Posted by Kristen Mack at 5:21 a.m.; last updated at 2:55 p.m. with Emanuel quote



Chicago election commissioners today voted to keep Rahm Emanuel on the Feb. 22 Chicago mayoral ballot.

The 3-0 vote came just hours after a hearing officer recommended that the former White House chief of staff should remain in the mayor's race because he meets the city residency requirement.

"It was a difficult case to manage. For me, it was not a difficult case to decide," said Richard Cowen, an elections commissioner.

Emanuel this afternoon said he is “very pleased” with the board’s vote because it will allow him to focus on the issues in the last two months of the abbreviated mayoral campaign.



“We can now turn the page to the phase that’s now most important, which is attacking the issues the city faces,” Emanuel said after the board’s vote. “Since day one I have stayed focused on the challenges facing the city that I think have an opportunity to bring the city together, rather than divide us. I’m pleased with today’s decision, because it allows us to have the most important discussion about the city’s future. Others may decide that even after the recommendation and after the vote by the board that they want to continue. I have a responsibility for my candidacy, I have a responsibility for my campaign and that is to stay focused on the issues that votes of the city will face in the future.”

The election board is not expected to have final say on the issue. The losing objectors have a week to appeal the board's decision to the Cook County Circuit Court. The case could wind its way through the court system, including the Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Supreme Court, for weeks.

"My goal is to get this through the courts as soon as possible," said Burt Odelson, lead attorney for the objectors, to Emanuel' attorneys after the commissioners rendered their decision.

Odelson anticipated that it will be about a month before a final decision is made if the case ends up before the Illinois Supreme Court.



"We're on our way across the street to file the appeal, which we've already prepared," Odelson said. "We knew this was going to happen today."



Odelson said he will asks the courts to expedite the case.



"The facts of this case are no different than many that have come before this board," he said. "The difference is the candidate."

Emanuel attorney Kevin Forde said "Joe Blow" would have won the case if he had the same facts as Emanuel in his favor.



Forde said the facts of this case are completely unique to any other election case he has seen. "First of all, there is no reference in any of those cases to tooth brushes, places where you have to sleep, and some of the other stuff you've been reading about and publishing," Forde said.



But Forde said there is "plenty of authority on the subject" that if somebody temporarily leaves a permanent residence with the intent to return, that person remains a resident.

The vote came after hearing officer Joseph Morris' 69-page recommendation was issued at nearly 2 a.m. and the board opened its meeting at 9 a.m. in a Cook County building basement.

"It has not been established that the candidate, a resident of Chicago, abandoned his status as such a resident," Morris wrote of Emanuel's time as President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff. "In any event, his absence from Illinois during that time in question is excused, for purposes of the safeguarding and retention of his status as a resident and elector, by express operation of Illinois law."

You can read the report by clicking here: Download Morrisrecommendation.

During today's hearing, Burt Odelson, the attorney for the lead objectors, said Morris' recommendation turns the law of residency on its head.



"This (69-page) recommendation, I'm trying to guard my words, is shallow. It's shallow in reciting the facts," Odelson said.



"I was extremely disappointed we had to wait that long for such a poor product. This wasn't a difficult case. It only became difficult because of all of the objectors."



All of Emanuel's actions -- including applying for a homeowner's exemption, and amending his 2009 tax returns to declare he was an Illinois resident -- each came after Mayor Richard Daley announced he would not seek re-election, Odelson said.



Odelson declared Emanuel's moves as "self-serving action(s) taken to bolster his residency."

Emanuel's lawyers cited previous case law and Morris' recommendation to bolster its case that Emanuel has a right to remain on the ballot. The objectors, Michael Kasper said, presented a weak argument.



"Ultimately the argument is a house of cards and collapses because it's built on a poor foundation," Kasper said.



The objectors were trying the wrong case and "chasing the wrong cat," said Kevin Forde, another one of Emanuel's attorneys. Referring to Emanuel, a former four-term Chicago congressman, as a carpetbagger is ridiculous, Forde said.



"The issue here isn't whether Mr. Emanuel is the best person to be mayor," Forde said. "It's whether the people of Chicago should be able to vote on his candidacy."



The three-member elections board didn't have to abide by Morris' recommendation, but can consider it along with testimony from last week's hearing and legal arguments made by lawyers from both sides.

Chairman Langdon Neal gave objectors 15 minutes to read Morris' recommendation "since we did get it very late last night."



Today's meeting was more subdued than the circus-like atmosphere that dominated much of the hearing last week. Roughly half of the challengers showed up and most stayed on topic, rather than veering off on unrelated issues.



One challenger, Georzetta "Queen Sister" Deloney, attacked Emanuel.



"He's a deceiver and a liar and I believe if he is allowed to get on the ballot, he will steal this election," Deloney said.



Thomas J. Babbington, another one of the objectors, said if Emanuel was such a good friend of Daley, the mayor should have told Emanuel in February that he wasn't going to seek re-election "instead of making (Emanuel) run around, shuck and jive to get on the ballot any which way he can."



If Emanuel remains on the ballot, "the machine wins again," Paul McKinley said.



"I have not come here to praise the machine, but condemn it," McKinley said. "It's not a personal challenge against Rahm Emanuel. . . but against the machine Daley created."



Emanuel said he was encouraged by Joseph Morris' recommendation in a statement issued this morning.



"It affirms what I have said all along – that the only reason I left town was to serve President Obama and that I always intended to return," Emanuel said.



"Chicago voters should ultimately have the right to decide the election – and to vote for me, or against me. And they deserve a swift conclusion to this process."

No matter how the board votes, election commissioners are not expected to have the final say. The losing side has a week to appeal the board's decision to the Cook County Circuit Court. The case could wind its way through the court system, including the Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Supreme Court, for weeks.



Morris' recommendation came after a hearing last week that stretched out for several days and featured a colorful cast of characters arguing that Emanuel does not belong on the ballot because he does not meet the requirement of living in the city for at least a year before the election. Emanuel's attorneys argued that Emanuel always intended to return home to Chicago while serving as White House chief of staff and did not sell his North Side home.