Emanuel Seeks Donations up to $50K for Inaugural
For a $50,000 donation to Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel‘s inaugural committee, you can enjoy “co-chair” status and receive four tickets for a concert, a reception, a dinner and the inauguration itself next month.
Details of the inaugural festivities — and the prices for access to the events — are listed in invitations that the committee sent this week.
Besides the swearing-in ceremony on May 16, the committee has planned a concert at Grant Park, “an evening reception” at Venue 1 on the near West Side and an “evening dinner” on May 14, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by the Chicago News Cooperative.
Asked about the inaugural weekend schedule of events, Emanuel spokeswoman Tarrah Cooper declined comment Tuesday afternoon.
The invitations do not describe where the inauguration ceremony will take place. Retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley was sworn in at the start of his final term in the City Council chamber, on the second floor at City Hall.
Under the heading “Chicago Together,” the invitations for the Emanuel festivities describe four categories of contributors. Besides co-chairs, who get “VIP tickets” to the concert and the inauguration, the other packages being offered by the committee include:
* “Sponsor.” For $25,000, you also can get four tickets to the concert, the inauguration and the Venue 1 reception, but unlike co-chairs, sponsors only are entitled to a maximum two tickets to the dinner.
* “Supporter.” For $10,000, they will receive two concert tickets, four tickets to the Venue 1 event and two VIP tickets to the inauguration.
* “Friend.” This $5,000 package buys two concert tickets, two reception tickets and two “reserved” tickets to the inauguration.
According to the invitation, the “Chicago 2011 Inaugural Committee will not accept a cash contribution in excess of $50,000 from any donor.”
The invitations also detail who cannot donate. The committee says it will not take contributions from City Hall lobbyists or from anybody who has “done over $10,000 of business within any 12 consecutive months during the preceding four years” with the city or any of its so-called sister agencies, including the Chicago Board of Education.
Emanuel, a former White House chief of staff and Daley fundraiser, collected more than $12 million in campaign contributions as he won the Feb. 22 election with 55 percent of the vote.
