Ready for Rahm residency ruckus to end

Rahm testifies on residency
You can watch the Chicago Board of Elections hearing here. It's an extremely mundane ritual on which Rahm Emanuel's bid for Mayor of Chicago depends. Sample of Emanuel Testimony: "We moved clothing, furniture, stuff to live with, but not all of it." ...

Dont Overestimate Rahm Emanuel
In several months, the great city of Chicago will select its next mayor. Following the Retirement of Mayor Richard Daley, the field is wide open. Enter Rahm Emanuel. A powerful Democrat and President Barack Obama’s former chief-of-staff, Mr. Emanuel currently looks like the front-runner for the office. With many strong Candidates declining to run and his potential opposition divided, things look good for Mr. Emanuel. And yet one shouldn’t overestimate Mr. Emanuel’s chances as m...

Rahm Emanuel Residency Hearing: To Answer Questions From Challengers Today
Chicago — Rahm Emanuel has talked with President Barack Obama and other powerful leaders about some of the most serious questions of the day. Now, in his bid to be Chicago mayor, he will have to sit in a room in the bowels of a government building and answer questions from lawyers and city residents who don't want him to run. The stakes couldn't be higher for Emanuel, who quit one of the Most Powerful jobs in the nation as Obama's Chief of Staff, for the chance to replace powerful Chicag...

Rahms Residency Problems Continue
Rahm Emmanuel has said he wanted to run for Mayor of Chicago.  Only there was one small problem: he had to be a resident of Chicago for a year prior to taking office.  And he had stayed in Washington, D.C. long enough to put that into doubt.  Recently I saw where Emanuel tried to claim that despite his lack of, you know, presence, he was still a resident for purposes of the statute.  Now this is not as laughable as you might think.  Many times when the law talks about yo...

Rahm takes on residency hearing
Rahm Emanuel sat in a cramped room at the Chicago Board of Elections Tuesday and faced off against almost three dozen citizens intent on preventing him from running to be their mayor. It was a long way from the White House for President Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff but it might be one of the most important meetings of his Political Career. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 Emanuel, the prominent beltway politician-turned-mayoral front-runner, has been testifying...

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...

Chicago Politics as Usual
Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is spending much of this week defending challenges to his residency as he runs for Chicago mayor. Reuters notes that outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley "and other defenders of the famously combative political operative have said the hearing is a sham and Emanuel was serving his country in Washington, but others say the objection to Emanuel's candidacy in the February 22 election is legitimate." Interestingly, the Chicago Sun Times notes it's a "...

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 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...

WATCH LIVE: Rahm testifies in residency hearing...
Rahm Emanuel will testify Tuesday at a hearing to determine whether residency issues will keep him off the ballot. More than 20 objectors -- or their lawyers -- will have a shot at questioning Emanuel during the three day hearing in what is sure to turn into a side show of sorts. Will Emanuel, he of the colorful vocabulary, be able to bite his tongue? Will the 20 interviewers be able to stay on track? More than 50 people arrived early to see the hearings. Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, won't have to ...

Rahm Emanuel doesn't deserve much sympathy
Via Ben Smith, I see the Chicago Sun-Times has offered up this informative Q&A regarding Rahm Emanuel's difficulties establishing Chicago residency to run for mayor. It contains this illuminating nugget: Q. Isn’t this just Emanuel’s opponents exploiting Illinois’ strict election laws to try to “deny voters choices” as Emanuel’s supporters have argued. A. Yes. It’s a storied tradition. In 2004, Emanuel used a ballot challenge to try to oust his primar...

Emanuel records scrutinized in residency challenge
Records turned over in the dispute over Rahm Emanuel's Chicago residency show he filed an amended petition to his taxes after challenges against his mayoral candidacy were raised this fall. On his original Illinois 2009 return, the net income section is left blank on the income line for "residents only" and there's a checked box below it for "part-year resident". Emanuel noted he lived in Illinois through June 30, 2009. The amended return is dated Nov. 24, 2010, after challengers alleged that ...

Where does Rahm live?
As early as tomorrow, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel may have to testify in regards to whether he is a legal resident of Chicago. Complicating the Mayoral Candidate's case is that last month he amended his 2009 Illinois Income Tax return, Emanuel checked the box on the form indicating that he was a part-time resident of Illinois--and therefore of Chicago--on that return....

Emanuel tax paperwork complicates residency case
The hundreds of pages of records Rahm Emanuel's attorneys filed ahead of Monday's hearing on his bid to stay on the Chicago mayoral ballot complicate questions about the former White House Chief of Staff's residency. Emanuel amended his most recent Tax Returns late last month as those opposed to his candidacy talked about the arguments they would make in trying to knock him off. In his original 2009 Illinois tax return, Emanuel checked the box "part-year resident" and noted he lived in Chicago...

