Respondent Candidate's Motion to Strike Objector's Petition to Disqualify Candidate

RESPONDENT CANDIDATE'S MOTION TO STRIKE OBJECTOR'S PETITION TO DISQUALIFY CANDIDATE

Respondent-Candidate, Rahm Emanuel, by his attorneys, 1224255 LLC, moves this Board to strike the Petitioner-Objector's petition seeking to disqualify Rahm Emanuel. Rahm Emanuel will have been a resident of the City of Chicago for one year prior to the February, 22, 2011 election. Neither Emanuel's temporary departure nor the renting of his home constitutes abandonment of his Chicago residence. Furthermore, Rahm's voting record while he was out of town reaffirms his place of residence as the City of Chicago. Additionally, Rahm's relocation fell under the "on business of the United States" provision and the voter residency requirement enumerated in the statute should be construed to also apply to candidate residency, which would exempt Rahm from proving his residence. In support, Respondent-Candidate, Rahm Emanuel, submits his Memorandum in support of Motion to strike Petitioner-Objector's petition seeking to disqualify him, and Rahm Emanuel states as follows:

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

Rahm Emanuel, and later his wife and three children, relocated to Washington, D.C. in January of 2009 to serve his country as Chief to the President of the United States. Over ten years prior, Rahm and his wife purchased a home in Chicago, Illinois, that they currently own. The Emanuels spent a decade raising a family at the 4228 N. Hermitage address before the President summoned Rahm to Washington. In the summer of 2009, the Emanuels leased a house in Washington and, while maintaining their ownership of the Hermitage residence, the Emanuels rented out their Chicago home to the Halprins. Both leases are to end on June 30, 2011. Because his home was occupied, Rahm stayed at hotels when he was back in town. Although Mr. and Mrs. Halprin voted from the Hermitage address in every election from 2009 to February 2010, Rahm was also registered to vote from his home's address and voted from it in every election from 1999 to February 2010, the last of which Rahm submitted an absentee ballot from the nation's capital. The Emanuel family was present together in Washington slightly over one year from June 30, 2009, until October 1, 2010, when Rahm resigned and returned to Chicago. As his home remained in possession of the Halprins, Rahm rented a different house in Chicago and registered to vote from that address. Rahm has been an eligible candidate in Chicago in the past as he ran and succeeded in his quest to serve as the United States Representative representing the Fifth Congressional District in the elections of 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008.

ARGUMENT

Because Rahm Emanuel will have been a resident of the City of Chicago for one year prior to the February, 22, 2011 election, Petitioner-Objector's