Hastert's 'partisanship' blast at Emanuel signals rift in delegation

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/sweet/cst-nws-sweet07.html


Hastert's 'partisanship' blast at Emanuel signals rift in delegation

February 7, 2005

BY LYNN SWEET WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF




WASHINGTON -- Republican House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is taking aim at Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the new chairman of the Democratic House political arm, accusing his fellow Illinoisan of undue partisanship while highlighting the millions of dollars he made with a Wall Street firm before coming to Congress.

For Emanuel, "politics is everything," said Hastert.

Replied Emanuel, "I don't know why he trying to make it personal."

Hastert's comments, in a Chicago Sun-Times interview last Wednesday, signal a breach in the usual bipartisan harmony within the Illinois delegation and come as Emanuel raises his profile by taking over the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and landing a seat on the Ways and Means Committee.

'I'm doing what he's done'

Both assignments put Emanuel on a potential collision course with Hastert. The goal of the DCCC is to win a Democratic majority, which would end Hastert's reign as speaker. And the debate over the future of Social Security -- where Hastert and Emanuel are at odds over the merits of privatization -- will center in the Ways and Means Committee. <snip>

When told that his statements, which on the surface are seemingly just a challenge to work together, could be taken as a sarcastic dig at Emanuel, Hastert said, "No, I would never do that. Let me be perfectly clear.... Here is somebody with knowledge of what the real world of finance is about and what the potential is. And to deny every other young person that ability to have that same opportunity; I say, let's work together.''

Emanuel said he has worked with Republicans on importing prescription drugs from Canada and other countries -- legislation opposed by Hastert -- and on creation of a Great Lakes restoration fund.