A federal appeals panel had a tough message for a state legislator and town alderman who claimed Calumet City officials steered ballot items specifically to prevent him from running for mayor.That’s politics.“Politics is a rough-and-tumble game, where hurt feelings and thwarted ambitions are a necessary part of robust debate,” a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel wrote in a nine-page decision this week, rejecting Rep. Thaddeus Jones’ constitutional arguments against the city. Jones had argued …