Obama agenda: Aloha?

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 ...

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...

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

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...

Print view: Bernie Sanders (finally) got it right! But so did David Brooks
BROOKS (12/10/10): Over the past week we’ve seen the big differences between cluster liberals and network liberals. Cluster liberals (like cluster Conservatives) view politics as a battle between implacable opponents. As a result, they believe victory is achieved through maximum unity. Psychologically, they tend to value loyalty and solidarity. They tend to angle toward situations in which philosophical lines are clearly drawn and partisan might can be bluntly applied. In a word, “clus...

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...

Woman renting Rahm Emanuel's home to testify at residency hearing in his Chicago mayoral bid
Chicago (AP) — A woman who rented Rahm Emanuel's house after he became President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff is scheduled to testify at a hearing about whether his name should be on the ballot in the race for Chicago mayor. Emanuel endured nearly 12 hours of questioning Tuesday from attorneys and Chicago residents who say he's not eligible to run for mayor. The challengers say he does not meet the requirement that Candidates live in the city a full year before the election because he mo...

Emanuel's renter testifies in residency dispute
The election hearing on Rahm Emanuel's bid for Chicago mayor resumed today with one of the renters of his North Side home contradicting Emanuel's Testimony that his family kept prized possessions in the house when they moved to Washington. Laurie Halpin, whose husband, Robert, briefly became a Candidate for mayor himself, said she has never seen boxes belonging to her landlords in the home. During an 11-hour marathon session today, Emanuel testified his family has 100 boxes of their most prized...

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...

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..

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...

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 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." ...

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...

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...

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...

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....

Carol Moseley Braun raises specter that Rahm Emanuel lied on state tax returns
(Chicago, IL) - December 14, 2010 . Ahead of Rahm Emanuel ’s appearance before the Chicago Board of Elections today to defend his residency status which could undo his mayoral candidacy, ex-U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun ’s campaign unleashed rhetorical buckshot against the former White House Chief of Staff. Among the harshest of comments, Braun’s Campaign Manager, Mike Noonan , raised the specter that Emanuel potentially lied on his Illinois Income Tax filings. “...

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...

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...

No use for No Labels
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, along with a host of other political workers and aspirants, announced this past Monday the founding of a new political group, No Labels. The organization wants to form chapters in all 435 Congressional Districts, with its goal being an end to political polarization, electoral reform, the federal Deficit and Energy Independence. Where to begin? For starters, no group can exist without a label. Labels, quite frankly, tell us who or what we are and what we...

Ed Rendell says Colin Powell should join West Wing
Everyone seemed to love my idea that President Obama needs a Governor in the West Wing and that that Governor should be Ed Rendell (D-Pa.). Everyone except Rendell's son. In a jovial five-minute phone conversation this morning, Gov. Rendell told me that he assured his son that the president would rather walk over hot coals daily than have him underfoot. But Rendell did tell me who he thought would be "perfect": Republican former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell was my first choice for chi...

World Trade Organization upholds U.S. tax on Chinese tires
The World Trade Organization has upheld the stiff duties that President Obama imposed on car tires imported from China last year, an important victory released on the eve of trade talks between the two countries. A panel at the Geneva-based trade group on Monday said it agreed that the United States was justified in slapping a 35 percent tax on Chinese tires under WTO provisions that let countries protect local industries and workers from sharp increases in Chinese imports. The provision was...

Crash the White House/Medicare czar closed-door meeting
Let’s briefly review the Obama Administration’s unprecedented transparency record: *Loophole-ridden, special interest-pandering DISCLOSE Act *Backdoor Kickbacks *Secret Big Labor deals *C-SPAN camera evasion *Disclosure-ducking coffeehouse meetings *Sunlight-shirking holiday and midnight floor votes *Behind-the-scenes Recess Appointments That’s for starters. And now, the White House is set to hold a new round of backdoor meetings with recess appointee Donald Berwick, the Medi...