# Will Rahm Emanuel resign or be impeached?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [December 20, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917 "2015-12-20T12:18:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/1 "2015-12-20T12:18:34Z")
I think he should resign. I hope he does.
I readily admit that I don’t know a lot about how he has performed overall in his job as mayor, but I have been very unimpressed with his handling of the McDonald shooting, in particular. I also think his demeanor is very off putting.
What do you guys think?
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### Author:  [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/2 "2015-12-20T13:02:17Z")
I’m not following that close, but did he commit a crime?
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### Author:  [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/3 "2015-12-20T13:03:16Z")
I’m not a fan, and I didn’t vote for him. But unless something happened that we don’t already know about, I think he will resign slightly after Hell freezes over.
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### Author:  [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/4 "2015-12-20T14:03:27Z")
Oh sorry, I should have included more info. I’m talking about this.
> **[Hundreds Demand Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Resignation In Loop Protest - The...](https://chicagoist.com/2015/12/19/hundreds_march_for_a_second_time_de.php)**
>
> Hundreds Demand Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Resignation In Loop Protest
From the article:
“Hundreds of demonstrators packed the Loop Friday afternoon for another march demanding the resignation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Groups calling for him to step down over the Laquan McDonald case and other instances of police corruption and violence met again at Daley Plaza around 3:16 p.m. This was the second such demonstration in a week.
“We were lied to. Rahm stole everyone’s vote, manipulated the city, and we definitely are seeing his dictatorship in action,” said Rousemary Vega, who organized this and the previous demonstration demanding Emanuel resign. “When your people call for your resignation, when your people say ‘you suck at your job’, when your people say this train came to get you, you jump on it.”
It seems obvious to me that Rahm has handled this situation badly, if not even corruptly, so I don’t know if he can survive this.
Here’s another story:
[http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon1215ar.html](http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon1215ar.html)
“AARON M. RENN
The Fall of Rahm Emanuel
Chicago’s bullyboy mayor will never change.”
I understand he has left the city for two weeks over the holiday and he is keeping a low profile, perhaps hoping this will go away.
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### Author:  [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/5 "2015-12-20T15:39:32Z")
I wouldn’t think either will happen. It is Chicago, after all.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/6 "2015-12-20T16:03:24Z")
People not liking him is not a reason for impeachment; that option is reserved for _proven_ criminal activity.
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/7 "2015-12-20T16:11:25Z")
“Hundreds of demonstrators”? In a city the size of Chicago? That’s barely a blip.
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### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/8 "2015-12-20T18:07:57Z")
A recall is more likely than an impeachment. [Here’s an article](http://wgntv.com/2015/12/10/illinois-lawmaker-calls-for-recall-of-chicago-mayor-emanuel/) about a state legislator who has a plan for this.
This controversy has been in the national news for a while now. This is not a small problem, despite the size of this particular demonstration.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/9 "2015-12-20T18:30:55Z")
Does anyone know a true Rahm supporter?
I don’t.
He was basically appointed to the position and has won without really even trying.
Anyway, he certainly won’t resign.
I think he has his eye on a bigger prize.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/10 "2015-12-20T18:59:25Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> People not liking him is not a reason for impeachment; that option is reserved for _proven_ criminal activity.
Impeachment has nothing to do with criminal activity and there is no burden of proof. It is a purely political process, not a judicial one.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/11 "2015-12-20T20:30:06Z")
I’m a Chicagoan who volunteered for Rahm’s campaign and remain a strong supporter. He’s not going to resign and there
is no way the recall bill will get through the Illinois assembly.
Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teachers’ Union, is behind many of these protests. She wants the Mayorship badly but she won’t get it. She fell ill before the last election and was unable to run.
People here are fed up with the silly protests. Laquan was a gang member, drug dealer, and juvenile delinquent. The officer may have used excessive force, but murder charges are way over the top.
Hopefully the weather will get colder and the crybabies will go away.
Rahm’s property tax hikes are a bitter pill, but they’re the right thing for the city. Getting the fiscal house in order will insure Rahm is easily elected to another term should he desire it.
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### Author:  [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/12 "2015-12-20T23:22:37Z")
> [@dalej42](#):
>
> …Laquan was a gang member, drug dealer, and juvenile delinquent. The officer may have used excessive force, but murder charges are way over the top.
