Althouse: The Marion County Election Board finds Sen. Richard Lugar ineligible to vote in his erstwhile home distict.

March 15, 2012

The Marion County Election Board finds Sen. Richard Lugar ineligible to vote in his erstwhile home distict.

The vote was 2-1, with the two Democrats on the board deciding that Lugar, a Republican, has abandoned his residence to go live in Washington, where he has been serving in the Senate.

Hey, you need a real address in the state. He had a house, and he sold it.

45 comments:

Hoosier Daddy said...: Years ago I worked out at the same health club as he did and once sat next to him on a plane coming back from DC. Nice guy but like most Congresscritters is way past his sell date.; 3/15/12, 2:39 PM
Larry Davis said...: Hoosier Daddy said...

Years ago I worked out at the same health club as he did and once sat next to him on a plane coming back from DC. Nice guy but like most Congresscritters is way past his sell date.

As another one from Indiana, I couldn't agree more! Send them home!; 3/15/12, 2:41 PM
Franklin said...: But per the article he can just list a family member's residence and be eligible, no?; 3/15/12, 2:43 PM
traditionalguy said...: Blago will help him put his seat on E-Bay.; 3/15/12, 2:43 PM
chickelit said...: Lugar is eligible to vote as a resident of D.C. (or wherever out there) so he's not disenfranchised.; 3/15/12, 2:44 PM
Earth Girl said...: Dick Lugar is no Republican. Well, he was Obama's favorite Republican when they were both in the Senate.This residency is a disgrace and he is still on our primary ballot, although that decision has been appealed.; 3/15/12, 2:44 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Looks like Indiana democrats could teach Wisconsin Democrats a thing or two about who exactly should be eligible to vote in their elections.. And just how might you prove you live where you say you live?

Could an ID be helpful?

Tell it to the suffrage judge.; 3/15/12, 2:47 PM
edutcher said...: And the Tea Partiers want to primary him real bad.

And this is another nail in the coffin.; 3/15/12, 2:54 PM
ricpic said...: I don't get it. What are Democrats doing making life difficult for a natural ally, RINO Lugar?; 3/15/12, 2:59 PM
Mr. T. said...: Just goes to show that once every fifty years or so, democrats can work across the aisle and do something useful for the American public.; 3/15/12, 3:01 PM
jrberg3 said...: So he is not eligible to vote, but yet is eligible to run for the Senate seat. Interesting.

Well this Hoosier looks forward to voting against him in the primary.; 3/15/12, 3:03 PM
Toad Trend said...: We are talking about 2 votes here.

2 votes.

Ho hum.

Insert your Algore 'we must count all the votes' impressions, here.; 3/15/12, 3:03 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: "... And the Tea Partiers want to primary him real bad..."

Well that's because most are anti incumbant to begin with. Dan Burton is another 30+ year GOP rep whose calling it quits. Probably cause he barely squeaked by a six way primary challenge last time he was up.

Term limits is the answer. And don't tell me that's what elections are for or we wouldn't have them for the President.; 3/15/12, 3:04 PM
Synova said...: If it was a case of selling one and having to wait for closing on a new residence, I'd fuss at the opportunism.

But really, how can a person not realize that you ought to have a legal residence in the district you represent?

(Granted, I just read a (supposedly) sincere article about voter ID that had, as an example, a poor college student who was afraid he might not be able to vote because he only had an out of state drivers license and apparently no one writing or editing or approving this article went... waitaminute...; 3/15/12, 3:05 PM
Wince said...: The Marion County Election Board "hocks a Lugar".; 3/15/12, 3:05 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Its a jungle out there for RINOS these days.; 3/15/12, 3:08 PM
Alex said...: Lugar is a perfect textbook example of the professional politician our founding fathers warned us about. They were citizen politicians, they did their stint in D.C. and went home.; 3/15/12, 3:26 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Lugar sets off alarm at UN.; 3/15/12, 3:31 PM
Rusty said...: Stupid Dick.; 3/15/12, 3:33 PM
Mary Beth said...: Indiana wants to make sure homeless people can't vote.; 3/15/12, 3:38 PM
Thorley Winston said...: I generally *like* Richard Lugar and nearly voted for him for President at the 1996 Iowa Straw Poll (I was there for Phil Gramm who got my vote but was impressed by him nonetheless). As I recall, he campaigned on abolishing the income tax and replacing it with a national retail sales tax and was also one of the architects of “Freedom to Farm” which phased out farm subsidies (until Jeffords jumped ship in 2001 and Harkin became the Senate Ag Committee Chair and pushed to restore them).

