From Twitter, Rahm Emmanuel Taken Off Mayoral Ballot

Posted by Jeff Carter
on January 24th, 2011

Rahm Emmanuel was taken off the Chicago mayoral ballot by an appellate court. Now the case will go to the Illinois Supreme Court.

The soap opera continues.

A couple of things. First, Alderman Ed Burke is chair of the Finance committee in Chicago. He is a powerful, probably the most powerful alderman in the city of Chicago. Ironically, his wife Anne, sits on the Illinois Supreme Court. Burke is for one of Emmanuel’s opponents, Gary Chico.

The crux of the issue is the residency of Rahm Emmanuel. His residency has been contested by his opponents, since he is the prohibitive favorite in the election.

Full disclosure, I have known Rahm since he sat on the CME board with me back in 2000. I have met his wife and kids, and that was in Chicago. When he served as a Congressman, they stayed in Chicago while he commuted to Washington. I have not donated money to his campaign. As far as I am concerned, he is a Chicago resident. However, the law may interpret it differently. At Ace of Spades, lawyer Gabriel Malor did a legal briefing. In the eyes of the law, Rahm may be allowed to vote here, but actual physical residency is different.

This brings up service to your country. If a military person wanted to run for office in Chicago, could they if they did a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan? Tammy Duckworth ran for Congress in a district she didn’t actually reside in back in 2004. Of course, Rahm handpicked her! This whole residency thing doesn’t seem to matter to Democrats.

In Rahm’s case, none of it makes sense to me. As long as you are paying taxes here, registered here, it seems to me you are a citizen here. He even owns and rents out his home here.

That’s how lawyers make money, interpreting painfully obvious things so they are not so obvious.

Twitter was screaming with the news. Lots of funny stuff there. One person I follow called it a “Rahm flash crash”. Another wondered if this whole non-citizenship thing was “catching” since Hawaii seems to have lost Obama’s birth certificate again. (I am not a birther, and just find the whole Obama birth soap opera funny) Another, “Chicago, where the residency rules are strict and the dead can vote.”

The real backstory is the powerbrokers in Chicago will decide this before it gets to the IL Supreme Court. Who is Madigan backing? His daughter is Attorney General. There are people in the city that are unelected you never heard of that wield tremendous power. Who are they backing?

I wonder how Donald Trump feels? He just raised a bunch of money for Rahm. The exchanges and financial community of Chicago just wrote some nice checks. What about his brother Ari and the Hollywood stars? Will this get to be an episode of Entourage?

I can honestly say I knew who I wasn’t supporting in Chicago. Del Valle. He wants a transaction tax on exchanges. As a libertarian, there was really no horse in the race to back. But, Rahm at least has the inside phone number at the White House for the next two years for sure. As ousted Gov Blago would say, “That’s bleepin’ golden.”

The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.