Chicago mayor faces a still-rocky road

After election win, he’ll deal with unions, deficits.

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel tried to show a softer side during his successful battle against challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, but political observers doubt his sometimes abrasive style will change much as he struggles with the city’s mounting fiscal problems.

Emanuel, former aide to President Barack Obama, won re-election Tuesday in the city’s firstever mayoral runoff. He spent millions of dollars on re-election, some of it to rehabilitate an image as a hard-edged, autocrat- ic manager.

The man dubbed “the Rahmfather” by one newspaper columnist argued he has made tough decisions for Chicago. In his second term, Emanuel faces contract talks with a hostile teachers’ union, a budget-cutting Republican Illinois governor and ballooning pension payments.

After Emanuel failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of voting in February, he appeared in TV ads in a sweater instead of his usual suit, and admitted he sometimes rubs people the wrong way.

Now observers of Chicago politics are wondering how much Emanuel — who vowed to be a better mayor after the battle for his political life — can change.

“The mayor is who he is,” said Paul Green, political science professor at Roosevelt University. “I think he’s sincere when he says he’ll listen more, but I don’t think it will change much.”

Political consultant Don Rose, a Garcia adviser, said Emanuel is both the “ultimate pragmatist” and the “ultimate egoist,” so it is tough to say what lessons he will take from the election. One change Emanuel will need to make is his reputation as anti-union, Rose said.

Garcia had criticized Emanuel for closing 50 public schools, for the city’s crime rate, and for his perceived affinity for wealthy donors over ordinary citizens.

Teachers’ contract talks are an early test for the second term — Emanuel’s poor relationship with the union helped lead to the district’s first strike in 25 years in 2012, affecting 400,000 students. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis had planned to run against Emanuel before being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Jesse Sharkey, CTU’s acting president, said not much progress has been made in negotiations, which started in November.

“I think (Emanuel) survived the runoff instead of conquering it so I do expect to see a more conciliatory approach, at least I hope so,” he said.

Chicago’s schools face a projected deficit of $1.1 billion, while the city itself expects its deficit to grow to $1.2 billion next year. Emanuel might call for more union concessions and possibly higher property taxes.

Emanuel also will contend with a slightly less pliable City Council, after some incumbents who had consistently voted with him lost their seats.

“He will face more opposition,” said Dick Simpson, a political science professor at University of Illinois-Chicago and a former alderman.

Early in his career, Emanuel sent a pollster a dead fish, but challenges in the next term will force him to act with more finesse, said William Brandt, head of restructuring firm Development Specialists.

M. SPENCER GREEN / AP Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (right) greets commuters Wednesday. During his fight for re-election, he struck a less hard-edged tone than previously.