Did Daschle Forfeit his South Dakata Residency?

[Woodmonkey]

Interesting, if true

Daschle's South Dakota Residency In Question

By Jeff Gannon
October 15, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) may have forfeited his South Dakota residency last year when he and his wife purchased a $2 million home in an exclusive Washington, DC neighborhood. The Senate minority leader declared the mansion to be his "principal place of residence" when he applied for a property tax credit intended to help DC homeowners cope with sky-rocketing property values in the city.

The District of Columbia allows a $30,000 deduction against a property's tax assessment for the calculation of taxes. The senator's tax savings is less than $1,000 a year.

Talon News first raised questions about the credit in August 2003 following a search of property tax records. At the time, Tony Bullock, a spokesman for DC Mayor Anthony Williams told Talon News that the property qualified for the homestead exemption because the senator's wife, Linda Daschle, a powerful Washington lobbyist and a co-owner of the property, was a city resident and taxpayer. But a document recently obtained by Talon News tells a different story.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Talon News, the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue provided a copy of the April 28, 2003 application for the tax break. The affidavit section of the application bears only the signature of "Thomas A. Daschle." Additionally, by checking a box marked "Yes," the senator agreed that he would be subject to DC income tax. Linda Daschle's signature does not appear on the document.

In signing the affidavit, Daschle declared under penalty of either a $1,000 fine or imprisonment of up to 180 days or both, that the property is eligible for the deductions. The qualification for the tax credit is specifically for a property to be an "owner-occupied principal place of residence."

It would appear that Daschle voluntarily surrendered his residency in South Dakota with his April 2003 declaration. Under state statute, Daschle would no longer be eligible to hold elective office in South Dakota or represent it in Washington.

Under South Dakota law, Daschle's seat became vacant upon executing the affidavit designating Washington, DC as his domicile. SDCL 3-4-1(5) stipulates that vacancy occurs when an officeholder ceases "to be a resident of the state, district, county, township, or precinct in which the duties of his office are to be exercised or for which he may have been elected."

Article 1, Section 3, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution states, "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."

Since the FOIA request was filed on September 29, 2004, the DC Tax and Revenue web site has been updated to indicate that the Daschle property is "Not receiving the Homestead Deduction." Any amendment to the application for the deduction should have been included in the documents obtained by the FOIA request. No such documents, required to change the tax status of the property were provided.

The senator's office did not return calls for comment on Thursday.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/octo...sidencyp.shtml