At Issue in Emanuel Hearing: Boxes in Basement

Witness: Emanuel's renter wanted $100K to move out
CHICAGO (AP) - A hearing over residency challenges to Rahm Emanuel's mayoral bid grinded on Thursday with a witness testifying that Emanuel's tenant wanted $100,000 to move out of his Chicago house when the former White House Chief of Staff came back to run for the city's top job. Paul Levy, a friend of Emanuel's who has advised him on Real Estate matters, said he reached out to businessman Rob Halpin and his family about breaking their lease early so Emanuel could move back into his home after...

Renter Testifies at Emanuel's Residency Hearing
(Chicago) — A friend of Chicago mayoral hopeful Rahm Emanuel's wife testified Wednesday that she helped pack away their family heirlooms and other mementos for storage before Emanuel moved to Washington to become President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. Mee Kim-Chavez spoke at a Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing on residency challenges to Emanuel's bid for the city's top job. She said she helped Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, store 20 to 30 boxes in a crawl space under a home add...

Renter Testifies at Emanuel's Residency Hearing
(Chicago) — A friend of Chicago mayoral hopeful Rahm Emanuel's wife testified Wednesday that she helped pack away their family heirlooms and other mementos for storage before Emanuel moved to Washington to become President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. Mee Kim-Chavez spoke at a Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing on residency challenges to Emanuel's bid for the city's top job. She said she helped Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, store 20 to 30 boxes in a crawl space under a home add...

Emanuel testifies in Chicago residency hearing (AP)
Chicago – Rahm Emanuel, who left a powerful job with President Barack Obama at the White House to move back to Chicago and run for mayor, endured nearly 12 hours of questioning Tuesday from everyone from attorneys to a woman named Queen Sister — all intent on keeping his name off the ballot. Testifying before a Chicago election board official during a hearing that was sometimes funny, contentious and downright strange, Emanuel defended himself against claims by opponents who say he...

Emanuel tops Chicago mayoral poll
Published: Dec. 15, 2010 at 12:20 PM Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel laughs as he prepares to testify as a witness at a hearing before the Chicago Board of Elections in Chicago on December 14, 2010. Emanuel's candidacy for Mayor of Chicago is being challenged on the basis of a law that requires Chicago residency for one year prior to running for municipal office. UPI/Brian Kersey CHICAGO, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Rahm Emanuel is far ahead of his rivals in the Chicago mayor's race, a ...

Rahm Emanueuls Chicago residency still open to dabate
Attorneys for former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel are focused on showing that he always planned to come back to Chicago after he finished working for President Barack Obama. A Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing on residency challenges to Emanuel’s mayoral bid enters its third day Thursday with more witnesses expected to testify. More than two dozen opponents say he doesn’t have a legal right to run because he lived for nearly two years in Washington. Wednesday...

Emanuels Chicago residency hearing enters 3rd day
CHICAGO (AP) — Attorneys for former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel are focused on showing that he always planned to come back to Chicago after he finished working for President Barack Obama. A Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing on residency challenges to Emanuel’s mayoral bid enters its third day Thursday with more witnesses expected to testify. More than two dozen opponents say he doesn’t have a legal right to run because he lived for nearly two years in ...

Where are Rahm Emanuel's Boxes?
CHICAGO -- Taking center stage at the Chicago Board of Elections hearing Wednesday was Lori Halpin, the woman who currently rents Rahm Emanuel's North Side home with her husband Rob. In the second day of hearings to determine whether the former White House Chief of Staff meets the residency requirements to run for mayor, Lori Halpin recounted the phone call she received in September informing her Rahm Emanuel planned to return to Chicago to run for mayor and wanted to move back into his house. A...

Hearing focuses on items at Emanuel's Chicago home (AP)
Chicago – The second day of a hearing into whether Rahm Emanuel has the legal right to run for Chicago mayor focused Wednesday on the family items he says were left behind in his basement when he went to Washington to become President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. The woman renting Emanuel's house testified at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing that she had not seen treasured items Emanuel said were left in the basement. But Mee Kim-Chavez, a friend of Emanuel's wife, A...

Rahm keeps his cool, wins the day and probably the mayors race
Rahm Emanuel sat for nearly 12 hours on Tuesday, fielding absurd questions from characters out of a farce, charitably, or an insane asylum, more accurately. He never lost his temper or uttered a single Profanity. He showed impressive patience with citizen objectors who droned on about wacko Conspiracy theories and asked such questions as, “Have you ever heard the term, ‘Smiling like a butcher’s dog?’ ” The TV cameras, the print reporters monitoring this hearing — the que

Emanuel Leads in Chicago
A new Chicago Tribune poll finds Rahm Emanuel leading the Chicago mayoral race with 32%, followed by five Candidates in the single digits and another 30% still Undecided. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the Feb. 22 non-partisan primary the top two contenders face off on April 5. ...

Rahmstoppers Face Off With Rahm at Hearing
By Dionne Searcey Having spent our formative years of adulthood in Chicago, we at the Law Blog figure we could come up with a list of questions that would settle in a jiffy the kerfuffle over Rahm Emanuel’s residency that is playing out in a hearing there. Hearing officer: Mr. Emanuel, where can you find the best Cheeseburger, best cheese fries, best record store, best band and best tall downtown building to sneak onto the roof of and watch the ice floats along the Chicago River? If he can’t an..

Were Emanuels tenant demands for $100K related to residency case?
* The plot thickens… The Real Estate manager who helped Rahm Emanuel buy his North Side home testified in a residency hearing today that Emanuel’s renters wanted $100,000 to end their lease early when he returned to Chicago this fall to run for mayor. […] Levy said he passed the $100,000 figure to Emanuel, who called it “ridiculous.” The counter offer was $5,000 a month for every month early the Halpins left, Levy said. The lease is set to expire in mid-2011. * An...

