The Laundry Man and The Mayor.
If you live in Chicago and don’t know the name Amer Ahmad, start paying attention.
He was Rahm Emanuel’s comptroller. He resigned a month ago to “return to the private sector.” He was indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Ohio for bribery, fraud and money laundering while serving as Ohio’s deputy treasurer.
In the day’s since his resignation there has been a lot of finger pointing, ass covering and political intrigue.
Some independent alderman like Fioretti and Waguespack have wanted a more open, transparent investigation of what Ahmad did here. They want the city’s inspector general Joe Ferguson to be allowed to do his job.
That’s not what Rahm wants.
And you have to wonder why not?
When did Rahm know about the federal investigation of Ahmad in Ohio.
Does Rahm know that there is a federal investigation of Ahmad and Rahm for similar activities in Chicago?
Wouldn’t his old pal, AG Eric Holder tell him if there was.
Of course, he and Holder never got along that well anyway.
This is what hasn’t been mentioned much:
Amer Ahmad wasn’t just the city’s comptroller.
He sat on the most the city’s pension boards (not including the Chicago Teachers Pension System).
Mr. Ahmad served as a voting member of retirement funds covering police, firefighters, laborers and other municipal employees. As such, he would have had the chance to help decide who got money and the potentially lucrative commissions that often come with pension funds and related securities.
That would be close to Mr. Ahmad’s official duties in Ohio, where his post effectively made him that state’s chief investment officer.
The Tribune’s John Kass writes:
“The bothersome part,” Waguespack said, “is that clearly, somebody vetted this guy.”
But the vetting is what Emanuel wants you to look at, so you’ll focus on a couple former federal attorneys who were hired by the city to ask Ahmad a few questions over the phone, and who didn’t see anything wrong.
It’s not the vetting, it’s the recommending. It’s the “let’s hire this guy.”
Kass is right. But not right enough.
Somebody in City Hall said “lets hire this guy.”
And the Mayor hired that somebody.
Fred Klonsky 
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