QUESTION: Will Rahm Emanuel's Man's Country Membership meet the residency requirement and save his bid to be Mayor of Chicago?

Could Rahm Emanuel be thumbing his nose at his opponents with this Man's Country residency loophole?
According to various sources, the legal requirement to run for Mayor of Chicago is to “maintain a Chicago residence” for one year before the election.
The Mayoral election is scheduled for February 22nd, 2011.
Rahm Emanuel has not lived in the City of Chicago since he moved to Washington to become Obama’s Chief of Staff back in 2009. To meet the residency requirement in its strictest interpretation, Emanuel should have been living in Chicago from February 22nd, 2010 through February 22nd, 2011…and we all know that is not the case.
The Democrat Machine in Chicago, which seems eager to do all it can to help Emanuel, claims his voter registration remained in Chicago and that he voted absentee in the recent primary elections, so that he has “established the intent to be a resident of Chicago”, which the Machine claims satisfies the residency requirement.
Attorney Burt Odelson, a residency requirement expert, believes Emanuel’s eligibility for this election will be challenged successfully in court, however. He states that once Emanuel leased his Chicago home in September 2009 (and has not been back since) that he could no longer claim to be a Chicago resident.
Being a “resident” of a city does not mean owning property there; you are a “resident” if you rent so much as a room in Chicago, and can prove that you have such a room ready and waiting for you whenever you need to put your head down onto a pillow here to catch some ZZZs (among other things).
Thus, another residency argument Rahm Emanuel can make is his lifetime membership to Man’s Country, a male bathhouse on Clark Street in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood – where Chicagoans for years have spotted both Obama and Emanuel when the two men lived here.
Man’s Country sells lifetime memberships for $10. Once a man becomes a member, he is allowed to show up anytime he wants (the place is open 24/7) to rent a room for 8 hours (he can also rent just a locker in case he doesn’t plan on sleeping and instead just wants to “hangout” or “play basketball” the way Obama used to with Kal Penn or Reggie Love until too much attention was drawn to their antics). The rooms have a small cot, a single pillow, a sheet, and sometimes a TV. Man’s Country is made up of a warren of these little rooms, with no ceiling, in what looks like a Halloween haunted house of twists, turns, nooks, and crannies. Watch out for ghosts!
Could Emanuel’s Man’s Country membership, coupled with his voter registration, qualify him to run for Mayor of Chicago?
We believe it could, because it meets all the requirements as we understand them:
* The voter registration, according to the Democrat Machine, means Emanuel had “the intent to become a Chicago resident” at some point in the future
* Since he owns a house in Chicago, but does not live there, his “intent to become a Chicago resident” is bolstered by the fact he did not sell his house so an argument can be made that he further intends to live in this house at some point in the future when the tenants who have leased it vacate
* Because he has a lifetime membership to Man’s Country, Emanuel can further argue that he not only has further “intent to become a Chicago resident” because of his lifetime membership in a Chicago bathhouse, but he also has at his disposal a room to sleep in whenever he is in town, if he so chooses
* Man’s Country is Emanuel’s landlord whenever he’d return to town, with his rent payable whenever they see him next. Since it’s around $20 for 8 hours to “sleep” at Man’s Country, this makes this a very expensive place for Emanuel to “live” full-time (at the rate of $20/8hours, that’s $5/2 hours, for over $21,000 a year!).
* Clearly, someone willing to spend over $21,000 to “live” in Chicago as a resident is someone who loves this town (and Man’s Country) enough to run for Mayor
All it will take to clear this whole residency requirement business up is for Rahm Emanuel to take to the airwaves and ask any men he’s met at Man’s Country to vouch for him, let the world know how often he’s been there, and tell everyone about how much he’s enjoyed “sleeping” there in the past.
Since past is precedent, all of the above establishes solidly that Emanuel is a lifetime member, formerly frequent user, and Man’s Country renter with not only the intent to become a resident of Chicago in the future but the delusional belief we will be our next Mayor.
Is this your take on the residency situation for Rahm Emanuel as well?
What think you?
Rub-a-dub-dub!
Three or more men in a tub!
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- Question: Do you think the DNC will out and destroy Rahm Emanuel like they did Eric Massa?
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Ok, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know a lot about Chicago politics (although they are fun to watch) but if Emanuel tried to do that he must know it would be the end of his political career.
I think there is a big difference to a “wink and a nod” knowledge of something and having it your nose rubbed in it which is exactly what he would be doing to both his opponents and his supporters.
Besides, I suspect Emanual has probably made a lot of enemies and he may start ending up as the punchline of a lot of late night comics jokes. Not something the Dems would want.
I wonder if Emanuel BOUGHT a home in Washington, or if he lives in a similar “bathhouse” situation there, it would establish a pattern of behavior. But if he bought a house or condo in Washington and has lived there pretty much fulltime, I would think that would establish that he changed residences, even if he did not change voter registration. And is he registered to VOTE at the Man Country address, or at his former home? Where does he get his mail?
When he was in Congress, he shared an apartment in DC with a couple of other guys in Congress. Not sure who they were.
