April 24--Mayor Rahm Emanuel has turned to old friend and City Hall veteran Forrest Claypool to be his new chief of staff as the mayor tries to deal with a growing scandal at the Chicago Public Schools and confront a series of lingering, serious problems facing the city as he heads into his second term.
Claypool, the Chicago Transit Authority president who has been a close friend of Emanuel for decades, will be serving his third stint as a mayoral chief of staff, following two turns as the top staffer for Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Claypool has been the head of the CTA since Emanuel took office. In naming him chief of staff, Emanuel said Claypool's management of the reconstruction of the south branch of the Red Line demonstrated his ability to focus on small details while having the "strategic vision to look miles down the road."
Emanuel is coming off a tough mayoral election in which he needed a runoff to beat low-profile challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia despite having a massive fundraising edge and the built-in advantages of incumbency. The mayor didn't directly answer Friday when asked whether he brought in Claypool, who served once as Daley's chief of staff during a time of crisis, to tighten things up and deal with ongoing problems his administration faces. He did say Claypool's long time at City Hall will be helpful.
"He will hit the ground running, there's no learning curve," Emanuel said at an Arbor Day event. "He knows exactly what to do, having been former chief of staff at City Hall not once but twice."
"I'm also keenly aware that he will be right by my side as we make some of the most important decisions going forward that will continue to right the ship financially, but continue to make the investments not just in the CTA but in our parks, our playgrounds, our schools, our roads, the things that the residents count on," the mayor said.
Emanuel has not been shy about laying the problems of his time in office at the feet of Daley, in whose administration Claypool was a mainstay. Though he's careful never to mention Daley by name, Emanuel talks often about trying to dig out from financial difficulties he inherited, and of working to reform a city hiring system that he says used to be "more about who you know than what you know."
Claypool served as Daley's chief of staff first from 1989 to 1991 and again from January 1998 to April 1999. When he stepped down the second time, shortly after Daley was elected for the fourth time, the mayor praised Claypool as "one of the effective public administrators not just in Chicago, but in the nation."
When Daley brought Claypool back for the second time, some at City Hall saw the appointment as an attempt by Daley to steer clear of further political embarrassments after those that forced the resignations of Ald. Patrick Huels, 11th, and Police Supt. Matt Rodriguez.
Between the terms as chief of staff, Claypool was Daley's hand-picked Chicago Park District superintendent.
Claypool's elevation to the top City Hall post in the Emanuel administration comes two weeks after another Daley insider, former chief of staff Lori Healey, was named to head the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the agency that oversees Chicago's trade show and convention business.
Now Emanuel can turn to longtime trusted friend Claypool as he tries to handle the federal investigation into a $20.5 million no-bid contract given by his hand-picked Board of Education to SUPES Academy, a company that Emanuel's schools CEO, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, worked at before coming to the school district.
Claypool replaces Lisa Schrader as Emanuel's chief of staff. Emanuel will now need to find a new CTA boss as the expected second-term musical chairs game in his cabinet continues.
jebyrne@tribpub.com
