Congressman Rahm Emanuel's Name Comes Up in Chicago Patronage Trial

The Chicago Tribune reports:

By dangling the promise of public jobs and promotions, a high-ranking city official recruited a "white ethnic" patronage army of almost 300 campaign workers controlled by Mayor Richard Daley's office, according to testimony Wednesday in the City Hall corruption trial.

Daniel Katalinic, a former top official in the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, described how his political group of city employees crisscrossed the Chicago area for the mayor, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and pro-Daley candidates in suburban state legislative races.

Testifying against former Daley aide Robert Sorich, Katalinic said he got election-season orders from Sorich and Greg Goldner, who managed the mayor's 2003 re-election campaign and also worked to send Emanuel to Congress.

It's looking like maybe in 2006, Republicans don't have a monopoly on Congressional corruption.This Rahm Emanuel story has the potential to be a much bigger story before the election.