Daily Caller political reporter Patrick Howley is reporting that ABC is refusing to run a political ad against Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Real Chicago PAC, run by William Kelly, who ran as a Republican statewide for Illinois comptroller in 2010, put together an ad charging Emanuel and his brother has enriched themselves from his position. It sounds like a left-tilting populist:
“We sent the commercial to the local Fox affiliate. They vetted it, they checked every single quote and every single headline to make sure it was accurate and they ran it on the night of the [mayoral] debate,” Real Chicago PAC chairman Bill Kelly told TheDC. Kelly noted that NBC also approved the ad. But the ad will not appear on ABC 7, Chicago’s highest-rated local network. And that decision came down from ABC’s national corporate infrastructure.
When Real Chicago PAC representative Laura Grock sent the commercial to ABC, Philadelphia-based Dee Parker of the network’s national sales office sent the video to its legal department, based in New York City. Parker then emailed Grock on Wednesday and demanded that the ad be changed....
“Two of the track lines need to be revised, or this ad cannot air:” ABC’s Parker wrote in her email to Grock.
To support the ad Grock cites a Chicago Magazine article detailing Emanuel’s leisurely relationship with private equity mogul (and now Republican Gov.) Bruce Rauner and a Chicago Reader piece that reported, “In that period [1999-2002] Emanuel made about $18 million, putting together deals by tapping connections he made in the White House.”
For the Uber claim, Grock cites a Chicago Sun-Times report revealing Emanuel’s brother’s stake in Uber and detailing the company’s massive expansion in Chicago after Emanuel was elected mayor in 2011.
