Chicago Politics Goes by the Rules

You betcha. Chicago politicians have to go by the rules. The President’s right-hand man, Rahm Emanuel, has now been declared not legal to run for Mayor of Chicago. Why? Because the rules say that he had to have been a resident of Chicago for the previous year, but President Obama asked Rahm — who has lived here his whole life —  to come to DC to take care of the White House — and Rahm did so and now it’s been decided that though he paid taxes (which isn’t a small deal in the City) and though he owned a residence here, he wasn’t legally a resident. That’s the rule. And, of course, those politicians all go by the rules.

It’s sure fishy to me — and Kris and I don’t live in Cook County or Chicago so we don’t vote there — that this happened on the day they were printing the ballots.

A state appellate court has ruled that Rahm Emanuel should not appear on the mayoral ballot because he does not meet the residency standard. Attorneys for Emanuel late today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to prevent Chicago elections officials from printing ballots for the Feb. 22 election without his name.

Here’s more…

Emanuel held a news conference before the legal filings to try to reassure voters his campaign to succeed retiring Mayor Richard Daley continues.

“I have no doubt at the end we’ll prevail in this effort,” Emanuel said at a news conference. “We’ll now go to the next level to get clarity.”

“I still own a home here, (I) look forward to moving into it one day, vote from here, pay property taxes here. I do believe the people of the city of Chicago deserve a right to make a decision about who they want to be their next mayor,” Emanuel said.

In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate panel said Emanuel does not meet the residency requirement of having lived in Chicago for a year prior to the election. The judges reversed a decision by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, which had unanimously agreed that Emanuel was eligible to run for mayor.

“We conclude that the candidate neither meets the Municipal Code’s requirement that he have ‘resided in’ Chicago for the year preceding the election in which he seeks to participate nor falls within any exception to the requirement,” the majority judges wrote. “Accordingly, we disagree with the Board’s conclusion that he is eligible to run for the office of Mayor of the City of Chicago. We reverse the circuit court’s judgment confirming the Board’s decision, set aside the Board’s decision and … order that the candidate’s name be excluded (or, if necessary, removed) from the ballot.”