Rumors have swirled about state Rep. Melanie George Smith’s residence for more than a year now, ever since she bought a new home west of Newark and moved her family into it. The chatter wasn’t about whether she was breaking the law, but whether she was going to leave the General Assembly.
In Delaware, you see, living outside the district you represent is not seen as an automatic reason to give up your legislative seat.
It’s widely acknowledged by those in Dover that neither Sen. David McBride nor Sen. Harris McDowell spends most of his time in the district he represents, and clearly nobody cares. If they did, the state would enact a law mandating lawmakers maintain their primary residence in their districts. In a state with a nationally recognized beach resort area, that’s not going to happen.
What I find interesting are Smith’s stated motives for her actions.
Smith told News Journal reporter Scott Goss that she moved her family so her child could attend a school outside her district, while she stayed behind to keep her House seat by renting a room in a townhouse owned by her campaign treasurer (a Republican, BTW) for $500 a month.
Most Delawareans who wanted their children to attend a school outside their feeder pattern would apply for the preferred school through the state’s widely used school choice program — but that doesn’t guarantee acceptance. Only living in the preferred school’s feeder pattern will do that.
If she were an average Delawareans whose job carried a residency requirement — for example, a Wilmington city employee — she’d have to choose between her job and her preferred school. But she’s not. She’s a state legislator, so the rules are optional for her. The state commissioner of elections says action is complaint-based, and nobody has complained.
Of course, some would point out that her entire legislative career is based on this kind of special treatment. Her heavily Democratic seat in Bear was carved out especially for her, apparently as a favor to her father, ex-legislator and DelTech president Lonnie George.
She is a smart, hard-working representative who has done a lot of good for progressive causes. Unfortunately, she is stretching the prerogatives of office to the breaking point.
Kudos to Goss and TNJ for flushing out the facts here.