Chicago Tribune columnist Kass knows how to get Rahm Emanuel angry

Four years ago there was an open seat on Chicago's heavily Democratic 5th Congressional District. Longtime state legislator Nancy Kaczak was leading in the polls, but Rahm Emanuel, future Democratic hero of the 2006 House elections, eked out a victory. That triumph was aided by an army of patronage workers led by then-first deputy commissioner of Chicago's water department Donald Tomczak. In his Chicago Tribune column, John Kass regularly refers to the former Clinton aide as Rahm Emanuel, (D-Tomczak), which Emanuel doesn't like.

From Kass' column, free registration required:

Emanuel is the political operative being credited these days with the Democratic takeover of Congress. He's ruthless and hardworking and, in victory, deserving of post-election applause.

But if City Hall had not sent Don Tomczak, the corrupt city water department boss, to Emanuel's congressional campaign in 2002--and Tomczak's political army of hundreds of city workers who stumped the precincts with the promise of overtime--then Emanuel wouldn't have narrowly defeated a local grass-roots Democrat.

And Emanuel wouldn't have been in a position to bask in all the national media love.

So in those glowing reviews of Emanuel's performance in the midterms, it's important for those Rahm hagiographers to include this black mark against the Chicago Democrat.

Last year Tomczak pleaded guilty racketeering and tax fraud.

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