Rahm -- 'I don't want to be a phony'

Nixon -- "I am not a crook"

Whenever a politician begins by saying something like Richard Nixon did -- "I am not a crook"--you immediately know that they are crooked. When Rahm Emanuel begins his Sun-Times interview with Fran Spielman by saying, "I don't want to be a phony..." well, you get my point.

I mean, how's this for phony?

"Trust me, I don’t want to close schools."

 "I have a lot [union] support..." 

“It’s not that I’m polarizing [or]…not polarizing.'

"I don't want to be a phony"

"CTA never had any of the problems that other mass transit systems had — not just here, but around the country."

"And our streets were plowed and  passable — not just for police and fire, but for everybody." 

"Bruce [Rauner] and I are friends, [but I] totally disagree with him 100 percent on policy...He didn’t help me. We worked on a transaction together. We worked on a SecurityLink transaction. ... We developed a friendship from there. But, we disagree with things... I’m helping Gov. Quinn."

Then he essentially takes credit for electing Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi and he implies that he's cut a deal with Toni Preckwinkle with her promising not to run against him in 2015. We'll have to see if he's phony or real on that one.

A SmallTalk Salute... goes out to the CTU for not going along with IFT Pres. Dan Montgomery's endorsement and praise of the man from ALEC, Kirk Dillard, in the Republican governor's race. According to CTU Communications:

 The decision to endorse the Hinsdale legislator who once served as state chair of the anti-labor American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), was made on Friday by the IFT but not the CTU.

Currently, the CTU is heavily invested in two local races. In the 26th legislative district the union fully supports community organizer Jhatayn "Jay" Travis, former executive director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, who has a long and successful track record of standing up for working families.  In addition, CTU has endorsed Will Guzzardi in the 39th legislative district who has demonstrated a strong commitment to our issues.