[Illinois] Supreme Court: Emanuel on Chicago mayor ballot

Chicago Tribune ^ | 1/27/11 | Liam Ford

[Chicago Lampoon]

Did anyone really doubt that the Chicago fix was in all along? The Illinois Supreme Court just announced a 5-2 decision to allow Rahm Emanuel on the ballot for the February 22 Chicago mayoral election. Earlier today, former IL Republican Gov. Jim Thompson and other members of the state GOP establishment came out in favor of giving the former Obama ballot access.

[muawiyah]

Read it however you wish but that one dates all the way back Mar. 3, 1925, which clearly establishes it as part of the “reciprocity” agreement with MARYLAND ~ a quite historic piece of mishmash worth reading about for its entertainment value.

[mvpel]

The most recent revision was March 14, 2007, as you can see, so I’d have to wonder if you understand what a legislative history footnote means if you’re actually suggesting that a law is irrelevant because the first version of its section was drafted 85 years ago.

On closer reading it looks like he had 180 days [under (b)(2)], not 30.

[muawiyah]

You realize that you and others started this argument with a claim that Rahm had changed his residence from Chicago to DC and we could prove that by taking a look at his car registration.

Then you found out he hadn't registered his car in DC and was running around with (presumably) Illinois plates anyway.

Again, everything that's in the DC code doesn't apply to anyone who is governed by a federal law on the same issue.

Let me put it this way, ever since 9/11 the plates that are found on the personal motor vehicles of all the appointees aren't really selected by them ~ nor are they even from their home states ~

Rahm's job had exceedingly high risk and had the highest possible security clearance. I'm sure the Secret Service took care of all the details and you'd never found Rahm down at the DC DMV standing in line waiting on his new plates. And whatever that DC code says does not overrule Secret Service rules regarding the personal affairs of those closest to the President.

One of the reasons you are having trouble finding out how Rahm's situation fits into the general picture is that you are looking in the wrong place and you aren't authorized to look in the right place.

BTW, this can go to incredibly serious lengths. I had a T-10 phone line that went out. In the end we needed a detachment of troops (and both a DOD and Homeland Security permit) to open up the welded shut manhole cover to fish out the line and replace a burned out capacitor.

I've looked everywhere for the map that shows you where those welded manhole covers are ~ and it's just not out there.

[muawiyah]

Orlando Letelier and his assistant Ronnie Moffat were tooling along in DC back in 1976 and the car they were in exploded. He died. She was injured. Her husband was not injured.

A Chilean government agent had found their car and placed a bomb underneath the driver's seat.

Lots and lots of security standards changed after that ~ everyone in town realized that many of our government officials were pretty open to being blown up simply because their cars were easy to identify ~ just look at the plates, call up DMV and there you had it.

Took until the 1990s to get that part of it changed, but the Letelier bombing was carried out so easily everyone was frightened.

By the time I had to get tags for our small fleet I discovered that everything was OK with just a plain old P tag (for Postal) unless you were running vehicles North and South through Baltimore and there were these people who shot at cars with P-tags doing that (I had one shot), or if they were going to or through certain counties in West Virginia or Western Virginia ~ there you wanted a STATE PLATE! (This had to do with being mistaken for REVENUERS.)

I can only imagine what Secret Service does when a DC fee collector comes around and starts laying down tickets on the cars parked out there around the semi-circle near the White House.

[mvpel]

That’s all well and good, but I have yet to notice you citing the federal law which covers the same issue as 50-1401.02. Did I miss it somewhere?

Or are you referring to unpublished and inaccessible Secret Service policies?

You were the one who was irritated because Westlaw didn’t provide a permalink feature for 50-1401.02.

[muawiyah]

Sorry, I've already been up against the Secret Service world. They have policies ~ and methods ~ and I assure you the President's Chief of Staff doesn't go downtown EVER!

If he's going to be commuting to the White House Secret Service makes sure that every thing on or in his car is acceptable and not bugged. For them getting license plates to pass any test is a trivial matter.

I doubt Rahm had any idea where his car was really registered!

[mvpel]

Here’s another funny thing - Rahm Emanuel, a civilian employee not in line for the presidency and not confirmed by the Senate, is apparently not entitled by law to personal Secret Service protection, and there doesn’t seem to be an executive order authorizing non-statutory protection for him.

[muawiyah]

Of course there isn't anything special for the Chief of Staff ~ but when he's at work he's in a facility guarded by the entire Department of Defense AND the Secret Service.

When he travels with the President, he's within the zone of protection.

It's not like the people near the President are left UNPROTECTED ~ it's high risk to be there, and if something happens you get protected.

If he works at the White House the Secret Service makes sure his car isn't readily targeted by the bad guys as he's coming or going, or if he's parked out on the Ellipse.

I used to live one floor down from the apartments the Secret Service/State Department rented for "security purposes"~ there were security personnel (agents) on duty there 24/7. Whenever they had a party I was invited.

Great guys. They were all prepared to throw themselves between the killers and the people they were required to protect, and betwen the killers and others in the entourage.

They never talked about work ~ so most of what I know of their "detail" stuff comes from Air Force guys who worked with them and the KGB guy who lived across the hall. No, he didn't get invited to those parties!

The President of the United States wants his Chief of Staff to be at work on time, and any time. The last thing he wants is for him to be arguing with the DC DMV.