Emanuel needs Austin (as in Texas) money because Austin (as in Chicago) residents likely aren't among his fans

When I first learned that Mayor Rahm Emanuel planned to be in Austin on Monday and to include a significant fundraiser, my first reaction was something along the line of, "What the ....!?!!"

But I quickly figured out that Emanuel's "Austin" was the state capital of Texas, and not the West Side neighborhood.

EMANUEL PLANS TO lead a Chicago delegation to the South By Southwest festival, and the people who organize the Lollapalooza festival every year have a fundraiser set to help add to the Emanuel re-election fund.

Some might want to claim this is the reward for Emanuel because the city extended the group's contract to hold Lollapalooza in Grant Park through 2021. Although if it were that blatant a trade-off, I'm sure the U.S. Attorney would be involved in seeking an indicment against Hizzoner.

What a better political trophy for a federal prosecutor than the mayor himself!

It might seem odd for a Chicago mayor to be seeking political money while roaming around Texas. Although our mayor these days has a higher national (and international) profile than most political people.

DO YOU REALLY think Robert Redford and CNN would be doing a series about Chicago if Emanuel were just some typical municipal schlep?

All of this is part of a strategy by Emanuel as he prepares to seek re-election come the 2015 election cycle. The Chicago Tribune reported that he has about $6.2 million as of now -- which is about the same amount that gubernatorial candidate (and Emanuel friend) Bruce Rauner has spent on his own Republican primary campaign thus far.

The Rauner strategy thus far has been to outspend everyone else into oblivion so that the challengers become insignificant and can't keep up with his attempts at self image-making.

EMANUEL: Campaign-fund wealthy

Which likely is what Emanuel also wants to do -- if anyone winds up having the nerve to take him on. There are plenty of people who are willing to bad-mouth the mayor, but no one willing to say they're willing to challenge him.

EVEN KAREN LEWIS, the Chicago Teachers Union boss who doesn't hesitate to trash Emanuel's professional abilities, has said she doesn't want to be mayor. The same goes for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle -- whom some consider the best-qualified challenger to Emanuel.

So all of this fund-raising may be for naught -- except to the degree that Emanuel's big-bucks will scare off everybody except for the Tio Hardimans (as in the Democrat with dreams of beating Pat Quinn in next weeks' primary) of the world.

Of course, about the only reason that Emanuel might be even remotely vulnerable is because of the fact that his actions, particularly those meant to get involved in the Chicago Public School system, have ticked off the African-American segment of the electorate.

Rahm's challenger

There are those black would-be voters who felt willing in 2011 to back Rahm because he was a former chief-of-staff (and ally) to Barack Obama. They feel sold-out.

WHICH IS WHY the idea of Emanuel holding a fund-raiser in the Austin neighborhood, with its heavily-African-American population, would be so absurd.

Now if only those voters could find a way to unite behind an Emanuel challenger, then perhaps he'd have a real need for all the money he's going to raise Monday, and at future events throughout the upcoming year.

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Schmidt won’t go; will GOP push her?

In some ways, the behavior of state Sen. Suzi Schmidt, R-Lake Villa, doesn’t surprise me in the least. Anyone who has the desire to hold elective office has to have a certain amount of ego and a sense that their presence matters.

SCHMIDT: She won't go!

So the fact that Schmidt – who became more than just another anonymous freshman state legislator when it became known she tried to use her influence to discourage Lake County sheriff’s department officials from seriously investigating her husband’s claims that she was abusing him – is now saying she has no intentions of resigning her post is to be expected.

IN FACT, I suspect that Schmidt probably thinks she’s making a tough, principled, ethical stand by refusing to give in to people who she wants to think are trying to turn her personal life into an issue against her.

Which means she has the ability to live her life in a fantasy world of her own making – just like many other government officials.

So I’m not writing this commentary out of any sense that Schmidt needs to be criticized. I suspect if she ever reads this, she’ll be quick to trash me.

My concern in this whole affair is Schmidt’s Republican colleagues – who are now in a position of having to defend someone who (deep down) they wish would wither away into political nothingness.

THE DISCLOSURES ABOUT Schmidt came up last month. Lake County sheriff’s police, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, made public the content of the calls Schmidt made to police dispatchers on three occasions in recent months when police had to respond to the Schmidt residence.

The one call that amused people was one from her husband who said his wife had locked him out of their house on Christmas Day, which means it was winter and he didn’t have a jacket on. He probably was cold.

The call that offended people was Schmidt herself calling the dispatchers and telling them they shouldn’t bother to respond to any calls at her house made by her husband. She also made mention of the fact that, for the 10 years leading up to this year, Schmidt was the chairman of the Lake County Board.

The far north suburbs’ answer to Toni Preckwinkle.

EXCEPT THAT I can’t envision Preckwinkle ever telling Cook County sheriff’s police they should ignore 9-1-1 emergency calls. Or trying to flash her title as a way of intimidating police into ignoring complaints.

Now as it turns out, police haven’t charged anybody with anything in connection with any of these calls to the Schmidt home. These domestic disputes didn’t rise to the level of crimes.

But when the calls came out and the initial public reaction wasn’t offense that the information became public, Schmidt began getting pressure to resign her post.

After all, she had only been a legislator since January. Had Schmidt just left, it is likely that she would have been forgotten so quickly on the Statehouse Scene that there would have been no lingering ill-will toward her.

MAYBE SHE COULD have gone back to the county scene, where (if she really was as important a person as she believes she was) she could have won some sort of government post – unless she were to decide that a future life would be better spent outside of electoral politics.

Privately, GOP leadership said they were prepared to give Schmidt the weekend to decide for herself what to do (which really meant that she should realize she should just walk away).

But it just ain’t gonna happen that way.

For Schmidt on Wednesday made it known that not only is she not resigning, she also plans to seek re-election. She’s gambling on the fact that she represents an area where the Republican Party is solid, and that there likely isn’t any other GOPer with the desire to be an anonymous state senator.

LAST WEEK, STATE Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, called the revelations about Schmidt, “extremely troubling,” and said that public officials, “are held to a higher standard.”

Now, Radogno is defending Schmidt, saying she, “has acknowledged that her actions were wrong and has asked for the forgiveness of her constituents.”

This could be a case where Republican leadership is publicly saying nice things to avoid a brawl, while privately will do everything they can to undermine her re-election chances.

Then again, maybe it isn’t.

WHICH MEANS WE’LL really have to wait until late this year to see if anybody decides to challenge Schmidt for the Republican nomination for her far north suburban state Senate seat.

That’s when we’ll learn whether or not Radogno and Schmidt’s Republican defenders these days have any political sincerity, or if they’re just engaging in the typical trash-talk of a campaign season – defending their own, regardless of how bad they behave.

Which, to me, is more offensive than anything Schmidt is alleged to have done.

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