Sponsored by The Ravenswood Ministerial Association and Beyond Today

On this site, you can listen to sound clips of the questions and the Congressman's responses. Organizing this event and providing web access to the audio recording is part of our efforts to help the community be better informed of the issues and their representatives' positions. It is our hope that listening will lead to a desire to learn more and will also lead to a higher level of civic involvement.

(in 2003, Rahm Emanuel was the representative of the 5th Congressional District)

The Honorable Rahm Emanuel
5th Congressional District of the United States of America

We want to extend our deep appreciation for your participation in the
Community Forum on May 3 at Luther Memorial Church. We hope you were as
pleased as we were at the Saturday afternoon crowd, and the high interest in
the state of our nation and world. We regret there was not more time for
commentary, but your response to our questions and openness to the community
was quite gratifying and informative.

The importance of this kind of a forum cannot be underestimated, as so many
more of your consitituents have heard directly of your views and know they
have been heard. We hope that you will consider similar types of political
forums in the future. We are prepared to work with you at any time, and we
also trust this is only a starting point for more dialogue and strategizing
for these important issues on our nation's agenda. The issues are important
whether we agree or disagree.

We also thank your staff, and John Borovica, for their participation at the
Forum. We hope some of the questions and serious concerns raised will be
addressed in the near future. We are especially concerned about the 5
families in our neighborhood of Arab descent and/or the Islamic faith who
have faced harrassment in the 5th District. Have you had a chance to address
these issues? If there is any way we can assist in the communcation, let
either of us know.

We trust you will be hearing from us and other persons in the community who
raised legislative issues to follow up. We look forward to working toward a
nation focused more on the health and welfare of all of its people, and to
live in the ways of peace.

Thanks again and prayers for you as you continue your important work in the
US Congress.

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Betty Jo Birkhahn-Rommelfanger
For the Ravenswood Ministerial Association and

Ms. Julie Peterson for Beyond Today