Home Is Where You Make It
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.
I see where the process of determining whether an elected official resides within the district they represent to be ‘complaint-driven’.
Someone complained. Maybe we should look at other legislators who might be subject to such complaints.
No. She doesn’t live in her district and that’s probably not that big a deal. The problem is the egregious lie about renting a room from her campaign staffer. Don’t they usually constitute residency by what address your mail goes to?
Ms. George needs to be very careful. If she has made any false statements, she could have a problem with the Professional Responsibility section of the Delaware Bar. They could investigate this matter and her clear deception. Sounds like the News Journal really smoked her out. If she truly moved out of the district, then she should just resign now.
At best she looks like a ridiculous ass.
She thought she was being too cute..but legal records show she sold the house. Okay, she moved out of the district with her child and husband BUT she has a lease which says she is paying her treasurer 500 bucks because she really lives in the district with this guy?? Give me a break… The News Journal camped out and never saw her there.
the problem with not enforcing residency is that people could just run in ANY district and not live there at all… this inaction will just foster that type of behavior….oh, DELAWARE WAY!
“She doesn’t live in her district and that’s probably not that big a deal.”
Surely you jest.
“Don’t they usually constitute residency by what address your mail goes to?”
As best I can tell the Constitution only requires you to be a resident of your district for one year before your election — that is, it says nothing about changing your residence out of the district, you just have to live there a year before the election. It also doesn’t say what constitutes residency.
As I noted in reference to McBride and McDowell, this is honored more in the breach than the observance.
That means you could get elected and move the next day and spend the next two years living over 2 hrs from the people you actually represent. Brilliant!
ONLY IN DELAWARE!
Chris wrote:
No, not only in Delaware. I’m sure that you remember the heavily-funded Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate for the 6th congressional district in Georgia’s special election earlier this year; Mr Ossoff lived outside the district, but said that he’d move right back in, as soon as he could.
But a big problem is that members of Congress really live in and around Washington, DC, and not in their home states. Other than members from Virginia and Maryland, and, famously, Joe Biden, these people live away from home for most of the year.
The congressional stuff is different, apples and oranges . There are several members of Congress who don’t live in their districts.
Sorry, but it’s a problem every time IMHO. I don’t rail against professional politicians very much, but this is supposedly a government by the people. If they don’t live in the district, let someone who does represent it.
Amen Alby!
Erik Schramm sticks the shiv in her , then he waffles a little and gives her some shade… see below
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Delaware Democratic Party Chairman Erik Raser-Schramm released a statement Thursday about the residency questions surrounding Smith.
“Voters should have the confidence that the people who represent them in Delaware’s halls of government are truly their neighbors,” he wrote.
“It is clear Rep. Smith was a full-time 5th District resident when she won re-election there in 2016,” Raser-Schramm added. “But it is also clear that circumstances surrounding her residency have changed and that should be a significant consideration as we approach 2018.”
Also from the News Journal article;
“The townhouse is not licensed as a rental property, according to New Castle County officials. Pennella, a registered Republican, also lists the townhouse as his permanent address on state voter roles.”
The part about the school situation as the motivation for the move also puzzles me. I think I’d give her some slack if her child has special educational needs.
Well, as a person who lives in an area where “residency” is decided by rumor, I just want to see that $500 reported on everyone’s taxes.
It’s shifty. What else is new.
Melanie George Smith should just move to Chappaqua, NY, and run to become the next Senator from New York. In a few years, she can run for President, buy the DNC, and write a book entitled, “What Happened”, making millions for herself. Nobody will remember that she lived in Delaware…or Arkansas…or Chicago…