Brian Howey reports former U.S. Rep. David McIntosh is working the phones for support for a political comeback of sorts in Indiana's 6th District, which U.S. Rep. Mike Pence has represented since McIntosh gave up the seat to run for governor in 2000 after serving three terms in Congress. McIntosh, who has been living and working in Washington since he lost his bid for governor, told Howey, "Muncie was always our home." "We still consider Muncie our home." McIntosh told Howey he would wait for Pence to make official his decision to give up the seat to run for governor.
The new 6th District includes Shelby County where the candidate who came the closest to defeating U.S. Rep. Burton in Indiana's 5th District, Luke Messer, resides. Messer formerly worked on McIntosh's congressional staff and is said to be very interested in running for the open seat. McIntosh left many Republicans with a sour taste in their mouths after he ran a lousy campaign against Frank O'Bannon in 2000. I wouldn't be surprised to see Messer and others challenge McIntosh in the primary. McIntosh is a partner at the D.C. law firm Mayer Brown. Messer went to work as a lobbyist at Ice Miller when he first left his seat in the Indiana House of Representatives before leaving the firm to run for Congress. He now lobbies the General Assembly for charter schools.
4 comments:
So, if McIntosh has been living and working in Washington since he lost his bid for governor, how can he run for anything in Indiana? He doesn't live here, and no longer has the "public service" exception!
As long as he takes up a residence in the state before he would take office, he can run in Indiana. Technically, the U.S. Constitution does not even require him to be a registered voter in Indiana.
So, Indiana doesn't require those who run for office in Indiana actually to live in Indiana?
So, why are we worried about Lugar's residency issues?
Because the Constitution says you must be an inhabitant of the state at the time you take office in order to represent the state in the Senate. Lugar's problem is that he admittedly gave up his residence in Indiana decades ago. His problem is further compounded by virtue of the fact that he has been registered to vote and casting votes at an address at which he has not maintained a residence in decades.
Post a Comment