Rahm Emanuel takes wrong student to signing

CHICAGO, June 17 (UPI) -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called a first-grader to apologize for taking the wrong pupil to the signing of an education reform bill.

Emanuel, who championed the bill to prepare for the possibility of longer school days and longer school years, took first-grader Rei Kong to Gov. Pat Quinn's signing of the bill and identified her as the pupil who asked him about the plans during a classroom visit, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday.

However, the question was actually asked by Rei's classmate at South Loop Elementary School, Parker Rasmussen.

Parker's mother said Thursday she was baffled by the error.

"Everybody knows it was Parker [who asked the question]. It's on the school's Web site. So is the [Chicago Sun-Times] article with the picture of my son being kissed on the head by the mayor," Marla Vender Rasmussen said.

The mother said she received an apologetic call from one of Emanuel's press aides, who complimented her son for "asking an awesome question."

"They said they were sorry but the mayor talked to a lot of kids that day," Vender Rasmussen said.

She said her son then received a personal call from Emanuel, who she said was "extremely warm and gracious to Parker. It was more than a gesture, and he was genuinely interested."

"I accept their story, and my son enjoyed getting a call from his mayor," she said. "He probably enjoyed it more than if he went to the signing of the bill."