Would you like to serve in the United States Senate in Indiana? Turns out you don’t even have to live there. And there is more than three decades of legal precedence.
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar allegedly represents the people of the state of Indiana, a state where he has not resided for over 30 years.
In 1982, then-Indiana Attorney General Linley Pearson said that the senator is not required to actually live in the state he represents because he is acting “on business of this state or of the United States,” according to Will Rahn at The Daily Caller. The Attorney General issues legal opinions that are not binding. The AG does not make the law.
Here’s the truth: Sen. Richard Lugar is running for re-election in a state he has not lived in for over 30 years.
Should that matter to anyone in Indiana or the rest of the United States?
Lugar sold his home at 3200 Highwoods Court in Indianapolis shortly after first assuming office in 1977. But due to a loophole in Indiana law, both he and his wife Charlene Lugar are still registered to vote at that address.
Greg Wright, an Indiana tea party member and certified fraud examiner, told The Daily Caller that he has been investigating Lugar’s residency situation “for a few weeks” and has not been paid for his efforts. He just heard one day from some tea party friends that Lugar didn’t actually live in the state, and took it upon himself to find out if it was true.
According to The Daily Caller, Richard Lugar and his wife Charlene both have driver’s licenses indicating that they currently live at 3200 Highwoods Court.
The current resident of 3200 Highwoods Court was surprised to hear that Lugar still claims that address as his own:
“I knew [Lugar] built it,” Hughes told TheDC. “Every now and then we get his mail, and we couldn’t figure out why after all these years we were still getting his mail every now and then. And now we know why.”
“I was surprised, but I was more surprised that no one seemed that interested,” she added.
Is it enough that Lugar slips through a loophole in the law? Would you be concerned if you found out a pol was claiming your address as his or her own? Would you be concerned if that same pol had a legal document – a driver’s license – indicating that he or she resided at your address?
I wonder which address he uses for his tax returns?
Only in America.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com