Emanuel, mulling bid for Chicago mayor, asks tenant to leave his home in city; tenant says no

Tenant refuses to leave Emanuel’s Chicago house

CHICAGO — If Rahm Emanuel is running for mayor in Chicago, he won’t be welcomed into the home where he used to live.

Emanuel spokesman and close friend Rick Jasculca (jas-KUHL’-kuh) says the White House chief of staff has tried to persuade the couple leasing his home on Chicago’s North Side to move out so he could move back in — but the couple said no.

As first reported in the Chicago Sun-Times, Jasculca says the former congressman left the house when he went to work for President Barack Obama. The renters extended their lease until 2011 days before Mayor Richard Daley announced he won’t run again.

Jasculca says Emanuel called renter Rob Halpin as he weighs running for mayor. Halpin says he’s prohibited from talking to the media about the house but that he has no plans to move.