< PREVIOUS ] [ 1992 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
Democrats in Texas sometimes hold parties at George Bush's official residence -- a suite at a Houston hotel.
Most of us would consider Kennebeckport to be Bush's real home, since that's where he goes when he's not at the White House or orchestrating another diplomatic triumph in Panama or Tokyo. But Kennebeckport is in Maine, which has a state income tax and few electoral votes. Texas has lots of electoral votes and no state income tax.
So it appears that there is high authority for claiming any place that suits you as your residence, for any reason -- tax evasion, political expediency, etc.
The question of legal residence arose again in Colorado last week. Walt Kane, the city manager of Lakewood, is contractually bound to reside inside the city limits.
However, his house is at Sixth Avenue West Estates, outside Lakewood. He cosigned a lease for his daughter's apartment inside town. He registered a car there and used that address when he registered to vote.
That's fraud, according to Chuck Heim, assistant district attorney in Jefferson County, who says Kane will face criminal charges if he votes in Lakewood again. A state law says you can't live in one jurisdiction and claim residence in another.
The Jefferson County DA's office should be painfully aware of that law. Somebody there got busted a while back for registering his new car up in a mountain county to save money on sales tax and to avoid emissions testing.
This may go to court. If so, I bet on Kane.
About 15 years ago, I edited the weekly newspaper in Breckenridge. Just north of Breckenridge is the town of Blue River, which was then run by the late Bob Theobald.
Some Blue River residents ran for town office. Theobald opposed them, and had to beat them at the ballot box to keep his grip on Blue River. So he persuaded many Blue River property owners to register to vote there.
Several people swore oaths that one cabin was their exclusive and permanent residence. The snow reached the eaves, and there wasn't a single track to the buried door.
We published a picture of the cabin, along with the names of the folks who had sworn they lived in it. They threatened to sue for implying that they might have lied about their place of residence.
Their suit never materialized, but related Blue River litigation went clear to the Colorado Supreme Court, which held that even if you get your mail in Littleton or Aurora, you can say you live in a shack that no one has entered for at least six months, and legally, you're a Blue River resident just as George Bush is a Texas resident.
This may explain why people are so suspicious of courts and lawyers, which generally find in favor of the rich and powerful. It also says something about Lakewood -- its city manager wouldn't live there even if you paid him to.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 1992 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >