Mayor Rahm Emanuel has touted the upcoming NATO summit as an opportunity to show off Chicago to thousands of visiting journalists.
That is, if they spend any time away from the convention center or their hotel.
“Our fear is they’re going to spend too much time in McCormick Place and not enough time getting to know us,” said David Boul, communications director for the city’s host committee.
The committee’s solution is to arrange dinner parties for 25 to 50 foreign journalists in the homes of “average Chicago families” before and during the May 20-21 event. WorldChicago, a 60-year-old nonprofit, is lining up the hosts, who live as far from the convention center as Evanston and Oak Park.
WorldChicago entertained more than 850 U.S. State Department-sponsored visitors to Chicago last year. Todd Wells of the Lighten-Gale Group, a consulting firm to affordable-housing developers, has served as a WorldChicago host for 31/2 years. His first guest was a teacher from Turkey.
“There are very few situations where travelers would prefer to be pampered in the Hyatt than go to someone’s house,” said Wells, who lives in Hyde Park. “Some of our dignitaries tell us that of all of the programs they go to — they’re fine, they’re great — they don’t actually learn anything about America until they go to someone’s house.”
WorldChicago’s volunteers haven’t been selected yet; Wells hopes to be one. The hosts will be experienced, range in age from their 20s to 70s, and tend to be passionate about international travel and affairs, said John Baum, WorldChicago’s associate director.
What’s risky is that the dinners will be unscripted and unsupervised. If a journalist gets lost on the way or a host complains about garbage pickup, and that makes its way into a story, so be it.
“We’ll get (hosts) some information on any dietary restrictions; certainly no talking points,” Baum said. “We want the hosts to provide a nice setting and a nice informal discussion about what life is like in Chicago.”
Boul, a former reporter himself, said the host committee has received interest from more journalists than they can accommodate. He also knows from experience that big news from the summit could cause reporters to cancel at the last minute. He hopes the novelty of the idea will be enough to guarantee follow through.
“These people have been to enough chain hotels,” Boul said. “They’ve been to enough formal dinners. This is going to be right up their alley.”
Forde opening law firm: Michael Forde, a former Mayer Brown attorney who helped Mayor Rahm Emanuel win a residency challenge to keep him on the ballot, is opening a Chicago office for a Washington-based lobbying and government affairs firm and separately launching his own law firm with his father, Kevin.
In July, Emanuel appointed Michael Forde to the Illinois International Port District Board, which also oversees Harborside golf course. Forde is chairman of the board, for which he is paid $20,000 a year.
Illinois law bars registered lobbyists from serving on state boards and commissions, such as the port board. Forde is not a registered lobbyist; he was registered from 2001 to 2004, according to the Illinois secretary of state’s office.
Forde said that he will be working part time for Cornerstone Government Affairs, providing “strategic advice” to clients rather than lobbying on their behalf. Therefore, he will remain on the port board, he said.
Michael and Kevin Forde’s new law firm will be called The Forde Law Offices and open by June 1 “at the latest,” Michael Forde said. The elder Forde also assisted in Emanuel’s defense of the residency challenge.
Michael Forde left Mayer Brown this month. He previously worked as general counsel to then-Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes, son of 19th Ward political force Thomas Hynes. Daniel’s brother, Matthew Hynes, is now director of Emanuel’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, responsible for getting the mayor’s agenda through City Council.
Joining Forde at Cornerstone is William Smith, previously general counsel at HomeStar Bank.
Melissa Harris can be reached at mmharris@tribune.com or 312-222-4582. Twitter @chiconfidential
