With his time as America’s ambassador to Japan ending, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he has no interest in leading a Democratic comeback as his party’s national chairman, but he still loves public service and isn’t done with it.
“I’m not interested in the party. I’m interested in what the party can do for people…My enjoyment [is] in what I’ve done in public service,” Emanuel told the Sun-Times. “It’s about free community college for student of Chicago, free universal kindergarten and pre-K. Raising the minimum wage.”
“I happen to have a view of what it takes to build a party, recruit candidates, build the infrastructure, raise your resources, develop a message,” Emanuel added. “But that wasn’t in my line of vision. It may have been in a line of vision for others. But it’s not in the line of vision for me.”
After returning to Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving and his 65th birthday, Emanuel will make one last trip to Tokyo to wrap up his three-year stint as U.S. ambassador to Japan.
He’ll pack up a palatial ambassador’s residence that Supreme Allied commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur once called home, then return to his Ravenswood home to plot his next move.
“I do love public service…Sometimes, it requires running for office. And sometimes, there is appointment like ambassador or chief of staff to President Obama,” Emanuel said.
“I don’t have an answer and I’m comfortable [not knowing]…In the past, I would not be comfortable. I’d be filled with…that great Yiddish word `shpilkes.’ I couldn’t sit still. I will figure it out. I will take time…I’m not done with public service and, hopefully, public service is not done with me.”
Emanuel would not rule out another run for elective office — governor, U.S. senator or mayor of Chicago — even though he fully expects Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker to seek a third term. Emanuel plans to support Pritzker “100 percent” if he runs again.
“When he makes his decision I will make mine and I will support my governor and his desire for re-election. My assumption is he’s running for re-election,” Emanuel said.
Of all the jobs Emanuel has held, mayor is the one he loved best.
He chose political retirement over the uphill battle for a third term because he was convinced he couldn’t win in the furor that followed the court-ordered release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video. In 2014, McDonald, 17, was shot to death by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, who later was convicted of the teen’s murder.
An attempted comeback to the office he love would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But much has changed since Lori Lightfoot became the first Chicago mayor in 40 years to lose her re-election bid.
Mayor Brandon Johnson is struggling to reach a budget compromise to avoid a first-ever government shutdown and tame a City Council emboldened by his anemic public approval rating, which now stands at 14%, according to the most recent poll. His $300 million property tax increase was rejected by a 50-to-0 City Council vote.
“I’ll spend time talking to people,” Emanuel said. “And rather than have a kind of a game plan — as I didn’t do for Congress or for mayor — when it happens, if opportunities provide themselves, I will evaluate it. I’m not going to go job by job with you.”
For months, Johnson has blamed Emanuel for the $37 billion pension crisis he inherited. He has accused the former mayor of neglecting South and West Side residents and exacerbating the problems of inner city neighborhoods by closing 50 schools in one fell swoop.
“Two administrations ago, there was a property tax increase over $500 million for three consecutive years. The pension deficit grew by $7 billion and then, our credit rating was junk status. That was the so-called business mayor where pension debt grew, property taxes increased and the thing that he was supposed to have solved, he didn’t it actually got worse,” Johnson told the City Club of Chicago Tuesday.
“The deficit that we are experiencing right now has more to do with negligence, malfeasance and a lack of regard for working people in this city. I just happen to be bold enough to call it out and say it out loud and say that we can’t kick the can down the road.”
Emanuel took the high road even as he defended his record.
“I never criticize, ever, my predecessors…Any advice I have to give my successor I say it as a resident and somebody who’s had that office, I cheer them on.
“I stand my tenure. Things I got right. Things I got wrong,” Emanuel added. “That’s true for all of us who serve…I do know the fiscal condition of the city was better than the one I inherited — than what I left behind.”