Emanuel, a former congressman for part of Chicago, served as President Obama’s chief of staff until he resigned the position in October after current Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said that he would not seek another term in office. During his stint in the White House, Emanuel maintained ownership of his Chicago home, but had been renting the unit while he resided full time in Washington, D.C. Emanuel and his attorneys attempted to argue that he maintained his residency since he was serving duty in Washington at the president’s request, but the appellate court dismissed that argument Monday. The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Burt Odelson, the attorney who led the charge to throw Emanuel off the ballot, said the appellate court appears to have adopted all of his arguments that the state municipal code requires candidates for mayor in Illinois to reside within the town in which they’re running for a year prior to Election Day.

Emanuel was successful in hearings before two lower courts, so his standing on the ballot is not yet finalized. An appeal from his campaign to the Illinois Supreme Court is likely. The Democratic primary (which essentially chooses the eventual winner in the left-leaning city) is set for Feb. 22. Emanuel was on the path to an easy victory before this judicial setback, with a Chicago Tribune poll last week putting him ahead of former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun by a 44-21 percent margin.

Read the court’s full decision here (PDF).

At least one attorney believes a law could prevent Emanuel from being a candidate. Emanuel still owns a house in the city, but that’s not enough according to Burt Odelson, who has spent 38 years practicing election law.

Odelson says an 1871 state law requires candidates to live in their jurisdiction for one year before the election.

It seems unlikely that Rahm — who’s not shy about his ambitions to become mayor — hasn’t done his due diligence in this respect and that his house in Chicago isn’t sufficient to qualify him for residency. But Odelson’s 38 years practicing election law outnumber mine and Rahm’s combined, so I’ll reserve judgment for now.

“What he [Obama] should be doing is following the right things that Bush did – one of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama,” Giuliani said. “Number two, he should correct the things that Bush didn’t do right. Sending people to Yemen was wrong, not getting this whole intelligence thing corrected.”

We had no domestic attacks under Bush! Except for that really big one where 3000 people were murdered. And then the never-solved anthrax attacks that followed. Except for that, nothing. And “we’ve had one under Obama” — I guess the charitable reading is that he’s scoring Fort Hood a terrorist attack; either that or he’s saying a failed attempt on blowing up Northwest Flight 253 actually succeeded. Giuliani, the noun-verb-9/11 politician, is now a 9/11 denialist.

You actually need to give President George W. Bush credit for this. The Bush people did a wonderfully effective job of making it verboten in mainstream political discourse to consider the deaths of 3000 Americans on 9/11 in any sense Bush’s failing. To this day, there are people on the right who believe 9/11 is President Clinton’s failure; many of them would never dream of saying the system that Obama inherited from Bush was responsible for the near-miss on Flight 253.

On the back of a city council document,  when she was a council member, we can see Palin’s plans for her mayoral campaign.

Most prominent is her name, written with a marker in cursive.

Across the top she wrote: “Time for a Change” above “No tax increase.”

Her qualifications: lifelong Alaskan, graduate of Wasilla High School and Univ. of Idaho. And a “taxpayer!” (Though, not state — Alaskans do not pay state income taxes.)

“Wasilla needs a conservative choice for MAYOR in leadership,” Palin wrote.

Enjoy:

Mike Lillis and Matt DeLong are pitching in to help me comb through everything. One of the interesting documents we’ve come across so far is the memorandum from 2000 (available here) outlining why the town should hire a federal lobbyist. According to the document and accompanying contract, it looks like the lobbyist started about four and a half months sooner than previously disclosed. The city council approved a $15,000 initial budget for the plan without much fanfare. The item passed unanimously and without public discussion, along with a list of other more mundane city politics business, according to meeting minutes from Feb. 14, 2000.

The resolution explains that the firm, Robertson, Monagle & Eastbaugh, had been successful in getting money federal money for a neighboring city. As The Washington Post reported this week, the lobbyist from the firm eventually assigned to Wasilla, Steven Silver, had worked on Sen. Ted Stevens’ staff. I just spoke with the city’s current mayor, Dianne M. Keller, who confirmed that Silver is still the town’s federal lobbyist.

