There wasn’t a rotting 2 foot deadfish in sight as Rahm Emanuel played the “victim’ card once again at his Chicago press conference on Monday. “I have no doubt that we will, in the end, prevail in this effort,” said Emanuel after the Illinois Appellate Court ruled, in a 2-1 decision to boot him off the mayoral ballot on the basis of residency. Or lack thereof.

Now Chicago is in a state of chaos.

With a $12 million warchest – earned in part from 27 out-of-state donors contributing $50,000 a piece – the private backing of Mayor Richard Daley, the blessing of the mainstream media, and a 44% support in the polls, Emanuel has been considered all but a shoe-in for Chicago’s next commander-in-thief.

He still very well may be. Emanuel’s campaign filed papers Monday night with the Illinois Supreme Court to request a stay to allow the Chicago mayoral ballots to be printed with his name and for an appeal and brief by his attorneys to follow.

A number of things could happen: (1) The Chicago Board of Elections could still print Emanuel’s name on the ballot. If the Supreme Court rules not to reinstate him, then they could place a sticker over Emanuel’s name; (2) the Chicago Board of Elections could perform as ordered by the Illinois Appellate Court and leave Emanuel’s name off the ballot; or (3) Rahm Emanuel could mount a write-in candidacy, the success of which would still depend on whether or not he is ruled to be a legal Chicago resident by the Illinois Supreme Court. The Chicago Board of Elections is now in a tizzy since early voting was scheduled to begin on Jan. 31, and absentee ballots were supposed to be mailed this week.

Eternal optimist though I am that Emanuel will remain off the ballot, I am also from the Southside of Chicago. I know all about the now infamous ‘Chicago Way.’ What that means is simple: It isn’t time to put away the boxing gloves just yet.

However, until the Illinois Supreme Court rules definitively on whether or not he is ballot eligible, the Chicago Democrat machine will continue to cover-up Emanuel’s track record of political dirty tricks so he can play the sympathy card with voters. So, what are they hiding? Let’s see:

Phony Ruling Spells Double Standards for Emanuel

The Appellate Court’s decision cites the Illinois Municipal Code:


Subsection 3.1-10-5(a) of the Municipal Code sets forth two qualifications for candidates: it states that a candidate must be “a qualified elector of the municipality and [must have] resided in the municipality at least one year next preceding the election.” 65 ILCS 5/3.1-10-5(a) (West 2008). These two qualifications are stated separately and in the conjunctive.

The court affirmed the simple fact that Emanuel rented out his Chicago residence thus forfeiting his status as a legal resident for the past two years. After Emanuel returned to Chicago, he tried to cancel the rental agreement for his Ravenswood property, which had been extended through June 2011. However, Rahm’s renters, the Halperins, refused to vacate. Emanuel listed “part-time resident” on his 2009 Illinois tax return and then rushed to file an amended return on November 24th after challenges to his residency surfaced. Emanuel currently claims to live in a West Loop condo – though his spokesperson has admitted – he’s never there.

Yet, in December 2010, the Chicago Board of Elections ruled in Emanuel’s favor, declaring him eligible to run for Mayor of Chicago, in part, based a few boxes of belongings (and a New York Times newspaper bin) kept in the crawl space of his Hermitage Street property.

Illegal Voting Cover-Up?

The residency hearing brought to light a possible cover-up/violation of election law and the switching of Emanuel’s voter status from inactive to active status both in the 2009 and 2010 elections. Annually, the Chicago Board of Elections conducts a canvass to verify millions of Chicago voters. For the last two years, notices sent to Emanuel’s Chicago address were returned to sender and stamped with his forwarding address in Washington. Consequently, in October 2009 and May 2010, Emanuel was declared ‘inactive’ on the Chicago voter rolls.

Chicago Tribune’s John Kass offered this analysis:


Emanuel’s voter status switched to ‘active’ just before the Feb. 2 primary. He voted using an absentee ballot listing the Hermitage address even though the Halperin family lived there and they also voted from that address. Voters declared ‘inactive’ on the rolls usually present a driver’s license, a lease, a copy of a mortgage or other such documentation to be returned to “active” status.

In Emanuel’s case, an exception seems to have been made.

Back in November, attorney Burt Odelson also weighed in, “By some magical means, which I think will come out after objections are filed, Emanuel was reinstated [to the Chicago voter rolls.]”