I’m probably wasting my breath (metaphorically) here, but have you seen the video? The one in which McDonald is shown walking away? The one which shows sixteen shots being fired at someone whose back is turned? The one in which the officer starts firing six seconds after arriving on the scene? (“Ah yes, that fellow walking away from me is most certainly Laquan McDonald, noted gang member, drug dealer, and juvenile delinquent! Oh, and he’s got a knife which he’s not actually using! Better shoot him while the shooting’s good.”)
Good grief.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/13 "2015-12-20T23:31:02Z")
No Rahm is not going to resign. He will very easily survive.
That said he may be quite vulnerable next election cycle and I think that Toni Preckwinkle would beat him handily if she had the desire for the job. Of course she likely would have this last cycle too …
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### Author:  [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/14 "2015-12-20T23:55:19Z")
Is impeachment even an option under Illinois law?
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/15 "2015-12-21T03:41:44Z")
> [@DSeid](#):
>
> No Rahm is not going to resign. He will very easily survive.
>
> That said he may be quite vulnerable next election cycle and I think that Toni Preckwinkle would beat him handily if she had the desire for the job. Of course she likely would have this last cycle too …
Preckwinkle and her tax increases will have no chance whatsoever against Rahm and she would have gotten spanked even worse than Chuy the Clown in this year’s Mayoral race. I don’t like Rahm’s property tax increase but I knew it was coming. Preckwinkle not only ran for office with a sales tax increase opposition platform, she not only increased sales tax in Cook County but now she wants to jack up hotel taxes as well.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/16 "2015-12-21T03:55:29Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#):
>
> I’m probably wasting my breath (metaphorically) here, but have you seen the video? The one in which McDonald is shown walking away? The one which shows sixteen shots being fired at someone whose back is turned? The one in which the officer starts firing six seconds after arriving on the scene? (“Ah yes, that fellow walking away from me is most certainly Laquan McDonald, noted gang member, drug dealer, and juvenile delinquent! Oh, and he’s got a knife which he’s not actually using! Better shoot him while the shooting’s good.”)
>
> Good grief.
I totally agree that Laquan should not have been shot what was it 16 times? That was purely over the top, and absolutely indefensible.
That said, Laquan was not innocent. He also had a knife and ignored police officer commands. The officers should have kept him covered, given additional warnings, and then tased the holy fucking shit out of him until unarmed and incapacitated. The officer in question should be held accountable.
But impeaching Rahm seems _ahem_ a stretch unless it can be proven that he was personally involved in covering up the incident.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/17 "2015-12-21T04:02:37Z")
> [@DSeid](#):
>
> No Rahm is not going to resign. He will very easily survive.
>
> That said he may be quite vulnerable next election cycle and I think that Toni Preckwinkle would beat him handily if she had the desire for the job. Of course she likely would have this last cycle too …
I ended up voting for Rahm because, well, because Chuy wasn’t a viable option. I too think Preckwinkle would’ve beaten him and she certainly would have gotten my vote if she ran but, luckily for Rahm, she didn’t. And, yeah, no way in hell he resigns or gets impeached over this.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/18 "2015-12-21T05:05:12Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#):
>
> I think he should resign. I hope he does.
>
> I readily admit that I don’t know a lot about how he has performed overall in his job as mayor,
I think your opinion is not well-founded, by your own admission. Get educated on how the man’s performed overall. Only then will you be able to form a well-founded opinion.
> [@friedo](#):
>
> Impeachment has nothing to do with criminal activity and there is no burden of proof. It is a purely political process, not a judicial one.
Huh? Impeachment is to remove from office someone who is accused of a crime. Of course it’s political since the legislature decides on impeachment and removal from office; however, that does not mean it’s purely political or has nothing to do with criminal activity.
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### Author:  [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/19 "2015-12-21T05:47:13Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> Huh? Impeachment is to remove from office someone who is accused of a crime. Of course it’s political since the legislature decides on impeachment and removal from office; however, that does not mean it’s purely political or has nothing to do with criminal activity.
What crime did Bill Clinton commit?
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2015, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-rahm-emanuel-resign-or-be-impeached/740917/20 "2015-12-21T06:05:24Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#):
>
> What crime did Bill Clinton commit?
He lied under oath - for which he was subsequently disbarred.
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