CHICAGO, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Election records indicate a man who helped collect petition signatures for two Chicago mayoral contenders was homeless and has a lengthy criminal record.
The documents indicate that the homeless man collected nearly 4,000 signatures for Robert Halpin, Rahm Emanuel's renter-turned-rival, and more than 3,200 signatures for Illinois state Sen. James. T. Meeks, the pastor-turned-politician, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.
Even curiouser is that two other people listed as gathering signatures for Halpin told the Tribune they didn't. One person said she was hired by a Republican operative convicted two years ago in a petition fraud investigation in DuPage County.
Candidates need 12,500 valid signatures to be on the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot.
Tuesday was the final day for objections to be filed with Chicago's election board. So far, most of the candidacy objections have keyed on Emanuel, whom critics say is ineligible to run because he hasn't lived in Chicago for the last year.
Halpin, an industrial developer, refused to vacate the home of the former White House chief of staff who returned to the Windy City last month to run for mayor. Emanuel leased the house to Halpin when he left for Washington in 2009.
