POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

Rahm: “Legally,” He Can’t Run for Mayor, BUT . . .

From the Chicago Tribune, we finally get an article probing the legality of Rahm's run:

Current state law reads: "A person is not eligible for an elected municipal office unless that person is a qualified elector of the municipality and has resided in the municipality at least one year next preceding the election or appointment."

Everyone knows Rahm was living in Washington, working until recently as President Barack Obama's chief of staff. He rented his Chicago home in the 4200 block of North Hermitage Avenue to developer Rob Halpin, who refused to leave when Rahm wanted to move back in.

I'm on record as saying the residency requirement is ridiculous and that the talented and driven Emanuel should be allowed to run for mayor. But there is one problem. You might call it the rule of law. And there's nothing ambiguous about it.

Twice, he was removed from and then "magically" reinstated to the voter rolls:

According to Odelson's documents, election officials twice sent notices to Emanuel's house on Hermitage Avenue.

Both times, the notices were returned to sender. Each was stamped with Emanuel's forwarding address in Washington. Election officials do not allow such notices to be forwarded to a new address. The election board purged Emanuel from the voting lists for the first time in October 2009, ruling him an "inactive" voter.

But Emanuel's voter status switched to "active" just before the Feb. 2 primary. He voted using an absentee ballot listing the Hermitage address even though the Halpin family lived there and they also voted from that address. Voters purged from the rolls usually present a driver's license, a lease, a copy of a mortgage or other such documentation to be reinstated.

"By some magical means, which I think will come out after objections are filed, Emanuel was reinstated," Odelson told me.

In May, Emanuel was again rendered inactive. Just last month, he reregistered, using a new address on Milwaukee Avenue in order to vote.

So, what do Rahm's people say? He always intended to return to Chicago:

"The board of elections updates voter lists based on a variety of factors — including whether mail is returned from an address. It appears that Rahm may have been briefly placed on inactive status while he was in Washington serving as the president's chief of staff. He continued to own a house in Chicago and it was always his clear intent to return."

And magically, if you're a progressive, that's the same thing as actual residency, if you're on the correct side of history.

*******

In comments, Sarah asks whether Rahm voted in DC. No, he voted in Chicago, absentee. But there's that pesky "and" regarding his residency. He didn't reside in Chicago in the year prior to the election, no matter what he listed as his home address in order to obtain an absentee ballot.

Our little constitutional republic has a brilliant Constitutional Scholar as its chief executive. One would think that Rahm might have been advised that he'd run afoul of the condition, especially given the ruckus that the President has caused by not being forthcoming with a variety of documents. Once again, we are confronted with the spectacle of a lawyer-in-chief who doesn't seem much to care about what the law actually says, when it stands in the way of what he and his cadre want.

Everyone knows that when he ran for public office in Illinois, Obama was particularly ruthless about eliminating any competition by means of any technicality that was serviceable. I don't feel the least pang of compunction for Emanuel.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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