Richmond councilman's Chesterfield home raises questions

Richmond City Councilman Douglas G. Conner Jr. admits he hasn't been spending enough time at home — in Richmond.

Conner has been on the defensive this week over a report on WTVR showing him living exclusively at his longtime home in Chesterfield County instead of his official residence in Richmond's 9th Council District.

"I haven't stayed there as much as I should," he acknowledged in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday. "I'm staying there now."

Conner has fended off election-year questions before about his residence since he moved to the city from Chesterfield in 2004 to run for office, but an investigation by WTVR showed him leaving his home on Marshall Pointe Trail in Chesterfield early in the morning and stopping at his residence on Germain Road in South Richmond to pick up mail.

Conner declined Tuesday to estimate how often he has stayed in the Richmond house but repeated, "Probably not as much as I should."

His official residence has been political fodder since his first campaign, when he bought a townhouse under construction off Jahnke Road only to discover it was outside the 9th District. He then stayed briefly at St. John's Woods apartment complex before buying the house on Germain Road.

He said he is legally registered at the Germain Road address, but his wife, Jean, stays at the house in Chesterfield, which he lists on his annual economic impact statement.

The townhouse, on Grand Brook Circle, will become part of the 9th again under a redistricting plan for council districts that is pending at the U.S. Department of Justice for approval next month.

When that happens, Conner said, he will move from the Germain Road home to the townhouse, which he had leased to medical students.

"My wife feels more comfortable (there)," he said.

The situation poses a challenge for Richmond Registrar J. Kirk Showalter, who says she is constrained by state law and election regulations from investigating the issue unless three qualified city voters testify in writing that Conner doesn't live at the home he owns in the district.

No one has come forward to file a complaint, she said Tuesday.

Conner and other members of City Council face re-election this year, but only 8th District Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell has formally declared her candidacy. No challenger has emerged to Conner in the 9th District.

State election law defines residence as "both domicile and place of abode." For a voter or candidate to establish domicile, "a person must live in a particular locality with intention to remain," while a place of abode is where the person dwells.

However, the State Board of Elections adopted regulations last year stating that a person may have "multiple places of abode." They also require registrars to "presume that domicile is at the address of residence given by the person on the application," and prohibit them from soliciting evidence to prove otherwise.

"That nullifies our ability to take action," Showalter said.

First District Councilman Bruce W. Tyler said Conner should ask the Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney's Office for an opinion "to get this thing cleared up."

Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Tracy Thorne-Begland said his office generally enforces criminal statutes and ordinances but would look at the evidence and compare it with the applicable laws and regulations if asked.

"If it's not a criminal matter, it's up to the State Board of Elections, the registrar and the voters to figure it out," Thorne-Begland said.

Conner grew up in South Richmond, where he maintains his auto body repair business, Conner Brothers. He lived in Bon Air with his family when Richmond annexed the neighborhood from Chesterfield in 1970.

He said they moved because of court-ordered busing of students to achieve racial integration in Richmond schools. He said his eldest son would have been bused to school on the other side of the city in Church Hill.

The family settled on Hicks Road in Chesterfield, where he lived 30 years before building the home on Marshall Pointe Trail off Beach Road in Chesterfield.

Tyler faults state election laws for not being clear and enforceable, but he said the ultimate responsibility still rests with candidates for public office.

"The bottom line is we need to follow the law," he said. "It's just embarrassing."