Sources: Emanuel wanted Claypool to be placeholder

[IndianaGreen]

Sources: Emanuel wanted Claypool to be placeholder

Plan to keep House seat warm may have included Cabinet consideration

September 25, 2009

BY NATASHA KORECKI Staff Reporter

It has long been claimed that Rahm Emanuel wanted to find someone to keep his congressional seat warm while he served as President Obama's chief of staff.

Now, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned that Emanuel wanted then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to appoint Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool to his 5th Congressional District seat.

Claypool would serve one or two terms and then be considered for a place in Obama's Cabinet, according to sources familiar with Emanuel's proposal. That would give Emanuel the option of returning to Congress, where he could vie to become House speaker.

Reached Thursday, Claypool said he knew of no such plan. Emanuel declined to comment, as did the White House.

In the end, Blagojevich did not have the authority to appoint somebody to the congressional seat, as Emanuel had thought.

Still, the proposal raises questions about whether Emanuel was contemplating offering a coveted presidential Cabinet post in exchange for a benefit for himself.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1790104,rahm-emanuel-claypool-placeholder-092509.article

[babylonsister]

1. Haha! That Rahm, always nineteen steps ahead. nt

[IndianaGreen]

6. Rahm is Obama's Cardinal Richelieu

Unchecked power and ambition "behind the throne."

[tularetom]

2. Mr Emanuel is no friend to real Democrats

I don't know what Obama was thinking when he hired this fucking snake as his chief of staff, because it's plain he has no interest in the principles typically associated with the Democratic party.

Obama needs to cut his losses and jettison this POS right now, before some Emanuel has done or is currently planning to do comes back to bite the president n the ass.

[invictus]

3. +1

[Dinger]

4. + 2, And Duncan Can Go Any Time As Well (nt)

[harkadog]

7. Obama didn't hire Rahm

When Obama ran against Bobby Rush in 2000 for Congress he ran as a liberal reformer opposed to the Daley machine. He was beaten easily by Rush. Afterwords he met with Daley and made peace. After 2000 he never again uttered a word critical of Daley or any of Daley's associates even as they were convicted of various corruption charges. Daley supported him in all his later elections. Daley had Rahm installed as the COS and he gave Obama David Axelrod to act as his chief political adviser. Mayor Daley, for good or bad, has great influence in this White House. Obama has said he is too busy to go to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. Daley wants him to go. Watch and see Obama go to Copenhagen.

[bigwillq]

16. Indeed.

Good post. :thumbsup:

[Vidar]

5. It's a shame that soem of Blago's dirt didn't rub off on Emmanuel

[CreekDog]

8. I'm liking Emanuel so much less than a year ago

and i wasn't too crazy about him back when he was undercutting Democrats chances in house races.

[Boomerang Diddle]

9. Who's the "source?" Blagojevich?

I heard him make this claim on Hardball. He also claimed he's guilty of no wrongdoing whatsoever, and we all know how truthful he is......

[Hippo_Tron]

10. I'm fairly certain that Governors can appoint people to the House

[WeDidIt]

12. I'm 100% postive you're wrong

United States Constitution

Article I.

Section 2.<snip>

(Paragraph 3.)When vacancies happen in the Representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Right... "writs of election"

Which means have a special election, not appoint a new representative.

[Hippo_Tron]

19. LOL I just realized I wrote "can" when I meant' can't"

[Justitia]

11. Does this surprise anyone here? Rahm spoke on tv about wanting to be 1st Jewish Speaker.

Told it to Brian Williams on that "Inside the WH" special he did.

It's not hard to believe he was engineering some way to come back and grab that particular brass ring, is it?

When I heard Rahm say that on TV - he was expressing his only regret in taking the CoS job, he thought he was giving up the dream of Speaker - I nearly died from relief.
Holy Mother of God, Rahm as Speaker of the House - we'd be so fucked.

Now, it seems, he was just putting it in the warming oven after all - hardly a big surprise.

[tritsofme]

13. This is clearly another Blagojevich lie, there is no way you expect me to believe that Rahm was

unaware that governors lack the ability to appoint members of the House.

He headed the DCCC and worked on numerous special election campaigns to fill...vacancies that couldn't be filled by governors.

But this is basic knowledge that I am sure is known by any member of Congress or middle school student taking their Constitution test.

[PopSixSquish]

14. Putting Aside the Fact That the Governor Can't Appoint House Members

this "plan" seems to assume that several things go exactly "right" including the fact that Claypool doesn't change his mind or get beaten in a primary by somebody else or the fact that Blago is plain crazy or that by the time Rahm could get back into a position to be Speaker (I don't see Nancy going anywhere anytime soon), the Republicans haven't regained control.

Rahm may be stupid sometimes but he isn't a complete moron as far as I can tell...

[Orangepeel]

15. Who wrote this bullshit? Emanuel didn't know how vacant seats are filled?

Ridiculous on its face.

[KingFlorez]

18. I have a really hard time believing this

Emanuel is a political insider, it's his life. It's not believable that he didn't know what the procedure for filling vacant house seats is.

[Mass]

20. Uh. You mean Emmanuel does not know the law concerning how congresspeople are chosen?

That is a little bit hard to swallow.

I have no particular sympathy for Emmanuel. He deserves probably the bad reputation he has. But you are not doing anybody a favor by using article like that, who are so clearly stupid that they make nosense. The reporter is very gullible if she thinks that Rahm Emmanuel, who seems extremely ambitious and was chair of the DCCC in 2005-2006, does not know the process to replace a congressman during his term.