So, yesterday an Illinois Appellate Court rules that Rahm Emanuel was thrown off the ballot for the Mayor’s office vacated by Richard Daley for not meeting the residency requirement. Now, I’m not a resident of the city of Chicago so I don’t have a vote in the matter. However, it’s no secret that I despised many of the actions of Mayor Daley and I’m also a fan of small government and adhering to the law.

With that said, I seem to be in the minority of people who are happy about this.

First, some background if you’re not familiar with the story. Rahm served as an advisor to President Clinton from 1993 to 1998 and was a Representative for one of Chicago’s districts in the House of Representatives since 2003 through 2008. He left that position to move up to serve as Obama’s Chief of Staff until October, when Richard Daley announced that he won’t be running for reelection. Clearly, this guy is a career politician… and I subscribe to the belief that anyone who has what it takes to rise to the ranks of power at the federal level, they have to compromise their integrity many times along the way. I believe in a smaller and simpler government and vastly prefer those running our government to not be beholden to those that helped them get elected or those that will abuse their power to try to force people to live in a certain way. I truly believe in freedom, but with that comes the responsibility that nobody is there to look out for you or take care of you when things don’t go well.

Now, I don’t know Rahm all that well… he might be a great guy… but the point of the residency requirement is to make sure that you’re aware of local issues. Yes, Rahm grew up around here, but he was clearly busy with federal issues and all of the politics that goes on in Washington D.C., and the most damning thing against him is that he turned his home in Illinois into a rental property. This means that he didn’t live there anymore. Congress isn’t a year-round job, and when they aren’t in session… those Senators and Representatives return home so that they can meet with their constituents and be aware of what’s going on in the area. As Chief of Staff, Rahm likely had a home in the Washington D.C. area and either remained in D.C. or traveled the world on White House business. The point is.. he didn’t have his ear to the ground here in Chicago.

So, after enduring Mayor Daley’s tyranny… the last thing I want to see is another big government guy from Washington D.C. come in and try his hand at running the Machine that Daley left behind. If I was able to vote for someone, I’d look for a local candidate who wants to dismantle much of that machine and return the City to focusing on eliminating waste and improving efficiencies. There are MANY issues I’d like to see the City focus on.. but I won’t get into them here. In my opinion, any fair minded individual should be able to hold the office and do a very good job.

I’m saying.. let’s give someone a chance.. and Rahm… if you are really dedicated to run this city… there’s another election in 4 years… take two years off.. then come back here and buy a house and you’ll be just fine for the next election. The last thing I’d want to see is a special exception made because he appears to be the most qualified person for the job (or is liked by the people or has raised the most money). Sure, its great… but we have rules for a reason. If you don’t like those rules.. change them (and they only apply to the NEXT election cycle… you can’t change the rules of the game during the game!). I mean… its like when California was in good shape a few years ago and the rumor was that Arnold wanted to run for President, but since he is not a natural born citizen, he’s not allowed to. At least he was talking about amending the constitution to change that requirement. But in hindsight… seeing what’s happened to California under his watch… It would be frightening to find out what would have happened to the country under his leadership.

Of course… this is going to go to the Illinois Supreme Court… knowing Illinois politics, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just push him through and put him on the ballot and right into the Mayor’s office. I at least will be watching this!