That’s actually common for members of the house: there are a few of them who split a place because they don’t want to spend all that money maintaining one on their own.
If we remember right, he lived in someone’s basement…and we think that person might have been an exec at a big company.
The DC equivalent of Man’s Country is called Crew Club…but a little nicer. It’s more like Steamworks, the Boystown bathhouse.
I just did a little online sleuthing. I went to whitepages.com typed in Rham Emmanuel, Washington DC. Got a hit immediately.
Then I did the same search for Chicago, IL.
Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilcho.
I have access to the address (last 20 years) person finding system in the country. LexisNexis. What do you want me to look up?
He lived (lives?) in Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s (CT) basement in DC for free, and her husband, Stanley Greenburg (a media consultant)does PR for BP. Double-controversy over receiving a gift from Greenberg (free housing) and giving the appearance of under the influence of a BP representative.
Question: If he’s in DC and his Chicago house is rented, where does his wife and kid(s) live. Isn’t he married?
From what I’ve read, they moved to DC after a few months of him being made Chief of Staff. Because he missed them so much. *Cough*
I think the way he’s getting around this is that he moved them over, leased the house out and now wants it back. But apparently the guy in question doesn’t want to leave – apparently he thinks a lease is somehow binding, the swine.
he lived in Rosa de Lauro’s basement i believe, wife of Stan greenberg and a house member herself
You guys are the most sarcastic people I have ever “met”, and I used to think I was plenty sarcastic enough! lol
In New York, Jay Townsend is running against Schumer and I saw the polls with Schumer ahead of Townsend 58% to 35%. Schumer is one of the biggest commies in the senate. He has to go. He is a total schmuck. We need help in promoting Jay Townsend. Also, we need help in promoting DioGuardi against Gillibrand. She is another commie who voted for that evil death scare debacle.
Townsend will be the featured speaker at a GOOOH (Get Out of Our House http://www.goooh.com) event in Rochester this coming Tuesday. For any locals that want to hear him speak or ask questions, the event will be at Bathtub Billy’s (NOT a bathhouse – it’s a local pub) at 7 pm on Oct. 5th.
Also on the agenda is Jill Rowland who is running against Louise “Slaughterhouse Rules”. Open to the public – bring your friends and family to find out what Jay is all about!
You all know a lot more than I do about this situation, so please explain something to me.
Deadfish
Emanuel is said to have sent a dead fish in a box to a pollster who was late delivering polling results.
http://rahmfacts.com/dossier.html
Catie, cleared up Deadfish.
But Rahm is also known as The Ballerina and Toes (there is a infamous photo of him, in leotard, in ballet class from back in the day).
opps – sorry, typing too fast….
Deadfish has really burnt his bridge so is he not confident about the residency question?
What really interests me is that there is to be another round in the Blajo circus and reports have been made that since Rahm no longer has the protection of the WH, he may be subject to subpoena for the future Blajo inquiries.
Why take that chance?
THAT is the real reason Rahm is leaving the White House.
I must be stuck on stupid today, because that’s too cryptic for me.
Rahm is leaving the White House before the next round of the Blagojevich trial starts so that it mitigates the damages to the White House. He’ll be the FORMER Chief of Staff by the time the new trial starts…so that when he is asked all the questions that Blago’s lawyers will ask, he’s not working in the White House when that happens.
It was either leave now and use the Mayor’s race as an excuse (which means he had to be out before Nov 22)…or leave after the November bloodbath (which makes it look like he got fired after the losses)…but he had to be out by January because that’s when the new Blago trial starts.
This was the timing on this.
Thanks for the clarification, I didn’t follow, either.
Now it makes sense. I knew it had to be something bigger than just wanting to be the mayor of Chicago.
One doesn’t just quit a huge job like chief of staff to the President of the US without a transition period.
Thanks HB
Ohhhhhh. HB, what would we do without you?????
I have to ask…because each time I see the photo of the exterior of Man’s Country, I think, huh? I expected a grander facade; something art deco-ish. I know, I know…nondescript doesn’t draw attention…but glass block?
Yoi.
I heard Burt on the Roe Conn show on WLSAM yesterday afternoon. He knows his shiz. The question will be, does any other candidate have the *****s to press this matter. There was a law enacted in IL in 1943 that allows for voting if you are “In the service of your country” and gone for more than 1 year. And this is what they say Rahmbo is eligible under. However Burt pointed out that his law was enacted so that military people could continue to vote in the state. He said that if Rahm is given the “in the service of country” exception, then so should the White House cook the Ø’s moved in etc etc.
I love the fact that the people leasing Rahmbo’s house have refused to move out for him!!!!
We wonder who would have standing in the suit.
Could ANYONE who registered to run for Mayor sue Emanuel?
If so, one of us here will file the papers to run just to do that if someone out there can find us a lawyer who will represent us in the suit to disqualify Emanuel.
We’ve all lived here for at least 5 years now apiece, so that would be five of us if we all filed to run.
We need a new hobby.
Stopping Rahm Emanuel from being Mayor would be kind of fun, actually.
