Felsenthal Files

08/08/12

Fred Eychaner and Ken Griffin, Chicagoans on Top Donors Lists

Lists just out from Politico ranking donors to the two presidential candidates show that, on the Democratic side, Chicagoan Fred Eychaner ranks number one. On the GOP side, at number nine with $2.3 million for Mitt Romney and other Republican PACs and candidates, is Chicago hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin...

Posted at 01:47 PM in Felsenthal Files News & Politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

08/03/12

Rahm 'Super Hot for This'—the Mayor's Role in Solyndra

A House report released Thursday reveals Rahm Emanuel's role in the Obama administration's support of Solyndra, the solar panel maker that received a $535 million loan guarantee before going bankrupt last September...

Posted at 12:40 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/25/12

Chicagoan Tops List of 50 Most Beautiful in Washington; No Illinois Lawmaker Makes Cut

Chicagoan Max Engling, a 25-year-old former model and Republican staff assistant for the House Administration Committee, topped The Hill’s eighth annual list of 50 most beautiful people working on Capitol Hill. Only one other Illinoisan, a Democrat and policy aide to a Washington state congressman, made the cut.

Posted at 04:28 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (1)

07/24/12

No Successor Planned for Sun-Times's Stella Foster

After announcing on Friday that her last column would run on August 6, the Sun-Times’s Stella Foster, who has been writing “Stella’s Column” (the successor to the legendary “Kup’s Column”) since December 2003, told me in a telephone interview Monday that it was her decision to retire...

Posted at 02:07 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (1)

07/23/12

J Street, Progressive Alternative to AIPAC, Backs Area Congressional Candidates

The Tribune reported last week that Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic challenger in the race for the 8th District, outraised the tea party-backed freshman, Joe Walsh, in the second quarter. Duckworth’s $888,790 total take included almost $50,000 "steered" to her by J Street, a D.C.-based PAC that is finding a stronghold here in Chicago...

Posted at 02:08 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (7)

07/16/12

Rahm Takes the National Stage—Not Enough to Occupy Him at Home?

With the threat of a teacher’s strike looming, the murder rate booming, Rahm Emanuel appeared yesterday as the “headliner” on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. The subject was Mitt Romney vs. Barack Obama...

Posted at 04:14 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (3)

07/13/12

A Look at Romney's Foreign Policy Adviser, Chicagoan Richard Williamson

At a GOP fundraiser Thursday night, former Vice President Dick Cheney said that Mitt Romney is the best to lead the country in international crises. Shaping that foreign policy in the coming months will be Chicago attorney Richard Williamson, one of Romney’s advisers charged with persuading voters that Mitt, who has zero experience in international matters, would do better than President Obama...

Posted at 12:45 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (5)

07/11/12

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Preaches from a Pulpit—in D.C.

We haven’t heard much from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the man who married the Obamas and baptized his children. Rev. Wright preached last Sunday morning, not from the pulpit here at Trinity United Church of Christ, where he is pastor emeritus—he retired on May 31, 2008—but from the pulpit of Washington’s historic Florida Avenue Baptist Church...

Posted at 10:23 AM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (3)

07/05/12

U. of C. Prof. Charles Lipson on the Obama Library

As soon as I saw the Sun-Times’s headline last week, “U. of C. prof wants to shelve Obama library idea,” I knew the story was about Charles Lipson. In the article, by Abdon Pallasch, the political science professor objects to housing the Obama complex because...

Posted at 02:12 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (4)

06/29/12

The Definitive Rahm Dead Fish Tale, 'Barry Obama,' and More

Chris Sautter, who describes himself as Obama’s “first media consultant,” was in town this week. Our meeting came after Sautter’s name recently surfaced in one of the juicier parts of a new book I wrote about earlier this month...

Posted at 03:15 PM in Felsenthal Files | Permalink | Comments (0)