That being said, I support term limits and if you’ve been in Washington DC so long that your primary residency is there, then you’ve probably been in office too long.; 3/15/12, 3:44 PM
Swifty Quick said...: I don't get it. What are Democrats doing making life difficult for a natural ally, RINO Lugar?

It's all about the Ds maintaining control of the Senate. They did the same to Bob Packwood in the 90s, who not only was a huge RINO, but a feminist RINO. He carried the feminist's water on the R side for decades, through the ERA travails of the era. Then, in 1995, with control of the Senate hanging in the balance, the feminists turned on him for being a serial kisser.; 3/15/12, 3:50 PM
garage mahal said...: Doesn't Indiana require photo ID to vote?

Oh noes!; 3/15/12, 4:03 PM
Revenant said...: But wait -- how can there be a residence requirement to vote?

What about homeless people??? How are they supposed to vote??? What if they don't have family or friends????? Don't these people realize blacks and Mexicans are less likely to have a stable address??????

CALL THE UNITED NATIONS!!!1!1!!

More seriously -- looks like he screwed up. He should have at least rented a cheap apartment to maintain residence.; 3/15/12, 4:13 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: "... Doesn't Indiana require photo ID to vote?

Oh noes!.."

Oh yes!!!

A whole lot of dead people in Lake county have been disenfranchised since that law took effect.; 3/15/12, 4:18 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: "... More seriously -- looks like he screwed up. He should have at least rented a cheap apartment to maintain residence..."

Which is why I don't sympathize. He's a fucking US Senator and damn well should have known better.

I don't think he screwed up as much as he figured no one gave a shit.; 3/15/12, 4:21 PM
garage mahal said...: A whole lot of dead people in Lake county have been disenfranchised since that law took effect.

Hmm. But photo ID didn't prevent Lugar from voting. Or Charlie White. What's up Indiana? You have photo ID rules even.; 3/15/12, 4:23 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: He should have at least rented a cheap apartment to maintain residence.

Like Specter, Lugar probably didn't expect the democrats to target him as a RINO..

Specter even went so far as to ditch his RINO investiture and declared himself a democrat.

It still didn't help him.; 3/15/12, 4:27 PM
jimbino said...: You do not need to live in a house to vote, so why the hell would you need to live in a house to run for office?

Where does the constitution say that you can't run for office as a homeless resident?

Why can't you be a resident if living in a cave? A cardboard box? An old suit?; 3/15/12, 4:49 PM
JAL said...: Interesting.

Most of the (presumed) Republicans in the alt House think Luger should follow the law.

What a surprise.

Not.; 3/15/12, 5:27 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Different kind of fraud garage. Then again I'm sure once we start cracking down on falsifying addresses, liberals will cry DISENFRANCHISEMENT!!! RACISM!!

Heck, I agree White should be prosecuted. He broke the law. Unlike liberals, I'm consistent in the equal application of the law.; 3/15/12, 5:29 PM
Lyle said...: Is he not still domiciled in the county?; 3/15/12, 5:41 PM
Michael said...: Two things. They should not meet but half of the year and preferably every other year. We do not need them to "get things done.". Finally they should meet in DC on,y once a decade. The rest of the time they should meet in tertiary cities at least a three hour drive from any Palm Restaurant. Thisvwould make it difficult on the lobbyists and other hangers on.

