Perhaps the state legislators hellbent on scrutinizing voters should focus more on the legitimacy of elected officials.
Doug Conner, who has represented the 9th District on Richmond's City Council since 2007, has become the focus of a controversy involving three residential properties.
No, this isn't a "class warfare" column likening Conner's residential holdings to the sizable estate of John McCain. What's dogging Conner is not the size of his real estate portfolio but questions about which home he truly lives in.
During his first campaign for office in 2004, Conner purchased a townhouse on Grand Brook Circle in South Richmond only to learn it was outside the 9th district — a situation that should be rectified next month as a result of the latest council redistricting plan. He later bought a small brick rancher on Germain Road in South Richmond.
But a WTVR reporter recently interviewed neighbors who say they don't see Conner — or anyone, for that matter — at that house. The station aired footage of Conner leaving a third property, his lovely home in a wooded setting on Marshall Pointe Trail in Chesterfield County. He was followed to Germain Road — which he lists as his official residence — where he was shown checking his mail.
That "gotcha" moment forced Conner to confront a residency issue that has been a source of speculation since he moved to the city from Chesterfield to run for office.
"I haven't stayed there as much as I should," Conner said of the Germain Road house during an interview Tuesday with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I'm staying there now."
Conner is a two-term incumbent, so he must be doing something right. But his effectiveness as a councilman isn't the issue. He has violated the trust not only of his constituents, but also of the city he was sworn to serve.
He insisted to a WTVR reporter that the landscaped home with the circular driveway that he built on Marshall Pointe Trail is his "secondary residence." The answer strained credulity, especially since he has acknowledged that his wife, Jean, stays in Chesterfield. Home is where the heart is, not where you check your mail.
State election law defines a residence as "both domicile and a place of abode. To establish domicile, a person must live in a particular locality with the intention to remain. A place of abode is the physical place where a person dwells." Conner says his wife will move into the South Richmond townhouse. But nothing about this situation suggests Conner intends to remain in Richmond.
Perhaps this arrangement is acceptable to the residents of the 9th District, part of an area annexed by the city from Chesterfield in 1970. That annexation — and court-ordered busing — spurred Conner to move his family to Chesterfield. Others stayed behind as reluctant Richmonders, viewing Chesterfield with a sense of nostalgia. Conner returned to Richmond to run for office, but part of him clearly remains in the county. Election officials appear largely powerless to respond to this situation unless city voters file a complaint. Absent legal clarification, Conner's representation of a city ward could become an embarrassment, if not a farce.
It's debatable whether Conner's residential situation meets the letter of state election law. But it certainly violates its spirit.
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