Mayor Rahm Emanuel said today a city-funded group of business executives he chairs should be allowed to meet in secret to discuss luring companies to Chicago.



Emanuel defended the private dealings of World Business Chicago after a Tribune story Tuesday detailing concerns about its role in spending city incentives to encourage economic development. Emanuel said he has to balance his promise to make government more transparent with the privacy concerns of businesses he is wooing.



"If I told them all the meetings were going to be public, guess what, we wouldn't have real companies coming here to expand," Emanuel said at a news conference to announce 500 new private jobs. "They don't want their competitors to know what they're thinking about."



Emanuel has nearly doubled the size of World Business Chicago, which bills itself as the city's economic development office, and said he wants to strengthen the group's ties to City Hall. Its members donated more than $1.2 million to Emanuel's campaign and inaugural funds.



Chicago's inspector general in August criticized the group for recommending city subsidies for some of its own members while Richard Daley was mayor. The group refused Tribune requests for its meeting minutes and letters of recommendation for business incentives, and said there are no plans to open its meetings to the public.



"The public needs to get what they need," Emanuel said. "But if you think I'm going to let the ability for us to recruit businesses and set up jobs in Chicago get hindered, uh-uh. That's what it's meant to do.



"World Business is meant to help the city recruit companies, grow our economic base, grow our job base … I'll balance those out, but do not think I'm going to make one destroy the other effort."



The mayor did not provide details on how he would balance the issues. Emanuel is expected to chair the next World Business Chicago meeting on Nov. 3.