Oh, and they should own or pay rent in their districts.; 3/15/12, 6:05 PM
Mark B said...: Go along, get along is going. So Long Richard (don't close the door on me dick).; 3/15/12, 6:45 PM
Toad Trend said...: "Unlike liberals, I'm consistent in the equal application of the law."

Hoosier, its a given that liberals feel some are 'more equal' than others.

Call it a 'congenital' flaw if you wish.; 3/15/12, 6:53 PM
Renee said...: And he didn't bother to rent a studio apartment, after he sold his house?

My representative, Niki Tsongas did that when she wanted to run. After husband died, Paul Tsongas, she moved out of the area. But five years ago, when there was an open election she rented a apartment as her primary residence to vote. Who knows how many nights she may use it, probably only for when she is actually here.

Still not that hard problem for an elected official to solve.; 3/15/12, 7:15 PM
Titus said...: 3 terms max for senators and 5 terms max for congress creeps.

Unless they have hot tits, like that one from Peoria. He can stay forever as long as his tits hold up. Same with that female senator from New York-she has a nice wrack and the tits are holding up well-but any slippage and she's gone.

tits.; 3/15/12, 8:29 PM
Paul said...: But do you have a VOTER ID LAW?

If not, then Luger and vote, like most Democrats.; 3/15/12, 9:07 PM
Roux said...: Good; 3/15/12, 9:49 PM
wef said...: Serves the little power-worshiping suckup right.

Lugar is such a conventional-wisdom, go-along-to-get-along worm that it is difficult to do anything but smile over this nothing-burger story.; 3/15/12, 9:59 PM
Molly said...: If we are going to have government dominated by career politicians (and that's what we have, of every party and philosophy), wouldn't we be wiser to scrap the whole idea of "geographical representation", and switch to a more parliamentary form of government. Career politicians would rise through the ranks of their parties, based on policy expertise (in part), and as they rise would be assigned to run in safer and safer districts. We just dispense with the fiction that representatives actually have some life experience in the state or district (almost every representative lives in the DC area, and when voted out continue to live and work in the DC area). So we can have Lugar from Indiana (or why not Maine, or Alaska?), H. Clinton from NY. Kucinich would not be lost to the Democratic party, but would run from some other district (Seattle?). The advantages of this are (a) much stronger party identification and unity on important issues and (b) a politician can advance his/her career by policy expertise, rather than purely political salemanship.; 3/16/12, 6:26 AM
Eric said...: As I understand it, members of Congress get a (top secret not reported on taxes) expense account to relieve them of some of the burden they bear in their lives of public service, since they live in two places at once. If this slimeball took a single penny of this money after selling his Indiana residence, he should be up on serious felony charges. If he isn't brought up on charges, the remiander of the Senate should be charged with aiding and abetting.; 3/16/12, 8:22 AM
Bayoneteer said...: Some of you folks are just amazingly cynical. Did it ever occur to you that maybe they were simply following the law? A Democrat majority election committee did roughly the same thing to Michigan's long-time Senator Carl Levin (first elected in 1978) a few years back too when they found that his address was to a flea bag apartment bldg in Detroit that had been torn down a few years earlier. Momentarily embarrassed Levin just rented another one. G.H.W. Bush's address for years was a hotel room in Houston. BFD. It just shows contempt for the voters and poor management skills (to have let it happen) but then we already knew that.; 3/16/12, 9:15 AM
Joe said...: How is he qualified to be a Senator then?

Article I, Section 3;

"No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen."

Emphasis added. If Inhabitant simply means living it, Mr. Lugar simply has to be in the state on election day, otherwise, I'd say he fails to qualify. And good riddance. If a member of congress can't have enough respect to retain a residence in their home state, they shouldn't be representing that state.; 3/16/12, 9:39 AM
RonF said...: jimbino:

Where does the constitution say that you can't run for office as a homeless resident?

I don't know - but that's not the issue here. He does have a home. It's just not in Indiana.; 3/18/12, 9:44 PM