftali Bendavid, The Thumpin’: How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution. New York: Doubleday, 2007.

Who is John Podesta

In an effort to better understand the members of the new administration, I have put together a bit of a profile of the man in charge of the Transition Board.

 

 

 

PODESTA, John David

· Jul2003: Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Center for American Progress, reportedly hand-picked for the job by CAP founders George Soros and Morton H. Halperin, according to a March 1, 2004 report in The Nation by Robert Dreyfuss. CAP was originally established as a spring-board for the H. Clinton presidential campaign for 2008.

· Member of the Constitution Project’s bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee.

· Currently a Visiting Professor of Law on the faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center, a position he also held from January 1995 to 1997. He has taught courses on technology policy, congressional investigations, legislation, copyright and public interest law.

· 2008: Authored The Power of Progress: How America’s Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate, and Our Country, Basically a document for B. Obama as to how to administer the country when elected president.

· Mar2006: Became Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society.

· Formed Coalition for Freedom Information group, through Podesta Associates to free-up government UFO documents.

· Member of the board of The James Madison Project, a non-profit organization established in 1998, committed to “promoting government accountability and reduction of secrecy.”

· Oct1998-Jan2001: Served as Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton; responsible for directing, managing, and overseeing all policy development, daily operations, Congressional relations, and staff activities of the White House.

· 1997-1998: Served as Assistant to the President (Clinton) and Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, where he helped suppress numerous federal investigations into Clinton wrongdoing, and helped short-circuit the Clinton impeachment proceedings through backroom deals.

· 1995-1996: Served as Counselor to Senator Thomas A. Daschle

· Jan 1993-1995: Served as Assistant to the President (Clinton), Staff Secretary and a senior policy adviser on government information, privacy, telecommunications security and regulatory policy.

· 1988: Served as opposition research director for the Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign.

· 1988: Founded, with his brother Tony, Podesta Associates, Inc., a Washington, D.C. government relations and public affairs firm.

· 1987-1988: Served as Chief Counsel for the Senate Agricultural Committee

· 1981-1988: Served on the staff of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), assisting in pioneering the indiscriminate smearing and filibustering of any and all Republican judicial.

· 1979-1981: Served as Chief Minority Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks; Security and Terrorism; and Regulatory Reform; and Counsel on the Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

· 1978-1979: Worked as Special Assistant to the Director of ACTION, the federal volunteer agency.

· 1976-1977: Worked as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Honors Program in the Land and Natural Resources Division

· He has served as a member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and the United States Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy, chaired by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

· 1976 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center

· 1971 graduate of Knox College.

· 1972: Worked on the George McGovern presidential campaign.

· 1970: First met Bill Clinton in 1970, when he and Clinton worked together on anti-war candidate Joseph Duffy’s unsuccessful Senate campaign in Connecticut.

· 1968 Worked on the Eugene McCarthy presidential campaigns in 1968.

· Born 1949, to an Italian-American blue-collar father and Greek-American mother on January 15 in Chicago, IL. Podesta spent most of his early years in Chicago.

Position and Views Summary

· With Robert McChesney advocates a government overhaul of the internet communication policy administered by the FCC.

· Obsessed with the TV program, The X-Files, and an avid believer in extra-terrestrials and UFOs, to the point of obsession. The Sci-Fi Channel hired Podesta Associates to help get the US government to open up documents on the subject of UFO secrecy.

· Progressive Democrat; a player preferring to work behind the scenes in politics.

· Holds “openness in government” in high regard.

· A staunch defender of the Clinton Administration. Very good at “scandal” suppression and cleanup as well as digging up dirt on opposition.

· In his book, he articulates a vision of progressive values based on four core lessons: 1) Progressives stand with people, not privilege; 2) Progressives believe in the Common Good and a government that offers a hand up; 3) Progressives hold that all people are equal in the eyes of God and under the law; and 4) Progressives stand for universal human rights and cooperative global security.

· Over the years, Podesta has made campaign contributions to numerous Democratic candidates, including Al Franken, Edward Kennedy, Richard Gephardt, Tom Daschle, Hillary Clinton, Richard Durbin, Christopher Dodd, Barney Frank, Tammy Duckworth, Rosa DeLauro, Paul Wellstone, Maurice Hinchey, Harry Reid, Patrick Leahy, Barack Obama, John Kerry, Charles Rangel, and Al Gore. In 2002 Podesta also made a $1,000 contribution to the League of Conservation Voters.

· IAW the Washington Post, “encryption technology, the declassification of government documents, agricultural policy, and the impact of the Internet as Podesta’s main focuses at the White House.

· Podesta’s most lasting contribution to the leftist cause came through his promotion of a strategy that White House aides dubbed “Project Podesta.” This was a system that enabled the Clintons to push through unpopular policies that neither Congress nor the American people wanted. Project Podesta enabled the President to bypass Congress through the use of executive orders, presidential decision directives, White-House-sponsored lawsuits, and vacancy appointments to high federal office, selective regulatory actions against targeted corporations, and a host of other extra-constitutional tactics. In short, Podesta showed the Clintons that they could gain by force what they might fail to achieve through legislation. Project Podesta’s most ambitious exercise was the war on Yugoslavia which Clinton launched by executive order on April 13, 1999, in defiance of the U.S. Congress and the United Nations. When US News and World Report first revealed the existence of Project Podesta on November 1, 1999, two Congressional hearings convened to investigate the Clintons’ abuse of executive power. But the investigators issued no reports and took no action. Project Podesta reached its logical conclusion in Al Gore’s effort to litigate his way into the White House in 2000. During the infamous 36-day, post-election stand-off, Podesta worked behind the scenes with Gore’s legal team even as the Clinton White House publicly declared its neutrality. Podesta bears personal responsibility for forcing the election into the U.S. Supreme Court.

Notes

· Beyond politics, can we expect Mr. Podesta to initiate a UFO and Alien hunt once Barack takes office? This may be something to hammer.

· Another target on Podesta’s radar is Conservative Talk Radio and the implementation of the Fairness Doctrine designed to silence opposition in the name of equality.

Affiliations

Personal Relations:

Anthony T. Podesta – brother

Other Current Relationships:

Center for a New American Security – director

Center for American Progress – president & CEO

Century Foundation – trustee

Knox College – trustee

League of Conservation Voters – director

Podesta Associates Inc. – co-founder

Women’s Voices. Women Vote. – director

Past Relationships:

2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign – transition coordinator

William J. Clinton – chief of staff

Tom Daschle – counselor

Links

Facebook Page for Power of Progress