Emanuel asks Illinois Supreme Court for emergency stay

Posted by Kristen Mack, David Heinzmann, Hal Dardick and Dawn Rhodes; Tribune reporters

Attorneys for Rahm Emanuel late today asked the Illinois Supreme Court to prevent Chicago elections officials from printing ballots for the Feb. 22 mayor's election without his name.

Emanuel's legal team also said they will ask the state's highest court on Tuesday to hear their appeal of a decision by an appellate court today to knock him off the ballot on the grounds he doesn't meet residency requirements.

Chicago elections officials said today they have to begin printing the 2 million or so ballots needed for the election as well as preparing electronic voting machines for early voting that begins next Monday.

Emanuel held a news conference before the legal filings to try to reassure voters his campaign to succeed retiring Mayor Richard Daley continues.

"I have no doubt at the end we'll prevail in this effort," Emanuel said at a news conference. “We’ll now go to the next level to get clarity."

“I still own a home here, (I) look forward to moving into it one day, vote from here, pay property taxes here. I do believe the people of the city of Chicago deserve a right to make a decision about who they want to be their next mayor," Emanuel said.

In a 2-1 ruling, the appellate panel said Emanuel does not meet the residency requirement of having lived in Chicago for a year prior to the election. The judges reversed a decision by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, which had unanimously agreed that Emanuel was eligible to run for mayor.

"We conclude that the candidate neither meets the Municipal Code's requirement that he have 'resided in' Chicago for the year preceding the election in which he seeks to participate nor falls within any exception to the requirement," the majority judges wrote. "Accordingly, we disagree with the Board's conclusion that he is eligible to run for the office of Mayor of the City of Chicago. We reverse the circuit court's judgment confirming the Board's decision, set aside the Board's decision and ... order that the candidate's name be excluded (or, if necessary, removed) from the ballot."
The majority opinion was written by Appellate Justice Thomas E. Hoffman and concurred with by Presiding Appellate Justice Shelvin Louise Marie Hall.

Appellate Justice Bertina E. Lampkin wrote a dissenting opinion.

"I disagree with the majority's contrary conclusion that the candidate is not eligible to be on the ballot because that conclusion is based on an analysis of two issues --- establishing residency and a statutory exemption to the residency requirement --- that are not relevant to the resolution of this case."

Emanuel said he meets requirements despite serving as President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff.

“Fundamentally, when a president asks you to serve the country as his chief of staff, that counts as part of serving your country," Emanuel said. I have no doubt that in the end we will in the prevail at this effort. As my father always used to say, nothing is ever easy in life. This is just one turn in the road.”

“The Supreme Court has an obligation, not an obligation, to hear the case, to make a decision quickly," said Emanuel, who stumbled over his talking point. "So both not only voters have a clarity they need, but there’s a clarity to the issues we are discussing in front of the voters as it relates to the challenges that we have as a city for our future."

Time is of the essence, however. Early voting starts a week from today on Jan. 31.

Langdon D. Neal, the elections board chairman, issued a statement: "We're going to press with one less candidate for mayor."

During a conference call, elections officials said they would send the ballots to the printer tonight and printing would begin Tuesday.

“We’ve basically hit the go button,” elections spokesman Jim Allen said. “We needed to do this on the 18th, we were waiting for this decision. We going to press now, we have to.”

“A candidate who is removed from the ballots by the court’s has until Feb. 15 to file as a write-in,” Allen said.

"This is all unchartered territory," Allen said.

The appellate court judges heard the case last week. To read the opinion, click here.

Emanuel is the front-running candidate in the race to succeed Mayor Richard Daley. The latest Tribune poll showed Emanuel at 44 percent, more than double his closest rival, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.

The news crashed Emanuel's campaign web site this afternoon.

Opponent Gery Chico told reporters he was very surprised by the ruling and said he has never made Emanuel's residency a campaign issue.

"I believe in ballot access," Chico said outside a fundraiser at a River North restaurant shortly after the ruling. "We will continue vigorously with our campaign, with or without Rahm Emanuel."

Chico sidestepped questions about whether he was happy for the development. "I've said from Day One of this campaign that I haven't paid much attention to who's on or who's off, who's in the race."

When asked whether Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke should recuse herself from the case because of Chico's longstanding ties with her husband, Ald. Ed Burke, Chico shook his head, and said it was not an appropriate question for him to consider. "I'm a candidate for mayor. I don't tell the Illinois Supreme Court what to do," he said.

Opponent Carol Moseley Braun, who was second in the Tribune poll, described the news as a "major milestone" for her campaign.

"Our campaign for mayor has always been about standing with all families in every neighborhood of this great city," Braun said. "Nothing about that has changed with today's appellate decision. . . Today's decision is a major milestone for our campaign, but the decision doesn't make one neighborhood safer, one senior more secure, one child better educated or give one unemployed person a job."

Braun also pitched herself as a candidate who could appeal beyond her African American base to all Chicagoans.

“I am extending a hand of friendship to all the fine Chicagoans who have been supporting Mr. Emanuel and all those who haven’t made up their minds yet,” she said. “We all love this city and want to see it move forward, and I hope that everyone will join us in that effort.”

When asked if she hoped Emanuel’s removal from the ballot would be an opportunity for her to raise more campaign cash, she responded:

“We’ve always had a poor campaign with a rich message. While we hope that it will be less poor, at the same time our message is consistent and the same — that I have the ability to deliver for all the people of Chicago to help move our city in the right direction.”

Opponent Miguel del Valle, the city clerk, issued a statement.

“Those who thought that Rahm Emanuel’s election was a foregone conclusion: Now, the voters are going to really have an opportunity to choose the next mayor of the city of Chicago,” del Valle said.

Hours after the appellate court ruling, Emanuel supporters gathered for brief a rally outside the offices of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, the folks that last month had unanimously confirmed his eligibility to run for mayor.

Donning signs which said "Keep Rahm on the ballot" and "We stand by Rahm," the group chanted that they should have the choice of who to elect as mayor.

"We need to make sure that we don't get a mayor by default," said campaign co-chair Juan Rangel, the head of the United Neighborhood Organization. "We have to make sure that the people get to decide this election."

Opponents say Emanuel doesn't meet the one-year residency requirement because he was in Washington serving as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.

Before today, Emanuel had won rulings by the election board and in Cook County Circuit Court. Today’s ruling seems certain to be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Emanuel, a former North Side congressman, had served Obama in Washington from January 2009 until October.

Posted at 12:35:28 PM in 2011 Chicago election, 2011 Chicago mayor's race

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2011/01/appellate-court-says-emanuel-should-be-removed-from-ballot.html