How Rahm's Campaign Ran Up A $53,000 Tab At Eli's Cheesecake
By Kate Shepherd in News on Oct 19, 2015 4:30PM
via Eli's Cheesecake
Mayor Rahm Emanuel raised a record $24.4 million for his reelection bid, but his campaign still owes Eli's Cheesecake Co. a staggering $53,755. That's a lot of cheesecakes.
Emanuel's campaign fund is in debt $122,715, according to the Tribune. They also owe $15,000 to the Mayer Brown law firm and $53,960 to the firm that handled direct mail, The Strategy Group.
"The mayor spent what was necessary to win. It's not uncommon for campaigns to go into a little bit of debt," Emanuel campaign strategist and principal at The Strategy Group, Pete Giangreco told Politico.
Why was so much spent on cheesecake? He sends them to major campaign donors as a thank you gift and to a list of friends and family around the holidays. Over the years as a congressman, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and mayor, he's spent more than $148,000 in political cash on Eli's cheesecakes.
"Cheesecakes are the currency of Rahm," Giangreco told the Tribune last year.