Emanuel Takes Questions About Eligibility to Run for Chicago Mayor

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...

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 takes early lead in race for Chicago mayor
Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is off to an early lead in the race for Chicago mayor, but there is plenty of room for other contenders in the crowded field as the fluid contest takes shape, a new Tribune/WGN poll found. Emanuel had the support of 32 percent of voters, just ahead of 30 percent who were undecided, making him the only candidate in double-digits with more than two months before the Feb. 22 city election. He was well short of the outright majority needed to avoid an ...

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...

Gallup: Conservatives still outnumber Liberals 2-to-1 in the US
Gallup recently polled Americans and came up with data that mirrors 2009 data. How would you describe your political views - very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal, or very liberal? Conservatives are the largest group with 40% of American adults saying they are such.  Next, at 35% are those that label themselves as liberals.  Lastly, liberals comprise 21 %. Yet, fewer people are labeling themselves as 'very' liberal or 'very' conservative and choosing the liberal or c...

At Issue in Emanuel Hearing: Boxes in Basement
Chicago — The contents of Rahm Emanuel’s basement took center stage on Wednesday in an election board hearing to determine whether he can run for mayor. A tenant who is renting Mr. Emanuel’s home here told a hearing officer that she had never seen any of the boxes Mr. Emanuel said he stored in the basement when he left for Washington to work as President Obama’s Chief of Staff. The tenant, Lori Halpin, testified during the second day of hearings over whether Mr. Emanuel meets the

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...

Chicago Mayor Candidates: Only Black People Should Be Considered Minorities
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 percent a year ago. “The word ‘minority’ from our standpoint should mean African-American. I don’t think women, Asians and Hispanics should be able to use that title,” he said. “That’s why our numbers cannot improve — because we use women, Asians and Hispanics who are not People of Color, ...

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....

South, West expected to pick up House seats after census
WASHINGTON — Sun Belt states and those in the West are expected to gain even more political clout when the Census Bureau announces on Tuesday which states will gain Congressional Seats and which will lose them. Among the likely winners are Washington State, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, South Carolina and Utah. The likely losers are such Rust Belt states as Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Ohio. While it may be an insider's game, the political st...

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 "...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

Sen. Kirk says Emanuel heading to runoff if poll numbers 'hold'
Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk (R) predicted Rahm Emanuel would come out on top in the Chicago mayoral primary — if he manages to stay on the ballot. Emanuel and his camp are in the fourth day of a Chicago Board of Elections hearing into the challenges to his ballot eligibility. The primary, set for Feb. 22, is a non-partisan contest where the top two vote getters advance to a runoff in November. There are almost two-dozen Candidates, including Emanuel, vying to succeed retiring Mayor Richard Dale...

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...

Live from the Rahm Residency Hearing
Rahm Emanuel at yesterday’s hearing. Chicago — During the eleven-plus-hour hearing yesterday to establish Rahm Emanuel’s residency in the city of Chicago—an old state law requires that Illinois Candidates must have lived here for one year prior to campaigning—the former White House chief-of-staff sat humbly at a desk in the crowded, badly lit basement of 69 West Washington Street. Wearing a subdued tie and a modest blue jacket, he appeared more bookish functionary t...

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...

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. ...

Realtor says Emanuel planned Chicago return
The third day of a hearing on challenges to Rahm Emanuel's place on the Chicago mayoral ballot began with a new witness, Paul Levy, a Real Estate manager who found the North Side home Emanuel purchased in 1998. The Hermitage Avenue home on the North Side was perfect for Emanuel and his family, Levy said, testifying that Emanuel purchased it and moved in after coming home from a post in the Clinton Administration. Read more in Clout Street. ...

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...

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...

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 ...

Chicago magazine - A Look at Joseph Morris, the Hearing Officer in the Rahm Emanuel Residency Challenge
Joseph Morris Rahm Emanuel took the stand this morning in a hearing to determine whether he meets the residency requirements to run for mayor, given that he has been living in D.C. for the last two years. The hearings, held at the Loop offices of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, have been something of a spectacle, with crowds of objectors swarming the tiny basement conference room, shouting “indict Rahm”—or worse. Presiding over the three-ring circus has been hearin...