Axelrod's former firm gets $100K contract for minority outreach on police exam

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

A communications management firm founded by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s longtime friend and former White House colleague David Axelrod has been chosen to conduct a $100,000 minority outreach campaign aimed at diversifying the Chicago Police Department.

Last month, the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed that Emanuel was mapping plans to hold Chicago’s second police entrance exam in two years after another outreach campaign aimed at attracting a pool of applicants that “better reflects Chicago’s diverse population.” Previous outreach campaigns have fallen short.

Now, the $100,000 contract has been awarded to ASGK Public Strategies LLC, the firm that Axelrod founded in 2002 with partner Eric Sedler that now has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami, as well as Chicago.

Axelrod is Emanuel’s friend of 30 years. The two men worked together in the White House when Emanuel was serving as President Barack Obama’s first chief of staff and Axelrod was a senior adviser to the president.

Axelrod has sold his interest to ASGK. But the firm still has deep ties to Emanuel.

Rent-seeking update.