Witness: Emanuel's renter wanted $100K to move out

Emanuel hearing wraps up
What may go down as one of the more memorable hearings in city Elections history wrapped up Thursday with closing arguments from lawyers for mayoral hopeful Rahm Emanuel and those trying to knock him off the ballot. After three long days, Emanuel opponents argued that the former White House Chief of Staff who returned to Chicago this fall violated both the letter and spirit of a statute requiring Candidates to reside in the city a year before an election. His own lawyers said the opposite was t...

Emanuel eligibility hearing wraps up
Published: Dec. 17, 2010 at 10:23 AM 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. 17 (UPI) -- A hearing on Rahm Emanuel's eligibility to run for mayor of Chicago end...

Emanuel leads in Chicago mayoral poll: newspaper
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Rahm Emanuel, fresh off 11 hours of Testimony defending his eligibility to be Chicago's mayor, led a crowded field of Candidates two months before Election Day in a newspaper poll published on Wednesday. Emanuel, who quit as White House Chief of Staff to run for the post held by retiring six-term Mayor Richard Daley, led with 32 percent support which was just ahead of the 30 percent who were Undecided in the poll commissioned by the Chicago Tribune. Election day is February 2...

Ordinary Folks vs. Rahm Emanuel in Chicago
With the holidays approaching, it might seem that the campaign season has slowed. But it is quite a temporary respite. Chicago has its mayoral-election “primary” on February 22; if no one gets 50 percent (a possibility with the crowded field,) the top two finishers face off in a General Election in November April. The key question right now out in the Windy City is, “Does former congressman and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel qualify as a resident of ...

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...

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...

VIDEO: Rahm Says Voters Should Decide His Fate
By Christmas Eve, Rahm Emanuel will know if his name will appear on the February ballot for the Chicago mayor's race. This week, the former White House Chief of Staff, spent roughly 11 hours testifying about almost every aspect of his life to prove he had always intended to return to Chicago and therefore qualifies as a Mayoral Candidate. Illinois law requires Candidates running for office to reside in the city where they are running for one full year prior to the election. The hearing officer p...

Rahm Emanuel Has a Times Vending Machine in His Crawl Space
What you're looking at is a photo of a crawl space in Rahm Emanuel's Chicago home, the one he rented out when he became President Obama's Chief of Staff and moved to Washington. Emanuel's lawyer took photos of the crawl space, full of Emanuel family property, to prove that Emanuel never really "moved" out of his house, and has actually been a Chicago "resident" all this time. One interesting find in the photos: Remember the day after Obama was inaugurated, when everyone wanted to get a copy of...

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

Were Emanuels tenant demands for $100K related to residency case?
* The plot thickens… The Real Estate manager who helped Rahm Emanuel buy his North Side home testified in a residency hearing today that Emanuel’s renters wanted $100,000 to end their lease early when he returned to Chicago this fall to run for mayor. […] Levy said he passed the $100,000 figure to Emanuel, who called it “ridiculous.” The counter offer was $5,000 a month for every month early the Halpins left, Levy said. The lease is set to expire in mid-2011. * An...

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...

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...

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 ...

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. ...

Rob Halpin tried to shake Rahm down legally for $100,000
First it was reported that Rob Halpin refused to get out of Rahm Emanuel 's house when Rahm decided to leave Washington, D.C. as President Barack Obama 's Chief of Staff to concentrate on a run for mayor of Chicago after Mayor Richard M. Daley announced he was 'outta there.'  Though the law says a person may be out of the city to be a federal public servant, the trouble began for Rahm concerning elibigility to run, Naturally, Halpin's refusing to get out of Rahm's home assisted two dozen no...

Emanuel awaits board's decision on residency challenge
Deliberations have started in Rahm Emanuel's mayoral ballot challenge hearing and are expected to conclude next week.  That's when the former White House Chief of Staff will learn whether he overcame the objections to his eligibility for the Feb. 22 mayoral primary ballot.  At issue is whether Emanuel meets the one-year residency requirement to appear on the ballot. 

Emanuel's attorney, Kevin Forde, told the Chicago Board of Election officials that the former congressman always inte

President Obama's "B.S. list" for Senate seat: Hynes, Duckworth, Jackson and Schakowsky
After Valerie Jarrett publicly pulled out of contention for the U.S. Senate seat appointment, Rahm Emanuel called Rod Blagojevich's top aide. Emanuel had a list of "acceptable" names and it was from the then-President-Elect, according to Testimony in Rod Blagojevich's Corruption trial. Emanuel, now Obama's Chief of Staff, relayed four names whom "the president would find acceptable," according to then-chief of staff John Harris, who is on the witness stand. They were: Tammy Duckworth, State Com...

What's in Emanuel's basement?
The fight over Rahm Emanuel's eligibility to run for mayor turned into a debate Wednesday over what's in the basement of his Chicago home. On day two of a rambling hearing into claims that Emanuel doesn't meet the one-year residency rule for Candidates, Testimony focused on his contention that his family left prized possessions stored in their North Side house when they went to Washington for his job as President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. Emanuel's attorneys argue that that shows he intend...

Did Rahm Emanuel steal a NYT vending machine after Obama's Inauguration?
The Chicago Sun Times has a picture of Rahm Emanuel's storage space in Chicago. See it here. You'll notice there's a New York Times machine there. I'm pretty sure it's the edition from the day after Obama's inauguration -- Rahm's first day as White House Chief of Staff. See this picture. Am I right? How did he get the machine? Did Rahm Emanuel steal a NYT vending machine after Obama's Inauguration? ...

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 keeps his cool, wins the day and probably the mayors race
Rahm Emanuel sat for nearly 12 hours on Tuesday, fielding absurd questions from characters out of a farce, charitably, or an insane asylum, more accurately. He never lost his temper or uttered a single Profanity. He showed impressive patience with citizen objectors who droned on about wacko Conspiracy theories and asked such questions as, “Have you ever heard the term, ‘Smiling like a butcher’s dog?’ ” The TV cameras, the print reporters monitoring this hearing — the que

Obamas won't be home for the holidays
The White House has announced that FLOTUS Michelle Obama , the two first daughters, and the first dog will board a C-40B Boeing special-mission Aircraft based on a 737 to fly to Hawaii on Saturday.  President Barack Obama will follow some days after when Congress is expected to adjourn for the holidays. Speculation in Chicago is usually along the lines of the First Family returning to their Hyde Park area home on the south side of Chicago.  Though it's nice to have the President and hi...

Mike Duncan Won't Run Again for RNC Chair
One term as chairman of the Republican National Committee was apparently enough for Mike Duncan, who announced Friday he would not seek to unseat Michael Steele. "The next RNC chairman must be available seven days a week to raise nearly one million dollars each deposit day – to fund party programs necessary to win back the White House, elect a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, retain Republican control of the U.S. House, and conduct a successful decennial redistricting," Duncan said...

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 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...