So today Rahm Emanuel was ruled ineligible by the Illinois Appellate Court. A series of mistakes on his part led to this ruling, and, from my point of view, illustrate the point that maybe he's not all that whip smart, and his methods are definitely kind of sloppy.
His first mistake was renting out his house. To a stranger that answered his broker's ad on Craigs list. And apparently never did a credit check. Is it really smart for the President's chief of staff's house to be occupied by a total stranger? It could lead to political embarrassment--what if the tenant had been a meth dealer, or had ties to domestic or foreign terrorists? Would anyone have believed Emanuel didn't know what was going on? Dumb. Really dumb. Not to mention that it left him wide open to a residency challenge.
His second mistake was filing a tax return that listed himself as a part time Illinois resident. Sloppy, if he didn't read it, as he says. Dumb, in light of our quirky residency rules.
His third mistake was amending his return after his residency was challenged, which sort of highlighted the issue. He could have amended it earlier (or not filed under such a status) but he waited until the issue was joined. Dumb.
His fourth mistake was tonight. He filed a petition in the Illinois Supreme Court asking for expedited review, and asking that the Board of Elections be ordered to leave his name on the ballot. Kind of an important document, needing a supporting record and an attorney affidavit verifying its accuracy. Guess what? The affidavit is screwed up. It purports to be the affidavit of a Mr. Gill, but it's not signed by Mr. Gill, it's signed by Mr. Kaufman. Is it fatal? Probably not. They can re-file a proper affidavit, but wouldn't you think that an important filing, one asking for an expedited review and the extraordinary relief of directing the Board of Elections to ignore the Appellate Court would at least have a proper affidavit? There's even a very slight risk that the whole petition could be thrown out because of this, and refiling it could eat up the clock. Sloppy. Dumb.
And he's supposed to be the smart candidate!