Rahm's crawlspace: Center of the Board of Elections hearing
Day two of Rahm Emanuel ’s Board of Election’s residency hearing turned into a debate about what is and what isn’t in Emanuel’s basement.  Laurie Halpin , wife of Robert Halpin who momentarily ran for Chicago mayor and temporarily refuses to move out of Emanuel’s House which he has been leasing on Hermitage Avenue, challenged Testimony given the day before by Emanuel.  On Tuesday, Emanuel spoke of family treasures being stored in the basement of which Lau...

What's in Emanuel's basement?
The fight over Rahm Emanuel's eligibility to run for mayor turned into a debate Wednesday over what's in the basement of his Chicago home. On day two of a rambling hearing into claims that Emanuel doesn't meet the one-year residency rule for Candidates, Testimony focused on his contention that his family left prized possessions stored in their North Side house when they went to Washington for his job as President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. Emanuel's attorneys argue that that shows he intend...

Chicago hearing: Does Rahm Emanuel qualify to run for mayor?
Rahm Emanuel faced questions Tuesday on whether he has been a Chicago resident - a requirement for a mayoral run. Mr. Emanuel served as White House Chief of Staff until October....

Emanuel's wife won't have to be at Chicago hearing
Chicago — An election official says Rahm Emanuel's wife won't have to testify at a hearing over challenges to the former White House Chief of Staff's Chicago residency. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing officer Joseph Morris said Monday there's no information Amy Rule can provide that those trying to prevent Emanuel from running for Mayor of Chicago can't get from Emanuel himself. Emanuel is set to testify at the Tuesday hearing.. The key question is whether Emanuel is inel...

Rahm Emanuel's Residency Hearing: Day Three To Focus On Plan To Return From Washington
Chicago — Attorneys for former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel are focused on showing that he always planned to come back to Chicago after he finished working for President Barack Obama. A Chicago Board of Election Commissioners hearing on residency challenges to Emanuel's mayoral bid enters its third day Thursday with more witnesses expected to testify. More than two dozen opponents say he doesn't have a legal right to run because he lived for nearly two years in Washington. Wed...

Rahm Emanuel Residency Hearing Turns Circus-Like
Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. (Credit: AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) Ordinary Chicago citizens questioned Mayoral Candidate Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday -- but some of their questions were far from ordinary. At a daylong hearing before the Chicago Board of Elections, Emanuel answered questions on everything from the first name of the current mayor to his familiarity with the phrase, "smiling like a butcher's dog." The hearing was part of an inquiry into whether President Obama's fo...

Ready for Rahm residency ruckus to end
Typical of Illinois, all we really know about any of the Mayoral Candidates from the media so far is that Rahm Emanuel is being challenged regarding the residency requirement.  Little else is discussed, debated, or cared about - yet.  The situation is reminiscent of the 2010 Midterm Election between Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias where all we really knew about the Candidates by Election Day was that the winner, Sen. Mark Kirk, exaggerated his Military record and the loser, Alexi Giann...

Emanuel Takes Questions About Eligibility to Run for Chicago Mayor
CHICAGO — Rahm Emanuel’s campaign to become mayor of this city has looked like a perfectly orchestrated political play: cheerful morning hand-shakings at train stops, tours of neighborhoods as cameras whir, pronouncements on education, energy, the police. Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday at an election board hearing. Then came Tuesday. Mr. Emanuel, the former White House Chief of Staff and a Veteran practitioner of campaign imagery and messaging, found himself in a packed basement meeting ...

Woman sues over canceled wedding
Published: Dec. 15, 2010 at 11:19 AM HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- An Illinois woman whose former fiance called off their engagement four days before the Wedding is suing him for the $95,942 she spent preparing for the date. Dominique Buttitta, 32, of Hoffman Estates filed a Lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Vito Salerno, 31, of Barrington seeking reimbursement for her Wedding expenses after he called off Wedding four days before the Oct. 2 date, the Chicago Tribune reported...

Chicago Mayoral Candidate: Only Blacks Should Be Considered Minorities
Don't you just love it when the mask drops and these Racists expose themselves for all to see?Mayoral challenger James Meeks came under fire Thursday for suggesting that only African-Americans should be eligible for city contracts set aside for Minorities and women. Meeks made the statement on Wednesday during an interview on WVON Radio. It happened during a discussion of why African-American businesses got a 7 percent sliver of Chicago’s $1 billion spending pie through Aug. 31, down from 8 ...

Obama agenda: Aloha?
President Obama will delay his annual trip to his birth state of Hawaii in order to sign the tax bill. The New York Times’s Leonhardt notes that Conservatives’ political attacks against the health-care law are similar to the Conservatives’ (unsuccessful) crusades against Medicare, Social Security, and other expansions of the safety net. "Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s former Chief of Staff, testified yesterday about his wife’s Wedding Dress, family China, and car...

Poll: Emanuel front-runner in Chicago mayoral race
(CNN) - As Rahm Emanuel attempts to prove that he's a Chicago resident, a new poll indicates that the former White House Chief of Staff is far ahead of his rivals in the battle to be the city's next mayor. According to a Chicago Tribune/WGN survey, 32 percent of Chicago voters support Emanuel, with former Chicago City Colleges Board Chairman Gery Chico and Rep. Danny Davis each at nine percent, state Sen. James Meeks at six percent, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun at six percent, City Clerk Migu...