In a recent interview taping, Tea Party-backed U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) had some choice words for the city of Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whom he accused of "raiding" the suburbs in light of Motorola Mobility's recently-announced relocation from the suburbs to downtown Chicago.
Walsh told WBBM Newsradio that he believes the Chicago mayor is relying on contacts he developed during his White House years to "bring a few symbolic companies’ employees into Chicago try to give the appearance that Chicago is on its way back," CBS Chicago reports.
"Chicago is crumbling right now because of these very same policies," the fiery congressman continued.
In response, a spokesperson for Tammy Duckworth, Walsh's Democratic challenger in Illinois' 8th Congressional District, criticized their opponent as not making job creation in his district a top priority, the Daily Herald reports.
"Congressman Walsh was the only Illinois member — Democrat or Republican — to vote against the job-creating transportation bill, so if he had gotten his way no one would have killed more Illinois jobs than Joe Walsh himself," Kaitlin Fahey, Duckworth's campaign manger, told the paper.
Motorola Mobility's move from suburban Libertyville, Ill. to the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago will bring some 3,000 employees -- about two-thirds of them engineers -- to downtown Chicago in summer 2013, the mayor's office announced, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Duckworth's campaign recently announced it had brought in almost $900,000 in the latest fundraising quarter, her strongest fundraising period to date. That news came on the heels of Walsh stirring up controversy when he criticized Duckworth for discussing her military service.
Meanwhile, the National Journal this month named Walsh's district as the third most likely to change parties this fall, bested only by districts currently represented by retiring congressmen.
The full Walsh interview will be aired on WBBM's "At Issue" Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. CT.
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