"Rahm Emanuel Ruling: Can't Run For Mayor, Not Chicago Resident" and related posts

An Illinois court on Monday threw Rahm Emanuel's name off the Chicago mayoral ballot, possibly ending the former White House chief of staff's bid to lead his hometown.

By a 2-to-1 vote, an appellate panel overturned two previous decisions and ruled that Emanuel is not eligible to run because he moved to Washington D.C. for two years.

"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," said the majority opinion by justices Thomas E. Hoffman and Shelvin Louise Marie Hall. (Read the court decision here.)

The decision came less than a month before the Feb. 22 election, and the chairman of the Chicago board of election commissioners said he will do as he was told: "We're going to press with one less candidate for mayor," Langdon D. Neal said in a statement.

Emanuel has been considered the front-runner in the race, having far outraised his opponents.

An attorney who argued on Emanuel's behalf told the Chicago Sun-Times that they will immediately appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court. Emanuel himself sounded confident during a Monday afternoon press conference.

"I have no doubt that we will, in the end, prevail at this effort," Emanuel told reporters at Chicago's Berghoff restaurant. "As my father always used to say, 'Nothing is ever easy in life.' Nothing is ever easy. This is just one turn in the road."

Emanuel's campaign can take some measure of hope from the blistering dissent by the appellate panel's third member, Justice Bertina Lampkin. Lampkin wrote that the majority opinion was based on legalistic distinctions she termed "indefensible," "ill-reasoned and
unfair" and "completely erroneous."

Emanuel clearly did not give up his Chicago residency when he relocated temporarily to Washington, Lampkin insisted. "[T]he majority promulgates a new and undefined standard for determining candidate residency requirements despite the plethora of clear, relevant and
well-established precedent that has been used by our circuit courts and election boards for decades," she wrote. "It is patently clear that the majority fails to even attempt to define its newly discovered standard because it is a figment of the majority's imagination."

Lampkin wrote that, at most, the court should have sent the case back to the city's election board for a rehearing. "Merely saying the candidate 'unquestionably does not satisfy' its newly-minted standard, when the ink of its creation has barely dried on the paper, cannot be a proper substitution for providing a hearing," she wrote.

And Lampkin accused the majority of a "careless disregard for the law shortly before an election for the office of mayor in a major city," concluding: "The majority's decision disenfranchises not just this particular candidate, but every voter in Chicago who would consider voting for him."

The decision came in a case brought by two voters who objected to Emanuel's candidacy because he rented out his Chicago home and moved his family to Washington. "If the house had not been abandoned by the whole family ... we wouldn't be here today," attorney Burt Odelson told the panel of judges, all three of them Democrats.

Odelson until now has had little luck trying to keep Emanuel off the ballot. The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and a Cook County judge had both ruled in favor of Emanuel, a former congressman, saying he had not abandoned his Chicago residency.

Emanuel is one of several candidates vying to replace Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who did not seek a seventh term. Emanuel moved back to Chicago in October after he quit working for Obama to campaign full-time.

The three main other candidates running -- former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, former schools President Gery Chico and City Clerk Miguel del Valle -- have been critical of Emanuel during the race, calling him an outsider who doesn't know Chicago.

Will Rahm's expected appeal be successful?

Predict it!

Let's Go Bowling!

Rahm Emanuel will be at Waveland Bowl in Chicago tonight. He'll be greeting bowlers, and hopefully enjoying an ice cold beer after a stressful day. Catch him there at 8:15 p.m.

Late-Afternoon Motion: Keep Rahm's Name On The Ballot

Sam Stein reports:

Rahm Emanuel's mayoral campaign issued a late-afternoon motion on Monday hoping to reverse what could be a disastrous decision from an Illinois Appellate Court earlier in the day.

The campaign asked that the court's decision, which ruled that Emanuel did not qualify as a Chicago resident and was therefore unable to hold the mayor's office, be stayed until a higher court - the state Supreme Court - weigh in on the matter. In addition, it urged that the board of elections keep Emanuel's name on any ballot printed. Earlier in the day, the Chicago Elections Board placed an order for the printing of two million ballots without Emanuel's name on them.

Read more here.

Rahm's Backers Plan A Rally

Rahm Emanuel"s supporters are rallying at 5 p.m. Central time this afternoon, at the corner of Dearborn and Washington downtown. The location"s no coincidence -- that"s the headquarters of the Chicago Board of Elections. According to Emanuel's (real) Twitter feed, the rally is for "Rahm"s right 2 b on the ballot and let Chicagoans choose."

