Emanuel Inagural Team Set
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 3, 2011 7:00PM
The team charged with the inauguration of Mayor-elect Emanuel, re-elected City Treasurer Stephanie Neely and City Clerk-elect Susana Mendoza is in place. That team includes former White House social secretary Desiree Rogers; Teamsters Local 25 president John T. Coli; Harris Associates chief investment officer David Herro; Antonio J. Gracias, founder and CEO of Valor Equity Partners LP; Chatham Business Association executive director Melinda Kelly; Groupon co-founder and venture capitalist Eric Lefkofsky; and investor Tim Mullen.
Each of the committee members has ties to Emanuel or the city in some form. Mullen was one of the elite fundraisers for President Obama's 2008 campaign. Kelly's Chatham Business Association receives thousands from the city annually in economic development money from the city. And Coli's Teamsters Local 25 donated $25,000 to the Emanuel campaign. The two biggest names here are Rogers and Herro. Rogers, now CEO of Johnson Publishing, resigned as White House social secretary after uninvited guests crashed a state dinner in 2009 (we've got our tux in the cleaners right now).
Herro, meanwhile, has a healthy history of donating money to congressional GOP candidates and has used the Supreme Court's majority decision in the Citizens United case to send large amounts of money to PACs. He's funneled $190,000 to the New Prosperity Foundation, which helped in the election of Sen. Mark Kirk. Herro has made campaign contributions to Illinois congressmen Judy Biggert, Aaron Schock, Robert Dold, Peter Roskam, Adam Kinzinger, Bobby Schilling and even Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Herro is also a major player in trying to expand the presence of WalMart in Chicago. He's donated money to Aldermen Brendan Reilly, Emma Mitts and Tom Tunney. Herro has donated money to opponents of Ald. joe Moore, $65,000 to the Emanuel campaign and a $5,000 donation to the pro-big business political action committee For a Better Chicago.