Tuesday, February 14, 2006

CO-7 Peggy made her bed, now has to find it.

Congressional candidate Peggy Lamm is running into problems for having the wrong luggage tags on her carpetbag.
The lead story on the local ABC affiliate [video here] last night was about her failure to have a clear residence over the last year, and possible voter fraud arising from voting in her new district without actually having a qualifying residence there.

It seems she registered to vote at a Post Office box in the district in April, later claiming that her campaign HQ was an 'apartment' for the purposes of residence.
The Colorado Revised Statutes 1-2-102 states:
Rules for determining residence (c) The residence given for voting purposes shall be the same as the residence given for motor vehicle registration and for state income tax purposes.


Lamm, filed State income taxes in Boulder County where she still maintains her house, and she registered her Audi there as recently as September.
She admits in the Channel 7 interview that she lives in "both places", and when asked about her primary place of residence she responded, "I don’t know, I don’t know who would know."
Nevertheless, Lamm voted in Jefferson County during the November elections, and the Denver Post says the Jeffco District Attorney's office is investigating possible fraud.

There is nothing in Colorado law that would preclude Lamm from running for Congress from outside the district, but if her registration is invalid at this time she may face problems with Party rules that require valid registration 60 days before voting in an election. Lamm has been scheduled to face Democrat Ed Perlmutter in a caucus matchup in fourty days. [update: Party Rules require Democratic affiliation 60+ days out, not registration. Peggy is safe there.]

I am a volunteer on the Perlmutter campaign, and their campaign manager issued the following press release in response to the issue.

Perlmutter Campaign Responds to Lamm Report on 7NEWS
Lamm asked to ‘come clean’ on 7th congressional district residency

(Golden) – Responding to a 7News Exclusive, revealing that Peggy Lamm may have committed voter fraud, Ed Perlmutter’s campaign manager today asked Peggy Lamm to “come clean” on her questionable residency in the 7th congressional district.

“I watched the 10:00 pm news on KMGH Channel 7 with great alarm last night,” said Danielle Radovich Piper, Ed Perlmutter’s campaign manager. “Based on the records exposed by investigative reporter John Ferrugia, it appears that Peggy Lamm broke Colorado law. It’s time candidate Lamm comes clean on her shifting explanations for her questionable residency in the 7th congressional district.”

CRS 1-2-102, which governs residency and voting, states: Colorado Revised Statutes 1-2-102. Rules for determining residence (c) The residence given for voting purposes shall be the same as the residence given for motor vehicle registration and for state income tax purposes.

According to the 7NEWS report, Peggy Lamm admitted that she registered her 2003 Audi last September 2005 in Boulder County, even though she registered to vote in Jefferson County in April 2005. Additionally, she cast a mail ballot in Jefferson County in November 2005. Ms. Lamm also admitted that her address on her driver’s license was still in Boulder County and that she filed her income taxes from Boulder County all in apparent violation of the statute listed above.

Ms. Lamm listed her reason for this saying, “I live in both Arvada and Superior…I think you should vote in the county where you’re trying to represent.”

“Well we agree,” said Radovich Piper. “Unfortunately for Ms. Lamm the law is clear and it seems she broke it by trying to have it both ways with her back-and-forth residency and candidacy.”

When Lamm was asked by John Ferrugia where she lived, she replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know who would know.”

Perplexed by that response, Radovich Piper said, “If Ms. Lamm doesn’t even know where she lives, then how can she serve in Congress? We’re confident that law enforcement will thoroughly investigate this matter and bring it to a speedy conclusion.”

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