Spokesman Ben LaBolt told reporters at the Emanuel press conference this afternoon that the maybe-candidate won"t be attending the rally; it"s just something his supporters are putting together, he said. SCompletely spontaneously, of course, quipped the Sun-Times"s veteran political hand Carol Marin.

Emma Ruby-Sachs: The Court Got It Wrong

HuffPost blogger and attorney Emma Ruby-Sachs weighs in on today's court ruling:

While we can haggle about language when interpreting laws, we can also take a big picture look at the purpose of a particular piece of legislation and the intention of its drafters. The Illinois statute makes all kinds of exceptions to the strict interpretation of the word residency because it makes sense to allow certain people to leave a state and still maintain their allegiance and investment in it. When one serves in the armed forces, one is not forced to give up residency. The same goes for an individual called up to serve in the White House: they are acting in the public good (granted, it's a loose version of the term "good").

The point is that, when an individual relocates to serve the highest ranking public official in the country, he should not be penalized afterwards. He certainly should not be penalized for refusing to waste money by keeping a house in a city in which he no longer lives. He should not be penalized for asking his wife and children to live in the same city as him. These are not reasonable requirements and they should not be practices reinforced by the courts.

Read the whole thing here.

Braun (Already) Makes Play For Rahm Supporters

Mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun struck a tone of unity and consensus at a press conference in, of all places, a downtown apartment building this afternoon. She described the court ruling as Sa major milestone for our campaign, but pointed out that it doesn"t Sgive one unemployed person a job, emphasizing that she"d continue to work on improving the city as she had. She also repeatedly said that her campaign was, and had always been, a Scoalition of conscience, emphasizing the diversity of her support by likening it to Sa little United Nations.

And Moseley Braun reached out to one group in particular -- Rahm Emanuel supporters.

SI am extending a hand of friendship to all the fine Chicagoans who have been supporting Mr. Emanuel, she said, already making a play for the forty-something percent of the city that said it would support the former Chief of Staff. When asked how she thought the ruling would affect the mayor"s race, she quipped, SWell, it"s one less candidate, isn"t it? Moseley Braun was flanked by prominent supporters, including U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, and Rev. Jesse Jackson, who took the podium to speak after she left. Jackson emphasized the importance of the concept of residency for requiring city police, firefighters and teachers to live within city limits -- although, as one reporter pointed out, this ruling would have little bearing on such issues.

The awkwardness of the venue was apparent after the press conference. As a crowd of reporters waited for elevators down from the seventh-floor conference room, shaking hands with Rev. Jackson and Rep. Rush as they passed, one anxious-looking woman stood clutching a few shirts and waiting. She"d apparently just done her laundry in the adjacent laundry room and needed an Sup elevator back to her apartment. Eye contact with Rev. Jackson was assiduously avoided.-- Will Guzzardi

Emanuel Ruling Creates A Legal 'Mess'

The Huffington Post's Sam Stein reports on the legal disaster today's ruling has created:

An Illinois appellate court decision to rule that Rahm Emanuel does not qualify as a Chicago resident and should be left off the mayoral ballot has created, what one respected local legal observer called, "a mess" even within a city known for political drama.

...

"A voter could bring an independent federal court complaint saying that their first amendment right has been violated by this," said Michael Dorf, an oft-turned to legal expert on Chicago election laws.

Read more here.

Danny Davis Doesn't Cry Over Spilled Milk

The CNC--which has been churning out A+ content on today's ruling--spoke to Rep. Danny Davis by phone. Davis dropped out of the mayoral race a few weeks back, and said he does not have any regrets about that (even though he would have a much better chance of winning with Emanuel off the ballot.)

"I don"t worry about spilled milk, Davis said. He added that everybody is talking about the ruling in Washington, and that people were very surprised by it.

Miguel del Valle Gets Top Spot On Ballot

The Chicago News Cooperative reports:

Ballots for the Feb. 22 election will be printed Monday night and they will not contain Emanuel"s name, said Jim Allen, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

SWe"re going to print with one less candidate, Allen said.

Emanuel had been in the top position on the ballot. That spot now goes to City Clerk Miguel del Valle, followed by Carol Moseley Braun, Gery Chico, Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins and William Walls.

A Ballot Change

"We're going to press with one less candidate for mayor."

- Langdon D. Neal, Chairman, Board of Election Commissioners for the City of Chicago

Live Report From Emanuel Presser...

