We’ve gotten news that Rahm Emanuel has gotten tossed off the mayoral ballot by an appellate court in Illinois. We don’t have a sense yet of whether this is something his team has a good shot of reversing or not. But I must confess I find the whole issue sort of perplexing. I’m not particularly invested in the result one way or another. But election eligibility laws generally have very big exceptions for service in the federal government. And Rahm was first a congressman from Chicago and then the White House chief of staff. It really seems open and shut. The fact that he was leasing his Chicago home doesn’t seriously suggest he wasn’t planning on returning. If anything, the opposite.
Again, I don’t know the caselaw involved. And this is really an issue for Chicagoans. But I’m genuinely surprised this is even an issue.
