Rahm Emanuel Residency Hearing Turns Circus-Like

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..

Emanuel Takes Questions About Eligibility to Run for Chicago Mayor
CHICAGO — Rahm Emanuel’s campaign to become mayor of this city has looked like a perfectly orchestrated political play: cheerful morning hand-shakings at train stops, tours of neighborhoods as cameras whir, pronouncements on education, energy, the police. Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday at an election board hearing. Then came Tuesday. Mr. Emanuel, the former White House Chief of Staff and a Veteran practitioner of campaign imagery and messaging, found himself in a packed basement meeting ...

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'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...

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...

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'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...

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...

Emanuel keeps cool during 11 hours of residency questions
Rahm Emanuel kept his famously sharp political tongue in check for more than 11 hours Tuesday as a phalanx of indignant Activists and a seasoned election attorney poked and prodded him during a hearing on whether he is eligible to run for Mayor of Chicago. The most serious attack on his candidacy came in the first 90 minutes of the hearing as the lead attorney challenging Emanuel bored in on the issue of whether the former White House Chief of Staff meets the requirement of being a Chicago res...

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...

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...

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...

Emanuel to testify in Chicago residency hearing (AP)
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...

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....

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 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 ...

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...

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. “...

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...

Rahm home game
WASHINGTON -- You really can't go home again. Rahm Emanuel, who ran the White House as President Obama's first chief-of-staff, returned to the Windy City in October to run for mayor, but has faced blowback from opponents who say he is ineligible because he gave up his residency. At issue yesterday before the Chicago Board of Elections is whether Emanuel maintained his Illinois residency as required under city law to run for mayor. Exhibit A in the case against him is his 2009 Tax Return, in...

Emanuel to Testify in Chicago Residency Hearing
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 Chicago Mayor Richard Daley....

Rahm Emanuel: Political insider
Rahm Emanuel testifies at the Chicago Board of Elections on objections to his candidacy for mayor at the George Dunne Cook County Office Building. ...

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 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...

Obama agenda: Aloha?
President Obama will delay his annual trip to his birth state of Hawaii in order to sign the tax bill. The New York Times’s Leonhardt notes that Conservatives’ political attacks against the health-care law are similar to the Conservatives’ (unsuccessful) crusades against Medicare, Social Security, and other expansions of the safety net. "Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s former Chief of Staff, testified yesterday about his wife’s Wedding Dress, family China, and car...