In 2000, the city wanted money for a variety of public works and safety projects, plus “weapons” for its small police force:

The city could use the assistance of a lobbyist to receive appropriations with a number of projects including: $6.6 million for Wasilla Water Utility Improvements, two 12-inch wells, well pump houses, 3-million-gallon reservoir and transmission mains; $3.2 million Urban Storm Retention and Lake Water Quality Improvements, three lift stations, oversizing for pipes (Parks Hwy), side road connections; and $90K for various Wasilla Police Department safety equipment, communication needs and weapons.

The hire was a smart move. Between 2000 and 2003, Wasilla received $11.9 million in federal money, plus another $15.9 million in money specifically for transportation improvements. During that time, Sen. John McCain, a strong opponent of the earmarking system, complained three times about specific earmark projects heading for Wasilla, The Los Angeles Times reports today.

Palin has positioned herself as a reformer, announcing how she killed the infamous “bridget nowhere earmark” — without mentioning her initial support for the project. She’s got some serious repositioning to do to pull off the fiscal-reformer image.

I’m reading an article from October 1996, in which a reporter named Laura Mitchell Harris asks Palin about her intentions for a shake up. How would she effectively run a city without experienced leaders? “”It’s not rocket science,” Palin said, “It’s $6 million and 53 employees.”

Note: A big thank you to the Frontiersman for opening their newsroom to me!

Update: Internet access is a bit tough to come by here, so I update frequently on twitter via phone.

Here’s what Laura’s telling us:

Gearing up for a press conference with the mayor. Only four other reporters here. (5:31 PM EST)

City of Wasilla site got 686k hits on Friday. (5:42)

City council members are not full time. (5:55) (Palin served on the council from 1992-1996.)

Press conference over. (6:05)

Evidently, it wasn’t terribly eventful. But what do you expect, when the biggest story on the front page of Wasilla’s top newspaper is about a thwarted piglet theft?

“Walmart employs 4 times as many people here as the city of Wasilla.”

and

“Another fun fact: Palin beat her opponent in the 1996 mayor’s race 616-413.”

A true metropolis.

Driving around this city today, I decided it looks more or less like a string of strip malls, 45 minutes northeast of Anchorage. I couldn’t help but think that being mayor of a place like this would be something akin to running a large neighborhood watch.

The main highway that runs through town is lined with new big-box stores, including a Target and a Wal-Mart. A handful of fast-food chains as well as some local restaurants also sprinkle the main drag. Breathtaking mountains, the peaks still lightly dusted with snow, create a striking backdrop. Despite the chain stores, this small city feels distant from the rest of the world. I’d have guessed Palin would have run the city with a “we’re in this together” theme.

It turns out she had a somewhat different approach. If a small-town mayor ever ruled with an iron fist — it was Palin. Eleven days after taking office in 1996, she mailed letters to each of the city’s top managers requesting that they resign as a test of loyalty.

The Anchorage Daily News at the time reported the strange events: (via Nexis)

Mayor Sarah Palin sent the resignation requests Thursday to Police Chief Irl Stambaugh, public works director Jack Felton, finance director Duane Dvorak and Mary Ellen Emmons, the head of libraries. A fifth director — John Cooper, who oversaw the city museum — resigned earlier this month after Palin eliminated his position.

Cooper initially resisted resigning, but to no avail. Palin also later fired the police chief, saying she knew in her “heart” that he did not support her. She left the head of libraries a letter saying she was out — though Palin later decided to spare the librarian after being convinced that she would tow the line.

The whole saga is unusual — considering Palin prides herself on being independent and seems to enjoy butting heads with her own party. But, this sounds like she requires fierce loyalty of those who work for her.

I’m still reporting on Palin’s time as mayor. More to come soon.