Tag: Rahm Emanuel

That didn't take long. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and ruled Rahm Emanuel may run for Chicago Mayor. It wasn't even close, the Supreme Court blasted the appeals court decision:

We wish to emphasize that, until just a few days ago, the governing law on this question had been settled in this State for going on 150 years....Things changed, however, when the appellate court below issued its decision and announced that it was no longer bound by any of the law cited above....Its reasons for departing from over 100 years of settled residency law are hardly compelling and deserve only brief attention.

All of that said, and putting aside the appellate court's conclusion that Smith [settled law] is not binding in this case, the appellate court's residency analysis remains fundamentally flawed. This is because, even under traditional principles of statutory analysis, the inevitable conclusion is that the residency analysis conducted by the hearing officer, the Board, and the circuit court [those who heard Emanuel's case before the appellate court] was proper.

I am not a Rahm supporter, but the Supreme Court got it right, in my opinion.

You can read the opinion here.

Bump and Update: The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis, without oral argument, using the briefs filed in the lower court.

Bump and Update: Rahm gets his stay, he's back on the ballot for now.

Bump and Update: Rahm Emanuel filed his petition with the Illinois Supreme Court today. He makes six arguments, and relies in part on People ex rel. Madigan v. Baumgartner, the case I discuss below. You can read the petition here. No word yet on whether the Court will agree to hear the case or grant the stay he requested yesterday. [More...]

Rahm Emanuel made it official today. He's running for Mayor of Chicago. His website is up and running. His first action after setting up his FB page and website: embarking on "listening tour" across Chicago.

Who are among Rahm's first intended victims?

To be the city we want to be, we can't have gangbangers taking the lives of our schoolchildren.

Gang leaders don't target children, nor do they condone their killing, according to Tio Hardiman, director of CeaseFire Illinois, which works to prevent neighborhood violence. He probably knows a lot more about the subject than Rahm.

I'd like to hear Rahm promise some innovative juvenile justice programs and programs designed to assist at-risk kids in finding alternatives to gangs. Instead, he's promising more of a crackdown, which is as sure to fail as the war on drugs.

Here's Rahm's stance on issues while in Congress. [More...]

Tomorrow is Rahm Emanuel's last day at the White House. He's returning to Chicago to run for Mayor. Too bad for Chicago.

Who will replace him?

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced today he won't seek re-election.

Rahm Emanuel, Compromiser-in-Chief, has said he's interested in the job. He doesn't see eye-to-eye with Obama's inner circle of advisers and it's long been rumored he only planned to stay with Obama through the mid-term elections anyway.

Run, Rahm, Run. Obama needs a new Chief of Staff -- one who's more concerned with a bill's details than capitulating on principles to get it passed. From the New York Times March, 2010 profile on Rahm:

Emanuel is far less concerned about the details of a bill than the ability to get it passed.

Please, Chicago, take him off our hands.

Sunday's New York Times Magazine has an 8 page profile of Rahm Emanuel.

If Emanuel’s philosophy is to put points on the board, to take what you can get and then cut a deal, to make everything negotiable except success, then the White House is testing the limits of Rahmism.

....Emanuel occupies a unique niche in Obama’s White House. He makes up the rules of the game that others are supposed to follow, and he gets away with what others cannot. Emanuel seems to serve as a virtual prime minister, the most powerful chief of staff since James Baker managed the White House during Ronald Reagan’s first term.

The Times portrays him as a rattlesnake wired into every important decision:

 We Americans dwell in a consumer plutocracy, and the plutocrats don't even bother to be cute about it any more. Barack Obama, hailed by the geniuses of new media as a populist saviour, has surrounded himself with a team that was already bought and paid for by the financial services industry before they ever walked into the White House.

Larry Summers collected $5.2 million last year from his part-time job with a hedge fund.

$5.2 million for a part-time job!

One day per week!

"And just in case you ever get a big job in Washington, Larry, remember who your friends are!"