Legislative candidates’ residency challenged

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, June 9, 2004 | 11:53 a.m.

Legislative candidates Todd Allen and Anne DiMartini soon will have to defend themselves in court against allegations that they have not lived in their districts long enough to run for office.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger filed complaints Tuesday asking a court to determine whether the two met residency requirements.

The candidates will appear before District Court judges, who could pull them from the ballot.

Complaints filed with the county elections department allege that Allen, a Democratic candidate in Senate District 11, and DiMartini, a Republican candidate in Assembly District 29, both had arranged for housing in their districts but were not actually living there.

Both Allen and DiMartini signed forms when they filed for office stating that they had lived in their district for at least 30 days before May 14, as required by state law.

The form reads that the candidates "swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that I actually, as opposed to constructively," live in the homes in their district.

Allen is running against incumbent Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, in Senate District 11, which covers part of the southwest Las Vegas Valley.

Mary Jo Reed, a Schneider supporter who lives in the district, filed a complaint against Allen and included testimony from a private investigator who dug into Allen's personal records and made a trip to an apartment Allen recently rented in the district.

The investigator, R. David Groover, was hired by Schneider. Groover said he found out from Nevada Power that the power to Allen's apartment was turned on May 14, a month after he supposedly moved into the apartment.

In an affidavit Groover questioned whether Allen would live in the apartment, which is in a low-income neighborhood, with his wife and small child. Allen is a part-owner of a CPA firm, and he and his wife have a home in Summerlin.

But Allen spokesman Steve Pellegrino said Allen has been "crashing" at the apartment.

"He lives in the apartment himself," Pellegrino said. "The family is down there occasionally, but the apartment is for him."

The investigator found that Allen's vehicle and driver's license both list the apartment as his residence.

When asked if Allen planned to purchase a home in the district, Pellegrino said he was not sure and that Allen was unavailable for comment.

Pellegrino did say that Allen has neighbors who can testify that Allen has been living in the apartment.

Schneider said he will pay for the costs of the private investigator, which he said would cost several hundred dollars.

Schneider said several members of the Senate Democratic caucus recommended that he hire the private investigator to look into Allen's residence.

They were suspicious after Allen decided before the filing period to run in Senate District 11 instead of Senate District 6, in the northwest valley, where he had been campaigning for several months, Schneider said.

Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, is challenging Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, in the Republican primary in District 6. The winner is expected to be the favorite for the general election.

Allen said he switched races because "I would resonate better," but Schneider said he didn't follow the rules.

"He's perjured himself and I think we need to make an example of some of these people," Schneider said.

The other complaint, filed last week against DiMartini by one of her Republican opponents in District 29, states that she purchased a home in the Henderson district in May but was not living there before she filed for office.

DiMartini, who did not return calls for comment late Tuesday afternoon, said last week that she has been living in the home since March 18. She has another home in Henderson outside the district.

She said her family has often taken time to move from one residence to the other, and she said she allowed the family who previously owned the home to keep some of their belongings at her home on Signal Butte Way in Henderson, southwest of Interstate 215 and Stephanie Road, while her family moved in.

"We don't like to have to move in one day," she said last week. "In the case of Signal Butte, we wanted to remodel the kitchen and the master bathroom, so we kind of moseyed."

Neither hearing has been set on the cases.