Senate candidate defends residency in new district

Kirsten Searer

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 | 8:51 a.m.

State Senate candidate Todd Allen testified Tuesday that he spends an average of three or four nights a week in his apartment in an older area of Senate District 11, where he is running for office.

"I moved in Senate District 11 because that's a great neighborhood and there's a lot of good families there," he said.

But he conceded that he continues to spend some nights and weekends with his wife and 2-year-old daughter in their Summerlin home outside of District 11, a home he leases for $1,700 a month.

Allen, a Democrat, testified Tuesday in a hearing challenging his residency in Senate District 11, where he is running against incumbent Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas.

Schneider filed an election complaint against Allen earlier this month, charging that Allen does not truly live in the district, even though he has rented an apartment there since mid-April.

District Judge Nancy Saitta could pull Allen from the Sept. 7 primary ballot if she determines he does not meet residency requirements.

Allen signed a 14-month lease and moved into his Summerlin home in February, he testified. Around that time, he started campaigning for Senate District 6, a mostly Republican district in the northwest now represented by Sen. Ray Rawson, a Republican.

But sometime before May 14, Allen said, he decided instead to run in Senate District 11, a predominately Democratic district in the southwest. Community leaders encouraged him to run in the district, and he and his wife liked the area, he said.

"We like older neighborhoods," he said. "We're going to be buying a house."

Under Nevada law, candidates for the upcoming election need to have lived in their district since April 14 at the latest. That was around the time that Allen rented the apartment in District 11.

Schneider's attorneys peppered Allen with questions Tuesday, determining that he does not watch television, plug in an alarm clock or keep most of his clothes at the apartment in District 11, but he does shower there occasionally, keep toys there for his daughter and sleeps there some nights.

His driver's license and car registration list the apartment in District 11 as his residence, but he did not turn on power to the apartment until May 14 -- a month after he said he started living there.

Allen said he hasn't had to use the apartment much because he has been busy with tax season -- he is a part owner of a CPA firm. He said he had been traveling a lot for his job.

In 2000, a Clark County Commission candidate was thrown off the ballot for renting an apartment in the district he was running in while keeping his family in Henderson, said Clark County Counsel Mary-Anne Miller.