In a 3-0 vote this morning, the Chicago Board of Elections has determined that Rahm Emanuel qualifies as a Chicago resident despite his years in D.C. as the President's Chief of Staff, and is eligible to run for Mayor in 2011.
The vote approves the 35-page (plus appendices) findings of the officer who presided over the raucous three-day hearing at which Emanuel and others testified. The most pertinent material starts at page 22 of the PDF, where the question is asked:
Did something happen after January 2, 2009, to deprive the Candidate of his status as a "resident" of Chicago for the period from and including February 22, 2010, to and including September 30, 2010?
(January 2, 2009 is the day Emanuel resigned as a member of the House.)
The report reviews the relevant facts -- Emanuel was born in Chicago, met his wife and was married there, bought a house there in 1998 which he continues to own, has maintained an Illinois drivers license at the house since 1998 (and never a DC license), registered his car as that house, and registered to vote at that house continuously since 1998.
In June 2009, Emanuel leased a home in DC, where he and his family moved along with most of their clothing and personal belongings, leasing the Chicago house to others starting in September 2009. Still, they kept their checking account (and address on their checks) in Chicago, and left there "numerous household items, including their bed, two televisions, a stereo system and a piano" for the lessors to use and 100 boxes of "possessions of sentimental value" in storage at the house. He also continued to pay Illinois state income tax as well as to D.C., and
testified that he considers Chicago to be his true home; that he has never considered living anywhere other than Chicago on a permanent basis; and that he always intended to return to Chicago, and to the [] House, when his service to the President of the United States had ended.
The officer determined that it was the Objectors' burden to prove that Emanuel had abandoned Chicago residency, as opposed to his needing to prove it, and accordingly determined that the preponderance of the evidence established that Emanuel "never formed an intention to terminate his residence in Chicago; never formed an intention to establish his residence in Washington, D.C., or any place other than Chicago; and never formed an intention to change his residence."
Moreover, the report explains, he only was present in D.C. "solely for the purpose of permitting him to discharge what he perceived to be a duty to serve the United States in the capacity of the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States," which the officer regarded as "a public office of considerable weight and importance in the life of the nation," and that Emanuel's intent to return home mattered more than whether he still had "a place to sleep" in Chicago.
This, of course, is not over: those objecting to Emanuel's candidacy on such grounds now move from the Board of Elections to the Cook County and state appellate court system. Ultimately, of course, it would be left for the voters to decide if Emanuel is "Chicago enough" for them.
Also running, as of now: former U.S. Senator (and Ambassador to New Zealand) Carol Moseley Braun; Rep. Danny Davis; City Clerk Miguel del Valle; and former school board chief Gery Chico. The most recent polls have Emanuel up significantly, but it's unclear whether he can clear the 50% bar to avoid a run-off.