Politics really does make for strange bed fellows


BREAKING: Emanuel appeal expected before close of business
By: CNN Political Unit


(CNN) - Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel will appeal a court's ruling removing him from the ballot, he said at a press conference Monday.

He said he has "no doubt" he will face the voters in the upcoming election and expects the Illinois Supreme Court will move quickly once his paperwork is filed.

"I have no doubt we will in the end prevail in this effort," Emanuel said. "As my father used to say, nothing is ever easy in life, this is just one turn in the road."

Emanuel was thrown off the ballot Monday by an Illinois appellate court panel, according to the Cook County Appellate Court's office.

The panel ruled 2-1 that Emanuel did not meet the residency standard to run for the city's top office.

"A candidate must meet not only the Election Code's voter residency standard, but also must have actually resided within the municipality for one year prior to the election, a qualification that the candidate unquestionably does not satisfy," the court stated in the decision.

Emanuel was considered the front runner to replace outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in the February 22nd election.

In December, the Chicago Board of Elections determined he was a resident, but that decision was appealed. Emanuel served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff, a position he left last year to return to Chicago.

Emanuel is expected to appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court, and a federal appeal could follow.

According to a recent Chicago Tribune/WGN survey, 44 percent of the city's voters backed Emanuel, 21 percent backed former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and 16 percent backed former Chicago Board of Education president Gery Chico. City Clerk Miguel del Valle received seven percent and nine percent remained undecided.

The source close to the Emanuel campaign told CNN his legal team anticipated there was a chance the court would rule against them and they have an emergency appeal already written.

Moseley Braun is expected to make a statement at 3:30 p.m. ET Monday.

What a power trip, just like most of those blow hards.

Didn't bother to follow the rules so go to court. If the rule say's that he has to actually reside in the city seems cut and dry. Can't believe that a court ruled 2-1. Should have been 3-0.

better to have a Tammany Hall-type thug, crook and influence peddler than a nutbird of the Barbara Boxer vein who thinks everyone who criticises her is a Klansman

The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the ballots must be printed with his name until his appeal can be heard..

and some $ exchange hands, no doubt...

or maybe the SEIU can "disappear" the other mayoral candidates...