Dear Rahm,
We understand that after an appellate court ruling Tuesday, you may be looking for new opportunities. Might we suggest a run for mayor of Baltimore? After all, we in Maryland have a somewhat more flexible view on the question of residency than that divided three-judge panel who deemed you unfit to serve as mayor of your native city. There, the judges evidently think that a 1-year residency requirement means you have to physically live in the city you seek to represent; here, we recognize that home is where the heart is.
In Baltimore, we have a city councilwoman who lives with her boyfriend in a waterfront condo miles from her district. We have a governor who still votes in Baltimore, despite having sold his house here when he moved to Annapolis; his wife still serves as a Baltimore district judge. And most famously, Gov. Theodore McKeldin actually ran for mayor of Baltimore while he was, by requirement of the state constitution, living in the governor's mansion across the street from the state capitol.
The legal principle here is that residency is a question of intent. In your case, although you left Chicago to serve as the White House chief of staff, you kept your house in Chicago, kept many of your possessions there, and say you always intended to return. As far as Maryland is concerned, that's more important than where you actually lay your head at night. We are, of course, insufficiently expert in the intricacies of Illinois law to say whether the state Supreme Court there is likely to see things Maryland's way, but we can attest that our interpretation makes more sense. After all, who is more Chicagoan, someone like you who was born in the city and represented it in Congress for years, or someone who moves in 365 days before the election?
So if this appeal doesn't work out, we are happy to inform you that there's a mayoral election going on in Baltimore, too. Wear an Orioles cap for a few days, and that's probably good enough for Maryland law.
Of course, it might well not be good enough for Baltimore voters. And that's the most important point. Residency requirements are born out of the noble idea that a person should be sufficiently familiar with the place he or she represents. But the real check on that is the electorate. Hillary Clinton, for example, showed up in New York state about 15 minutes before she ran for Senate, but she impressed the voters, even the picky up-state types, with her commitment to and knowledge of the state, and she served them honorably for eight years. If, on the other hand, she had started flubbing questions about dairy subsidies, the voters would have spit her out regardless of what the law said about her residency.
Just because you legally can represent a city or district doesn't mean the voters will decide you should. But if the voters want you to represent them, the law shouldn't stand in the way.
So feel free to make a run for mayor of our city. It's only fair after the unfortunate 2004 incident in which Marylander Allan Keyes shipped himself to Illinois to run against Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate. Just make sure you know how to pick a crab before you get here.
Sincerely,
The Sun
