"Congressman Claypool?"

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 8, 2011 2:23PM

Closing arguments are expected to begin today in the retrial of Rod Blagojevich, who survived a week on the stand with his hair intact. Among the filings from Blagojevich's defense team yesterday was a tape transcript of a 2008 phone call between Blagojevich and Mayor Emanuel where the then White House Chief of Staff Designate had a suggestion as to who should fill the Congressional seat he was vacating.

Noted "reformer," "the Charlie Brown of Cook County Politics" and now CTA President Forrest Claypool.

In the Nov. 8, 2008 recorded call, Emanuel told Blagojevich he wanted then Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool tapped to fill Emanuel’s 5th Congressional District seat “in my interest of, uh, you know, having somebody there you know that doesn’t want to make it a lifetime commitment.”

Claypool only wants to serve “for like one term or two max,” Emanuel told Blagojevich. “And then he wants to go to the cabinet.”

At the end of the excerpt of the call, Emanuel tells Blagojevich: “I will not forget this ... I appreciate it. That’s all I am going to say. I don’t want to go, you and I shouldn’t go farther.”

In the tape, Blagojevich kept reminding Emanuel that, unlike a Senate seat, Congressional vacancies must be fileld with an election. Emanuel was undeterred and even suggested that he could time his resignation so that Blagojevich could appoint Claypool before the new Congress was seated, and the year ended.

The Sun-Times reported in 2009 that this discussion took place, but Emanuel offered a no comment, Claypool said he was unaware of such a call and Blagojevich wrote about it in his book.