Okay.
What happens if one of you gets elected
Man, if I were a lawyer, I’d be so into this – pro bono!
Oh wow! HillBuzz for mayor! I might have to move to Chicago just to vote for y’all!
A lot of it also depends on what is his legal address for the last year or so. I am wondering if a case could be made for voter fraud if he has voted in Chicago while he has made DC his legal address.
FYI, in Nashville a democrat moved into the district he is running in after he began his campaign. He is renting a house while he still owns his home in another part of town, which he says he is loaning to a campaign worker. In Tennessee, you don’t have to live in a district in order to run so he can still be a candidate. Is this becoming more of a habit with Democrats than we have seen in the past – not caring if candidates can run in an area when they decide to run them and then arguing that they are the candidate so too late to change when it is brought to their attention?
I don’t know about the illegal voting. He has leased out his house – which means it is no longer his legal residence. According to Burt, he cannot claim it as his legal residence if someone else is leasing it from him. There should also be zoning laws stating that X amount of unrelated people can’t live in and claim residence in the same house. Owning a property is not the same as a legal residence.
The funny thing is, the people leasing the house signed the new lease on it something like 6 days prior to Daley announcing he wasn’t running again.
Oh my eyes. Who is the willing or unwilling victim whom Rahm is slobbering over?
Ummm – that’s Stephen Colbert, Expat. Who else would tolerate that?
I see — an actor so unfunny as to rival Al Franken.
Instead of moving back to Chicago, why doesn’t Rahm head out to Los Angeles? His brother Ari could find him a job, no doubt.
It’s a pity that the third of the bunch, Dr. Ezekiel, will be remaining in the greater D.C. area.
Regardless of his mayoral bid….Rahm is smart enough to know the Obama sink is sinking and he is getting out now before the bones of the Democrats in DC are picked clean.
Smart.
Are you saying with that pic that Colbert is gay?
You have to understand, I have a very poor gaydar. It goes off with Colbert, and I’m wondering if I’m wrong. Again.
No. It’s just a pic of him kissing a guy. That’s it.
Yup. Wrong. Once my ‘dar went off and it turned out the guy had just spent a year in Europe. Took a long time for it to wear off, though.
You change your residency by establishing a physical presence in the new place with the mental intent of remaining there permanently. There is no evidence that Rahm had any intention of remaining in Washington permanently. He didn’t want to go and he’s been homesick the whole time he was there. So because there was never any intent to remain in Washington permanently, he never established a new domicile there. Therefore, he is likely still domiciled in, and a resident of, Chicago.
Ahhhhhhh, yes, I see now. He ‘deemed’ himself a squatter in Washington. He did not have the ‘mental intent’ of remaining there permanently.
So now we are all supposed to be mind readers? Mental intent, hope and change – got it. clear as a bell.
Ok, maybe I’m naive here. Why hasn’t Obama’s “secret life” percolated to the surface? It seems to be pretty well documented, with many witnesses. How come a publication like National Enquirer hasn’t run with this story?
I’m also wondering this. How could a story like this not get out when soooo many people seem to accept it as common knowledge? Will the story get out before the next presidential election?
I feel sorry for the Obama daughters.
Well, let’s see:
(1) Why didn’t Mark Foley’s story get out for so many years….because Democrats and the media didn’t want it to until just before the 2006 election so that Foley hurt Republicans at just the right time
(2) Why didn’t Larry Craig’s story get out for so many years…because Democrats and the media didn’t want it to until Craig could hurt Republicans in the leadup to the 2006 election
(3) Why didn’t Eric Massa’s story get out for so many years…because Democrats and the media didn’t want it to until he voted against Obamacare and they decided to punish him
(4) Why hasn’t Aaron Schock been outed…because Democrats and the media blackmail him to vote the way they want when push comes to shove
(5) Why hasn’t Mark Kirk been outed…because Democrats and the media blackmail him to vote the way they want when push comes to shove
(6) Why hasn’t Lindsey Graham been outed…because Democrats and the media blackmail him to vote the way they want when push comes to shove
Do you need more?
Fine, but these are all minor players, not the POTUS. Do you think Hillary’s campaign knew about these stories and decided not to use them in the campaign?
So yeah, it’s all about power. But people on the other side want power as well, right? Didn’t Massa’s opponents have anything on him? Is it the soggy sandwich RINOs that don’t challenge guys like Graham just to keep an R in that seat? Or like Maria asked, why didn’t Hillary get hold of this? What I really object to here is Obama trotting out a wife and daughters and acting like a typical family man if he’s not.
Massa’s opponent was a NY Cocktail Party Republican. Not to mention a total sleeze.
Did you see this?
Chicago aldermen offended by Emanuel’s royal send-off
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/2763976,chicago-aldermen-rahm-emanuel-100110.article
According to the IRS, the location in which you spend the majority of your time is considered “home”. This comes into play for people who have homes in multiple states…the IRS works to ensure the people are paying ALL the taxes it can heap on them…i.e. preventing people from living in one state and claiming residence in a state with a lower income tax. By that measure, WDC would be his “home”.