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* Rahm’s renter bows out of the mayor’s race…
The businessman renting Rahm Emanuel’s house withdrew from the Chicago mayor’s race today just hours before a hearing to decide whether he could be on the ballot.
Rob Halpin issued a statement saying “the realities of entering the race at this relatively late stage, including the financial and legal hurdles I’d have to leap in order to win, have forced me to reassess my intention to run at this time.”
Halpin’s impromptu candidacy had been in doubt all along and became more questionable after disclosures about the legitimacy of his candidacy petitions. Election law requires 12,500 valid signatures of Chicago voters to get on the ballot.
Halpin submitted about 17,000, but the Tribune reported last week that a number of people allegedly involved in the signature-gathering process said their names were used without their knowledge.
* The birthers have made an appearance…
This sounds familiar: Two of the Chicago voters challenging Rahm Emanuel’s right to run for mayor of Chicago are demanding, among other documents, his birth certificate.
Emanuel says he was born in Chicago, but …
(No, wait: There’s no restriction on where the mayor of Chicago can be born.)
* The son of Ald. Berny Stone got a bit goofy…
Mayoral candidate Jay Stone, son of alderman Berny Stone, was escorted from the hearing after calling for the ouster of Chicago Board of Elections chariman Langdon Neale.
“I challenge you Langdon Neale,” screamed Stone. “You make millions of dollars [through your private law practice],” he said, suggesting some impropriety. Stone has filed only about 250 signatures for his mayoral bid. 12,500 are needed.
M. Tricia Lee and Ryan Graves were also removed from the ballot.
Stone’s father appeared at a recent WBEZ candidates’ forum and attempted to prove that he still has all his faculties. The elder alderman didn’t do so well. Listen…
Oof.
*** UPDATE 1 *** A new objection has been raised to Rahm Emanuel’s candidacy…
Attorney Burt Odelson says Emanuel should be disqualified because he didn’t have a city sticker on his car when he claims to have been a Chicago resident.
“If you’re in debt to the city at the time you sign your statement of candidacy, you are disqualified as a candidate. We could find no record of city stickers being purchased from that address in ‘07, ‘08, and ‘09,” Odelson said.
The Emanuel campaign says he didn’t need a sticker on his car when it was with him in Washington, but since he’s been back he does have a sticker on his car.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Things really got weird at the Emanuel residency hearing…
Hearing officer Joseph Morris said he will try to keep out extraneous issues. For instance, he would not entertain a subpoena to make president Obama come Chicago, raise his right hand and testify what dates Emanuel has been serving him as chief of staff.
“That would be a waste of the president’s time and a waste of my time,” Morris said.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 1:29 pm
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I wonder if the Birthers realize that Democrats actually have been born in America.
Comment by J Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 1:53 pm
——-
This sounds familiar: Two of the Chicago voters challenging Rahm Emanuel’s right to run for mayor of Chicago are demanding, among other documents, his birth certificate.
——-
Those two individuals also requested information pertaining to Rahm’s alleged attendance of a madrassa in Indonesia. The Emanuel campaign could not be reached for comment. Clearly, he is hiding something.
I report, you decide!
Comment by dan l Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 1:57 pm
Considering that Chicago Illinois is the third largest city in the U.S. and is considered to be one of the great influential cities/regions in the world, the circus atmosphere and unserious nature of the mayoral election so far is disturbing and depressing. There is little positive or pride-inducing at this point with respect to the candidates or the processes.
Comment by Responsa Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:01 pm
250 signatures is still 250 signatures…. If he had said his firm had made billions of dollars perhaps he could have argued he was bad at math…
Comment by OneMan Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:02 pm
Mr. Stone should have left well enough alone.
Comment by Bitterman Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:04 pm
The question over whether Rahm qualifies as a resident for a year prior to the election despite leasing out his house is a legitimate one, but objecting based on a city sticker for his car? Come on…
Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:10 pm
RB, it’s not the sticker itself. It’s whether he owes the city any past due fines. That’s an automatic disqualification.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:12 pm
I’m no Rahm fan, but who’s the money guy behind Odelson with all this silly stuff? Vehicle stickers? What’s next, library fines?
I saw the names of the “official” objectors he’s representing, but I don’t believe they’re the money. And I doubt that Odelson works for free. Perhaps future considerations?
I think I know who the money is (a certain silver-maned, silver-tongued author of Chicago history, among other avocations), but I’m not close enough to put it out there.
Is the same guy behind the absurd Halpin and Meeks petitions (no coordination there, move along). That seems incredibly amateurish. And the dude I’m thinking of is anything but an amateur.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:12 pm
FWIW: Wouldn’t it be a poetic irony if Rahm were ruled to be ineligible due to not paying for a parking sticker?
Comment by Logic not emotion Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:23 pm
The lack of a City sticker, I think, speaks more to his lack of residency rather than Rahm bing in debt to the City. I surely could be wrong, but I don’t think there is a provision in the City Code to fine or bill people for previous years who did not purchase a City sticker when they should have. I would venture to guess that the current City code only speaks to having a sticker in the current year. Moreover, Odelson is trying to take two bites of the pie — if Rahm owes money for past City stickers, then aren’t they admitting that he was a City resident and therefore in violation of the law, and if they are claiming he was not a resident, than he wouldn’t need a sticker and therefore he wouldn’t be in debt. I’m rambling here, but my guess is that while he may have been in violation of the law by not purchasing the sticker, the City code probably doesn’t provide fines or charges for those that did not buy them for years past — only the current year.
Comment by Just Observing Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:26 pm
Odelson is starting to remind me of Gloria Allred.
Comment by Responsa Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:31 pm
Sure sounded from the start of that recording that Bernie Stone did not recall his own age.
