Mayor Rahm Emanuel leans in, writes daughters a letter

(Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his daughters Ilana (right) and Leah watch the band Chicago perform at the Petrillo Band Shell during his 2011 inaugural weekend. Sun-Times file photo)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has started his Father’s Day celebration early, penning a letter to his daughters Leah and Ilana as part of an online essay collection published by “Time” magazine and Lean In, the foundation started by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandburg to empower more women to crack the C-suite or otherwise realize their career and family ambitions.

Emanuel joins reality star/Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora and actor Ethan Hawke, among others, in writing the letters, which can be found here.

While Emanuel’s three kids (he also has a son, Zach, with wife Amy Rule) occasionally pop up at public events, they don’t speak. According to his letter, at the dinner table, his daughters are free to go mano a mano with the mayor and often do.

“I cherish the time we spend together, even during our Friday night dinners where you share with me everything I have done wrong for the week,” he writes. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. The way you speak up and hold strong views is part of a long Emanuel tradition that I am sure you will continue.”

Emanuel previously got defensive when asked about where his children were going to school, telling NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern they are not in a “public position” in a clip seen here. He apparently has somewhat softened his stance, letting the world know that the pair of University of Chicago Lab School students are “smart, fearless, independent young women, who fill your father with pride each and every day.”

“Our family has a great tradition of strong, trailblazing women,” he writes in his touching ode to girl power. “You are already among them.”

Emanuel wrote the letter before leaving Friday for a father-daughter trip to Israel to celebrate Leah’s bat mitzvah. That’s something he did with Ilana for her bat mitzvah and Zach for his bar mitzvah. Leah’s actual bat mitzvah service was held earlier this month in Washington D.C.

(Contributing: Fran Spielman)