Emanuel’s personal emails — The mayor’s fight to keep secret government-related emails he transmitted over his personal accounts cost taxpayers $1.18 million. A Cook County judge ruled earlier this year that the city had to pay the Tribune’s legal fees of more than $387,000 to argue that Emanuel had violated the state’s open records act in not releasing them. Emanuel has argued that the state’s open records law does not apply to emails and texts on personal accounts, regardless of whether they pertain to city business. The mayor, however, eventually agreed to release city-related emails stored on his personal accounts as part of a settlement with the Better Government Association in another lawsuit. In the Tribune case, Emanuel was declared in violation of the state’s open records laws.