Rahm Emanuel to testify about residency for hours Tuesday
Rahm Emanuel is expected to spend hours testifying under oath Tuesday at a hearing on whether he can remain on the mayoral ballot, with a long list of objectors quizzing him about whether his time away from Chicago at the White House makes him ineligible to run. But those objectors won't get a chance to question Emanuel's wife, based on a ruling today by the hearing officer for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Emanuel's opponents argued that Amy Rule could testify about the schooli...

Questions about evidence in Emanuel residency challenge
A status hearing on objections to Rahm Emanuel's candidacy for mayor has been continued to 2 p.m. today to allow lawyers to complete a list of agreed upon facts. Joseph A. Morris, the hearing officer overseeing the matter for the Chicago Board of Elections, said he is hopeful the list of stipulations will shorten the presentation of evidence. Still up in the air is whether Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, will have to testify. Morris has said it may depend on the stipulations, but Odelson told...

The End
There is a line crossed when in search of criminals they treat everyone as suspected criminals. Many Police forces have lost all pretense of Public Safety. They drive around in black cars with the windows blacked out, you can be stopped for any suspected infraction. If you refuse compliance to a search of your vehicle or questioning, you are acting suspiciously. If you become angry you will be arrested, in one case, a man was charged with nonviolent resisting arrest for covering his face as th...

Tom Dart Talks Mayoral Race, Family, Blago
Chicago Magazine: Soon after Rich Daley announced in September that he would not seek another term, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart jumped in the mayor's race. Though he never officially announced, Dart withdrew in late October, saying he couldn't be mayor and a good father to his five Children at the same time. He had a good shot at winning, even with Rahm Emanuel strutting back into town. With ties deep in the 19th Ward--his late father was the first Mayor Daley's main Lobbyist in ...

Crossroads GPS prepares offensive - Alex Isenstadt
Crossroads GPS—the conservative group that carpet-bombed Democrats with a wave of Attack Ads during the 2010 Midterm Election—is about to launch its first offensive of the 2012 election cycle. The organization is rolling out a $400,000 radio ad campaign this week in the districts of 12 House Democrats who won Reelection by the slimmest of margins. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 The ad campaign, which urges the Democrats to support a vote this week on the tax cu...

Hultgren and Kirk hold town hall in St. Charles
Two members of Illinois' Class of '10, Sen. Mark Kirk and Representative-elect Randy Hultgren, held a joint town hall meeting in St. Charles, Illinois last Saturday. Bill Baar has his report here, and over here you'll find Warner Todd Huston's rundown on what the two Republicans had to say....

9/11 Bill Wins Tea Party Backing
The Tea Party may tilt towards the Republican Party, but at least one prominent member of the powerful movement wants the GOP to back the bill to help ailing 9/11 responders. Only one Republican senator — Mark Kirk of Illinois — has agreed to support the $7.4 billion James Zadroga Health and Compensation Act. To Tea Party radio host Bill Thompson, the host of A More Perfect Union, that’s just not patriotic. “What are we doing here? We can build roads and schools in Iraq...

(Video) Townhall Meeting With Mark Kirk and Randy Hultgren, Saint Charles, Illinois
On Dec. 11, 2010, I attended a townhall meeting held in the 14th Congressional District featuring Congressman-elect Randy Hultgren and newly minted Senator Mark Kirk. The event was held in the theater of a local High School in Saint Charles, Illinois. The afternoon started out with an address by Senator Mark Kirk who already was sworn in for an interim term and will be starting his first full term as senator in January. After Kirk finished his opening remarks, Mr. Hultgren spoke and then there w...

Mark Kirk statement on Bush tax cuts vote
The two year extension of the Bush Tax Cuts passed the Senate with an 85-15 vote. America's newest Senator, Mark Kirk (R-IL) was in the majority and released the following statement this afternoon about the vote: I voted for the bill to prevent a massive tax hike from hitting Illinois families and hurting our economy during this Great Recession. President Obama and Senate leaders agree that this Legislation will help end the recession, adding jobs and restoring tax-rate certainty to this fragile...

Rahm's residency
The Sun-Times' Abdon Pallasch offers a useful FAQ, concluding with this: Q. Isn’t this just Emanuel’s opponents exploiting Illinois’ strict election laws to try to “deny voters choices” as Emanuel’s supporters have argued. A. Yes. It’s a storied tradition. In 2004, Emanuel used a ballot challenge to try to oust his primary opponent for Congress . Pres...

Cook County Jail officer saves man from van fire
When a smoke-filled van caught Angelo Zafiris' eye, he didn't think anyone was inside it. But as he looked closer Monday afternoon, he saw a man slapping on the dashboard like he was trying to put out a fire. "I don't think he knew the actual fire was underneath the van," said Zafiris, a correctional lieutenant at Cook County Jail. Zafiris stopped his squad car and pulled the van's lone occupant out of harm's way about a minute before there "was a ... loud Explosion," he said. Neither Zafiris ...