Dozens of reporters -- and a few curious lunchgoers -- crowded the front room at the swanky Berghoff restaurant in downtown Chicago to hear from the horse"s mouth about today"s court ruling.

Rahm Emanuel spoke softly and measuredly to the pack of suits, cameras and audio recorders in his face, so much so that he was nearly inaudible over the restaurant din just a few feet away. The man who appeared invincible just hours ago insisted that he would continue with his campaign, and expressed confidence that the ruling kicking him off the ballot would be overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court. SThe dissent came in pretty strongly from Judge Bertina Lampkin, he pointed out.

His comments lasted for no more than a couple of minutes, after which time he took a small handful of questions from reporters. Here, he let his composure drop at moments: when NBC"s Mary Ann Ahern asked him if voters might be confused by his name being stricken from the ballot, he responded with a wry chuckle, SYou think it will be only confusing for them, Mary Ann? And when asked how soon the Supreme Court would respond, he led off with, SI"m not a lawyer, before going into campaign boilerplate.

And then, before you could say Swiener schnitzel and a pint, please, he was gone, pushing his way through the crowd of reporters with a smile on his face that, to this reporter at least, seemed awfully pained. -- Will Guzzardi

Carol Moseley Braun To Respond

Mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun has called a Monday press conference regarding the court's ruling in Rahm Emanuel's residency case. From her campaign:

Mayoral candidate, Carol Moseley Braun, will be available to speak to the media about today"s developments in the race for Chicago mayor.

She will be speaking at 2:30 p.m. at 200 N. Dearborn.

Twitter Reacts To Court Ruling

Read more here.

Rahm Emanuel Responds

Rahm Emanuel sounded confident when he addressed the media at a Monday afternoon press conference in Chicago.

SI have no doubt that we will, in the end, prevail at this effort, Emanuel said, according to the Chicago News Cooperative. SAs my father always used to say, Nothing is ever easy in life." Nothing is ever easy. This is just one turn in the road.

@MayorEmanuel FREAKS OUT

In recent months, the profanity-filled Twitter account @MayorEmanuel has attracted more than 10,000 followers. The usually hilarious/angry tweets turned straight up angry with the news of today's court ruling.

Witness @MayorEmanuel's NSFW breakdown here.

For a fabulous collection of the best @MayorEmanuel tweets, go here.

Ron Halpin Responds

Rob Halpin, who rented Emanuel's Chicago home when he became the White House Chief of Staff, said he felt "vindicated" by Monday's ruling.

Halpin made headlines by refusing to move out of the home when Emanuel returned to Chicago, and then announcing his own bid for mayor--before quickly bowing out.

Halpin was also called as a witness against Emanuel during his first round of residency challenges. In speaking to WGN-AM radio Monday, Halpin said "it"s very clear that only one resident could be attached to a single residence, Sunless it was some sort of hippie commune.

Rahm Presser Scheduled

From Emanuel's campaign:

Mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel will appear this afternoon at The Berghoff.

1:30 PM CSTThe Berghoff17 W. Adams St.Chicago, IL

OPEN PRESS*

Patricia Watkins: "Great Win For The Taxpayers"

Dr. Patricia Watkins has flown relatively under the radar in the mayoral race thus far, despite out-fundraising such better-known candidates as Carol Moseley Braun and Miguel del Valle. We had an in-depth interview with Dr. Watkins two weeks ago, and we spoke with her again after the ruling against Emanuel.

SI said early on that according to my reading of the laws, I thought that Rahm was ineligible to run for mayor. I said that back in December, and I stand by that," she said. "It"s a great win for the taxpayers of the city of Chicago.

She's currently headed downtown for a press conference.

Will State Supreme Court Reverse Decision?

The Huffington Post's Sam Stein spoke to an Illinois lawyer who said the state Supreme Court "would certainly give the appellate court respect but.. they aren't constrained from reversing."

Ben Smith at Politico spoke to an Illinois lawyer who told him:

"The Supreme Court is absolutely loathe to overturn an appellate court decision."

Mayoral Candidate Gery Chico Calls Press Conference

Mayoral candidate Gery Chico has called a 1:15 p.m. press conference regarding a court ruling on Rahm Emanuel's residency. Chico's spokeswoman Brooke Anderson issued the following statement:

SFrom Day 1, Gery"s been running a campaign about issues, not residency. Gery"s been focused on putting people back to work, making our neighborhoods safer, and giving children the education they deserve. Our strategy won"t change at all. Gery will continue campaigning for every vote.

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