Rahm Campaign Letter Backfires

By aaroncynic in News on Feb 17, 2011 7:20PM

Every Chicagoan is used to getting solicitations from candidates during election season. One letter Rahm Emanuel's campaign recently sent out though, has some city employees up in arms. The Sun-Times reports that Emanuel sent a personal letter to the homes of city employees and other households attempting to clarify the candidate's position on the pension crisis. Some recipients want to know how the Emanuel campaign got their information and if someone from City Hall could have leaked sensitive information.

Part of the letter reads “My goal is to protect the retirement of our workers. If you’ve paid into the system, your contribution must be honored and I will fight to guarantee those benefits as promised. It would be wrong to take away benefits that hard-working city workers have earned.” A spokesman for Emanuel said that the letter was aimed at a crisis that is a “conversation in every community” and said that they do not have a list of city workers. Some people aren't so sure. Lou Phillips, business manager for Laborers Local 1001 told the Sun-Times “You’re talking about my pension. How do you know what pension I got? What business is it of yours? Why do they have my address? If you’re not a city employee, why would you even be interested in this?”