Kass also released an official transcript of Chicago Ald. Ed Burke and Board of Elections head Langdon Neal discussing a certain unnamed candidate’s “issue” at City Hall budget meeting. If you thought gymnastics was just an Olympic sport, take a look at the transcript and think again.

Hypocrite Rahm Playing Victim Card

So far, Rahm Emanuel’s strategy to play the victim card has helped him in the polls. Now that he’s been knocked off the ballot by the Illinois Appellate Court, this could lead to his biggest PR blitz yet. It is an angle the Emanuel camp has been pushing for awhile now.

In November, Emanuel’s ad campaign asked: “Should Rahm Emanuel be allowed to run?”

As proof of Rahm’s mistreatment, the Teamsters Union, a fair and impartial group, commissioned a survey showing more than 6 out of 10 Chicagoans believe Emanuel is a resident and the residency challenge is unfair.

But petition challenges are standard issue in the Democrat Machine toolbox. In fact, both Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel have used them to undermine their opponents. President Obama forced his then-rival for Illinois state senate Alice Palmer (who had endorsed Obama as her successor) off the ballot in 1995. Actually, Obama knocked all three of his opponents off the ballot by invalidating their signatures. Emanuel himself challenged his sole opponent in the 2004 Democrat primary, Mark A. Fredrickson, off the ballot claiming he started gathering signatures too early. Emanuel’s challenge failed.

And Emanuel says he is the victim? Is this the same Rahm Emanuel who sends dead fishes to pollsters, stabs tables with steak knives while declaring his enemies “dead,” and whose basic vocabulary is limited to words that begin with the letter, “F”?

A thug maybe. But a victim? Never.

Now Rahm Will Claim Ballot Access First Amendment Issue

On Monday, the Emanuel campaign organized a rally of its supporters in front of the Chicago Board of Elections to protest the decision. They carried signs saying, “I want my voice to be heard,” “We stand by Rahm,” and “I want to vote for Rahm.”

Chicago news organizations are also weighing in – predictably in Emanuel’s favor.

A Chicago Tribune editorial, posted Monday evening, stated:

The tortured logic employed here to deny Chicago voters a full slate of candidates raises the question: Is this about law or politics?…On a conference call Monday, elections board chairman Langdon Neal said it’s not certain the Supreme Court will even take up the case. That would be a gross miscarriage of justice.

Yet where were the calls for voter choice and the First Amendment when other mayoral candidates were summarily knocked off the ballot for petty reasons. GOP mayoral candidate Tom Hanson was also removed from the ballot. Why? Because the City of Chicago lost his Statement of Economic Interest. According to Hanson, who previously ran against Rahm Emanuel for Congress, he even has the Chicago Board of Elections’ receipt of filing. After a 20 minute hearing, Hanson’s 14,000 signatures were tossed in the trash can. What was the Chicago Board of Election’s response to Hanson’s argument that “they were the ones who lost” his Statement of Economic Interest? Their response was and I quote: “Tough luck.”

Hanson is no slouch. He is the head of Hanson Commercial Real Estate in Chicago, which has developed more than $550,000,000 in commercial properties. He is also on the board of directors for a number of not-for-profit foundations that help struggling inner city schools and kids. However, no one cried “foul” when Hanson’s ballot access was denied. No one in the Democrat machine or the media cried “injustice” when Rev. James Meeks was booted off the ballot. The Chicago Sun-Times‘ Mary Mitchell reports that an aldermanic candidate was knocked from the ballot because he failed to pay a $60 parking ticket. If we are to be consistent, is that free speech?

When the legal objectors to Rahm Emanuel’s petitions were in court in December, they were ridiculed and mocked by the Chicago media and Democrat machine. One newspaper called them “fringe City Hall characters seeking a public stage.” A TV commentator called them “rejects” from an old “Let’s Make a Deal” episode. Another reporter dismissed the legal challenge as “residency nonsense” and says to “get this stupid stuff over with pronto.” Is that how the Chicago media respects the First Amendment? Is that what the Democrat machine is talking about?

Or is it just Rahm Emanuel’s First Amendment rights, ballot access rights, or perceived right to be Mayor of the City of Chicago that they are trying to protect? At Monday’s press conference Rahm Emanuel was reflective, stating, “As my father always used to say, nothing is ever easy in life.”

Or maybe, just for some, it normally is.