I certainly remember that it is Alderman and Democratic Party Ward Committeeman Ed Burke.

Should Rahm Emanuel point the finger at Ed Burke for his being thrown off the ballot by the Appellate Court?

And that was the thought that came to mind when a friend called to tell me the 1st Appellate Court panel had ruled Rahm Emanuuel did not meet the residency requirement to run for major.

I’m being too conspiratorial, right?

= = = = =
Here are the reactions I have gotten to me conspiratorial approach.

The first is from a comment under the story in Capitol Fax Blog:

– irv & ashland – Monday, Jan 24, 11 @ 3:34 pm:

Cal,

For what it’s worth, the two judges have been on the court for quite a while. I did look at results from their most recent retention to get a sense of political support, and found no real difference between the 14th Ward and everywhere else. Not that that’s the final word on whether Burke originally sponsored them, or continues to, but at any rate I found no evidence that his support was a major recent factor in their careers.

The second comes from an attorney who has practice before one of the Appellate Court Justices when he was in Circuit Court:

To answer your question about the judges in Cook County, Hoffman is a very
intelligent and very well respected judge. I appeared in front of him when
he was an ordinary Circuit Court judge. His acumen was quickly acknowledged
and he rose quickly. If anything, I would say he is an IVI-IVO type, not a
machine hack. I would be hard pressed to come up with the name of any other
judge in the entire state that I felt was smarter and more ethical than
Hoffman. Maybe I am wrong about that but that has been my impression.

I think the decision is eminently reasonable. If you want to represent the
people of a municipality, you ought to have lived there a while. This is
different from voting, where you can qualify 30 days before an election.
That is the crux of the decision. The legislature was attempting to curb
carpet bagging when it comes to people who want to serve in office. Maybe
it’s an antiquated concept in the modern internet age, but it’s what we
have.