Looks like his bid to run as thug mayor hit a snag.
The Illinois Appellate Court has tossed mayoral front-runner Rahm Emanuel off the ballot, reversing the decision of a lower court.
The Appellate Court reached a 2-1 decision to remove Emanuel.
Appellate judges Thomas Hoffman and Shelvin Louise Marie Hall ruled against Emanuel. Justice Bertina Lampkin voted in favor of keeping President Obama’s former chief of staff on the Feb. 22 ballot.
In response to the decision, Emanuel said he believes the people of Chicago “deserve the right” to pick whom they want for mayor, and that he believes the law is on his side.
“I think fundamentally, when a president asks you to serve the country, as his chief of staff, that’s part of serving your country, and I have no doubt that we will in the end prevail at this effort,” Emanuel said. “As my father used to say, nothing’s ever easy in life.”
Emanuel said he believes “the dissent opinion is pretty strong” and is a hopeful sign.
One of Emanuel’s opponent said he was surprised by the decision but said it won’t change the focus of his campaign.
“We are going to run on the issues,” Gery Chico said. “We going to talk about better schools, jobs and safe neighborhoods.”
Opponents have been trying to get Emanuel removed on the grounds that he did not reside in Chicago for a year before the upcoming February election. He moved to Washington, D.C., two years ago to work for President Barack Obama.
But Emanuel’s legal team has argued that he always intended to return to Chicago, noting that he maintained ownership of his Ravenswood home.
The Appellate Court concluded that Emanuel’s claims of intent to return were not enough.
“Based on the foregoing analysis, we conclude that… a candidate must meet not only the Election Code’s voter residency standard, but also must have actually resided within the municipality for one year prior to the election, a qualification that the candidate unquestionably does not satisfy,” the court wrote.
Illinois state law says a candidate for mayor is required to have lived in the municipality where he is running for at least one year prior to the election. But Emanuel’s team has argued that exceptions can be made for national service.
The court agreed that Emanuel’s reason for leaving Chicago constituted “business of the United States,” but argued that this still did not qualify him for the ballot.
“In our view, the exception… applies only to voter residency requirements, not to candidate residency requirements,” the court wrote.
A hearing officer, the full Chicago Board of Elections, and a Cook County Circuit Court judge ruled earlier that Emanuel is eligible to run for mayor.
Emanuel’s attorneys are expected to use Lampkin’s dissenting opinion to appeal the case to the Illinois Supreme Court.
As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine explains, the state Supreme Court can issue a stay in enforcing the order, which would keep Emanuel’s name on the ballot. Then the Supreme Court can decide whether it wants to hear the case.
In today’s ruling, Hoffman wrote: “We … order that the candidate’s name be excluded (or if, necessary, be removed) from the ballot from Chicago’s Feb. 22, 2011.”
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/01/24/breaking-court-tosses-emanuel-off-ballot/
Couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole. Emanuel’s reputation as a prick is well established. He’s a vulgar, rabid attack dog, going after critics mafia-style. He doesn’t like people who don’t sugar-coat results; he sent a dead fish to a pollster who dared to disagree with him.
During his tenure at the Congressional Campaign Committee another, at least as prominent, side of Rahm Emanuel came out in its most infamous manifestation to date. The 1988 campaign had just ended, and the Democrats had managed to eke out a net gain of three congressional seats despite failing to capture the White House—the first such gain by either party since 1960. During the campaign, Emanuel had feuded with Alan Secrest, a well-known pollster. The Democrats had lost a close race for Jack Kemp’s old seat in Buffalo, and Emanuel blamed the loss in part on a faulty Secrest poll. When the campaign was over, he sent Secrest a dead fish, accompanied by a handwritten note: “It’s been awful working with you. Love, Rahm.”
Secrest responded with his own letter, six typed pages that began with the words “What a waste,” and went on to diagnose Emanuel’s supposed problems with “star-fucking,” “hubris,” “immaturity (personalizing conflict),” and “lying.” Secrest also accused him of wanting to cook the polls to bring back favorable results. The letter became public, though both Secrest and Emanuel deny leaking it.
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-1992/Rahm-Emanuel-during-the-Bill-Clinton-Years/index.php?cparticle=2&siarticle=1
More Emanuel moonbattery:
Fundraising the Bugsy Siegel Way
His foray into fundraising started in Chicago while campaigning for Mayor Richard Daley’s reelection, when Emanuel raised a record number of donations. His sales pitch was simple enough: He’d tell contributors he found their offers so low it was embarrassing and then hang up on them. Mortified, the donors were shamed into calling back and giving more.
Knifing the Dinner Table
The most infamous Rahmbo story of them all is the one that begins with the dinner the night after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. Among those present at the dinner table was ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, who watched while an overwrought and clearly exhausted Emanuel began ranting at a long list of Clinton “enemies.” As he shouted each name, he stabbed the table with his steak knife: “Nat Landow! Dead! Cliff Jackson! Dead!” Apparently, others joined in.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2008/11/06/the_five_most_infamous_rahm_emanuel_moments
The little goon wants to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court. If all goes well, the Justices will send Emanuel a nice, ripe, decomposing Carp.
Related post:
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/chicago-thuggery-on-rahms-behalf/