Married politicos share a residency problem
Published: Monday, July 20, 2009
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/07/20/news/srv0000005878857.txt
I don’t know the underlying part of this residency of a public official case in West Vincent Township; the part that really matters but is unmentioned in newspaper articles.
I do know something about “voters” in Coatesville.
There may be about 50 “voters” that are the same persons registered to vote in Coatesville multiple times under variations of the same name. Some people have addresses of non-existent properties or churches or barbershops. Some are registered under slightly different names in multiple precincts. The answer is yes, some of those people are under investigation.
I have a feeling that many people are called on to purposefully falsely register to vote for political reasons. That is to be called on to vote in close local elections where one vote can sometimes be a deciding factor. This may be an endemic problem in some areas of Chester County.
There are also are public officials serving at positions that require residency that are registered to vote in Coatesville at apartments they own. But they have families in West Chester, or elsewhere. I believe that they are falsely registered in Coatesville for political reasons.
It can be obvious that someone does not live where they are registered to vote. But right now the court cases concerning residency are decided like criminal cases. That is; proven not to live at an address 4 days a week beyond a shadow of doubt. For someone that contests residency it is an almost impossible burden to overcome in court. The “bad guys” are very well aware of this.
As far as complaints about booking instead of serving a politico in Modena; I think that the summons might not ever leave the trunk of the constable’s car. Richard Legree Jr’s summons once got lost in Constable Clayton Ayers’ trunk and Clayton Ayers Jr’s summons once got lost in Constable Richard Legree’s trunk.
This case could turn out to be a test of proof of residency. If it turns out on the District Attorney’s side it could have far reaching effects in our own corruption riddled Chester County.
Ask the district atty where he lives (Coatesville) and where he votes (E. Bradford)
ReplyDeleteMaybe the D.A. should be removed next if he claims to live there and does not vote there!
ReplyDeleteFunny this is more important than real crime.
Joe Carroll does not live in Coatesville. He owns a house there. He might move there someday after he retires.
ReplyDeleteFalsely claiming to live in a district to gain control of local government is a crime. It is a form of public corruption. It's not a much different a crime than the alleged public corruption charges of 44 people arrested by the FBI in New Jersey July 23rd.
Drug traffickers cannot exist very long without the cooperation of corrupt public officials. Totals into the Billions of taxpayers dollars are funneled into pay to play projects in small local governments across the nation.
Public officials are not just ordinary businessmen. They are held to a higher standard that is; to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of their residence. Their job is to serve the public not steal from us.
From the FBI's Public Corruption website:
"It's #4 in our top 10 list of investigative priorities—following counterterrorism, espionage, and cyber."
One reason that public corruption is a major priority of the FBI because small local governments, city governments and even state governments almost never investigate themselves.
It is a major crime.
"Joe Carroll does not live in Coatesville. He owns a house there. He might move there someday after he retires."
ReplyDeleteOf course that's the case. Why would someone retire to the mountains or the shore when they could retire to Coatesville? Forget that multiple articles and other documents where Mr. Carroll professes to live in Coatesville. It's a "retirement" home. Stop smoking the stuff they are selling on the street corners.
Although I am a Democrat I am in touch with Joe Carroll on almost daily basis. Check out the Coatesville Dems blog. It's mostly about public corruption.
ReplyDeleteShow me a statement that Joe made saying he lives in Coatesville. Search your brains out.
Joe is fighting some people here in Coatesville who I believe are much more than just shady politicians. I think they may be involved in criminal activity.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteNext time you are talking to Joe Carroll...could you ask him how much this case is costing the taxpayers?
I find it hard to believe that it takes this long to determine residency. It seems that it should be easy to ascertain. Does he meet the residency requirement or not?
Should we really have expected Mr. Dilibero or Voters Services to do over a years worth of research and study case law to find a case from the 1950's to cite, that say's a man's residency is determined by his wife's. Are they asking us to believe that married people cannot live apart? I surely hope not!
So while you are at it, ask Joe why this is taking so long!
Unless the person involved acquiesces, it is a near impossibility to successfully challenge residency for political purposes.
ReplyDeleteOne example is the residency of James Clark. He ran and possibly still is running for District Justice in Coatesville’s District Court 15-1-03. The residency requirements for Coatesville’s District Court 15-1-03 is in part of Coatesville and South Coatesville. Mr. Clark lives in Thorndale. In a court document in Chester County President Judge Ott’s court Clark gives his address as 3401 Sylvan Dr., Thorndale, PA 19372. He claims a rental property in Coatesville as his address.
Below are notes from a hearing in Judge Ott’s courtroom on Friday April 20, 2009:
“I thought that Democratic Attorney John Carnes presented overwhelming evidence including several court documents and Clark’s drivers license that Magistrate Judge candidate James Clark lives in Thorndale. Clark had two relatives that claimed he lived at the address in Coatesville’s Second Ward that he listed on his petition. Clark said that even though a court document from October has Thorndale as his residence and driver’s license residence as Thorndale, he lives in Coatesville.
I understood Clark to have said that his driver’s license and his court documents residence is really his business address and his real residence is in Coatesville. Hmmm.
Even at the place he said he lives in Coatesville, he was only there a few months. State Law says that candidates for Magistrate Judge needs to reside at least a year at the residence on the ballot. The proceedings concerning James Clark were a little confusing to me but I believe that one of Clark’s relatives who is a Republican collected most of his signatures on both Republican and Democratic sides. Clark might not be on the ticket for multiple reasons.
I wondered why Andrew Lehr was sitting right in front of me in the first spectator row. I found out when Lehr conferred with Clark and a woman named as his daughter, Shania London in the hallway. Is Clark a spoiler to Greg Hines? Lehr left when Clarks hearing was over.”
See Clark’s court document here:
http://www.box.net/shared/ahgxgq2hj3
Clark was not on the ticket but ran an extensive and expensive write in campaign. He got very few votes. But that is not the issue. I believe there are several people holding or that have held public offices in Coatesville that do not live here. No one challenges them because they understand the possibility of winning in court is almost non-existent. I believe that there are many people holding public offices all across Chester County that do not live where they claim to live.
Joe Carroll’s action could set a president for future efforts to remove persons that are allegedly illegally holding office. I believe that every instance of claiming to live where you do not is an instance of public corruption. It is very hard to set a price on that kind of public corruption but I believe the cost to the public is in the millions of dollars.
http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/t/video/march-14-1980-boxers-die-plane-crash-13132329
ReplyDeleteJimmy Clark speaking to the press about the loss of his fellow boxers circa 1980.