Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday defended his Chicago roots after being called a “suburbanite” by the former head of the Chicago Park District.
In a recent interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, former Park District Superintendent Ed Kelly, 90, said Emanuel’s increasing fallout with Chicago voters could be due to the fact that he is not a real “Chicago guy.”
“I feel sorry for Rahm, I really do,” Kelly said. “Rahm had no idea what he was getting into. Rahm’s not a Chicago guy. He’ll never be a Chicago guy. He’s not a street guy. He’s trying to be, but he’s not. He’s a suburbanite. He’s not a Chicagoan, he really isn’t.”
Emanuel, who was born in the city and moved to north suburban Wilmette while in grade school, countered by discussing his family’s history in Chicago.
“My grandfather came to Chicago in 1917 fleeing the pogroms,” he said. “My uncle was a police officer here in the city of Chicago representing the 17th District. My father had a practice here. I was a congressman from Chicago.”
-Tom Butala