Comment by Skeeter Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 2:35 pm
If Odelson thinks the City can get back fines for stickers, the City will figure out a way to fine us for running red lights when there were no cameras and there is no proof that we ever were there. Another money maker for the City that works!!!
Comment by justbabs Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:03 pm
Kasper looks exhausted!
Comment by amalia Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:20 pm
Does Rahm have any overdue library books? Has anyone CHECKED?
Comment by soccermom Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:26 pm
“The lack of a City sticker, I think, speaks more to his lack of residency rather than Rahm bing in debt to the City. I surely could be wrong, but I don’t think there is a provision in the City Code to fine or bill people for previous years who did not purchase a City sticker when they should have. I would venture to guess that the current City code only speaks to having a sticker in the current year. Moreover, Odelson is trying to take two bites of the pie — if Rahm owes money for past City stickers, then aren’t they admitting that he was a City resident and therefore in violation of the law, and if they are claiming he was not a resident, than he wouldn’t need a sticker and therefore he wouldn’t be in debt. I’m rambling here, but my guess is that while he may have been in violation of the law by not purchasing the sticker, the City code probably doesn’t provide fines or charges for those that did not buy them for years past — only the current year.”
You must purchase a city sticker for each year you have a car registered to a Chicago address. If you skip a year and are lucky enough to not get caught (i.e. ticketed) during that year, you still owe the debt. At one point several years ago the city was updating its records during its system conversion requiring many to produce cancelled checks/sticker receipts as proof of payment on previous years. So: if Emanuel’s car was registered to his Chicago address he owes the fees; if not, he may have to explain why his car was not registered here in the residency hearing. It is a very solid argument from his opponents either way.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:28 pm
===but I don’t think there is a provision in the City Code to fine or bill people for previous years who did not purchase a City sticker when they should have.====
If there is no provision than I want my money back for when they hit me up for a car I didn’t use for a couple of years before selling.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:33 pm
===You must purchase a city sticker for each year you have a car registered to a Chicago address.===
That’s not correct. If your car is “principally garaged” in the city of Chicago, you are required to pay the wheel tax, regardless of where the car is registered. Evidence of the wheel tax is a current vehicle sticker. If your car is registered in the suburbs, but principally garaged in Chicago, you owe the fee. That’s of course difficult to prove and enforce, which is one reason a lot of drivers keep their cars registered to a suburban address (that and insurance rates).
But don’t take my word for it, go to the City Clerk’s web page. Residency doesn’t factor into this at all. Rich is right, Odelson is trying to show that Rahm is delinquent on city taxes, which would disqualify him for mayor. I don’t think his argument will hold up, since if the car was in DC, no wheel tax liability is incurred regardless of where the vehicle is registered.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:40 pm
Whoever is behind this challenge, they’d better hope they can knock Rahm off the ballot, because they’re accomplishing something I didn’t think was possible - turning Rahm into a sympathetic figure.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:41 pm
What does it matter that Emanuel didn’t have a city sticker on his car. One guy who’s running for alderman in my ward had his petitions challenged because he had unpaid parking tickets. :/
Comment by levois Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 3:42 pm
Rich Miller is correct: if a candidate is behind on his financial obligations to a municipality (unpaid fines, water bills, etc.), the person is ineligible to run. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled upon that in a case from Stickney.
Comment by Honest Abe Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 4:02 pm
If Emanuel is eligible so is Obama. Let him run and win. He can do less damage to the country here than in Washington.
Comment by Lefty Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 4:09 pm
This kind of carp is why the average citizen hates politics, despises campaigns, suspects the true motives of most politicians and in the end distrusts the resulting government which is produced out of the shenanigans.
Comment by Responsa Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 4:17 pm
A huge break for Rahm getting Joseph Morris as his hearing officer. Morris is a hard core Republican, a conservative activist even. So when Morris rules for Rahm, which I’m sure he will, all the shrill craziness from the right will be defused. Will really hurt the conspiracy theorists.
Comment by just sayin' Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 4:28 pm
@just sayin’, well, then there are the Jewish conspiracy theorists….and Joe Morris is an interesting activist so that
should set heads spinning.
Comment by amalia Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 4:34 pm
LOL, amalia. Does anybody really care what those conspiracists think?
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 4:50 pm
Stone’s Wikipedia said he was born in 1924 … So that would make him 86, not 83, like he says on that clip. Sheesh.
Comment by Pioneer P. Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 5:06 pm
Did we evr get McKenna to explain why he used the same homeless mope and the forgers for both the Meeks and Halpin’s petitions?
Comment by CircularFiringSquad Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 5:35 pm
It’s truly amazing, Pioneer P., that he didn’t know his own age.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 5:47 pm
@Rich Miller:
Comment by amalia Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 6:53 pm
Hey Rich, nice meeting you at Thom Serafin’s party. FYI - it was the West Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s Aldermanic forum that was taped by WBEZ and moderated by their very able North Side Branch person - Odette Yousef.
I’ve been watching and later covering Berny Stone since I was the scheduler for his initial opponent Ted Berland, in the special election to elect a replacement for Jack Sperling.
83 jives with the information I’ve had for years, not 86. Wikpedia is almost as reliable as John Kass.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 11:38 pm
Here is a cut and paste from the very same wikpedia biography that says he he was born in 1924 which would make him 86.
“Early attempts at elected office
In 1956, at age 28, Stone ran in a multi-way race in the Democratic primary for the Illinois state House of Representatives from the 8th district,[2][3] but was defeated by Esther Saperstein,[4] who went on to serve in the Illinois House for 10 years and became Illinois’ first woman state senator.[5]”
If he was 28 in 1956, that would mean he was born in 1928 which would make him 82.
“Wikpedia!” making John Kass look like a reliable source.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 6, 10 @ 11:47 pm