BALTIMORE COUNTY COUNCIL CONTENDER PAULSHOCK ANSWERS RESIDENCY COMPLAINT ...
Monday July 26th 2010 11:04 AM
... Ertel campaign questions use of business address as filing address ...
By Bryan P. Sears, bsears@patuxent.com
Posted 7/13/10
Bill Paulshock is a man of many addresses, and it’s one in particular — the address of his Perry Hall seafood business — that is drawing the attention of a political opponent for the 5th District County Council seat.
Towson resident Mike Ertel, whose campaign filed a complaint last week that fellow Democrat Paulshock doesn’t live at the business and thus isn’t eligible to run in the 5th District, may have to go to court to prove that his primary opponent doesn’t belong on the ballot.
Cathi Forbes, campaign chair for Ertel, filed the complaint last week with both the county and state boards of election.
The complaint challenges Paulshock’s voter registration, claiming it’s invalid because he is registered to vote at his Perry Hall business, but actually lives with his wife and children in Kingsville.
Paulshock’s Kingsville home is in the County Council’s 3rd District — the only district of seven in the county currently represented by a Republican — and a district seen as safe for the party.
The business is located in the 5th District and is home to one of four open council seats this year.
Initially, the state Board of Elections agreed to an administrative review to determine if Paulshock is properly registered to vote at his business, and scheduled a July 21 hearing at the county Board of Elections in Catonsville, according to Nikki Trella, election reform director at the state Board of Elections.
But three days later, on July 9, Trella sent an e-mail to Forbes stating that the process of challenging a voter’s registration “is not the appropriate process to challenge the residency of a candidate” and that the hearing had been canceled.
In an interview, Trella said residency could be challenged in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
On Tuesday, Forbes wrote in an e-mail that the campaign decided to not file a complaint challenging Paulshock's residency in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
"We do not believe it is our job to do the job of the Board of Elections," Forbes wrote. "They were presented with overwhelming evidence that Mr. Paulshock is registered to vote at his business, which is a violation of Maryland law. By choosing to not investigate the matter, they are, in our opinion, aiding and abetting voter fraud.
"We continue to believe that it is the Board's job to run fair elections that inspire public confidence. We are, therefore, exploring our legal options in that regard," Forbes wrote.
In a subsequent interview, she declined to say what "legal options" were being considered.
For his part, Paulshock said last week he does live, at least some of the time, at his business.
“I have many residences, but I only have one domicile and that domicile, for the purposes of voting and my candidacy, is 9016 Belair Road,” he said. “It’s the only place I can run for office.”
Paulshock said he owns a home in the first block of Woodmar Court in Kingsville, as well as a home in Ocean City and another Kingsville property, which he rents, as well as the home he grew up in that fronts his seafood and catering business.
“I sleep at all my residences,” said Paulshock, adding that where he sleeps is frequently a product of the demands of owning a small business. Sometimes his wife, Melinda, joins him at the other residences but that “her domicile is the Woodmar Court address.”
He declined to say how many nights a week he spends at the Belair Road address.
Property tax records show Paulshock and his wife purchased the Kingsville home on Woodmar Court in 1991.
Until late last year, it was listed as the couple’s primary residence for purposes of the homestead tax credit. The state allows residents to take the credit on only one property.
Paulshock and his wife received nearly $1,700 in tax credits on the Kingsville home in 2009 because it was listed as the couple’s primary residence, according to county property tax records.
Those same records show Paulshock will receive about $1,500 in tax credits on the home for the 2010 tax year, but will not receive any tax credits for the 2011 tax year.
The Belair Road address, which state property tax records list as a commercial property, is now listed as Paulshock’s primary residence, according to state Department of Assessment and Taxation records.
In a statement released July 1 on his website, Paulshock claims he has always been registered at the Belair Road address. County Board of Elections records show Paulshock was registered to vote at the Woodmar Court address in 2002, but changed it to the store’s address after the 2004 election.
Where you hang your hat
Jay Liner, a former attorney for Baltimore County who blogs about state and county politics, said Paulshock’s living arrangements could be problematic.
“A domicile is where you live at night,” Liner said. “It’s not where you conduct your business affairs.”
Courts, however, have in recent years made it more difficult to challenge a candidate’s residency, Liner said.
The issue of Paulshock’s residence is reminiscent of a 1998 court challenge involving then-Sen. Clarence Blount, a Baltimore City Democrat.
Blount was accused by a primary opponent of living in Pikesville with his wife, even though his district was in Baltimore City. The apartment he kept in the district had no phone.
But the state Court of Appeals ruled Blount could run in the city, even if he didn’t regularly live there, saying in an opinion: “The requirement is that one must be domiciled in the district, and domicile is not synonymous with primary place of abode.”
Liner called the decision by the state board of elections last week to not to review the residency complaint a poor one. He said the board should show it’s serious about running fair elections.
“If they’re serious, they’d file in court and ask for some kind of declaratory or injunctive relief,” Liner said.
But he said even if a court challenge is unsuccessful, voters will decide if they believe Paulshock’s explanation.
“Ultimately, even if (the courts) let him on the ballot he has to go out and win his election,” Liner said.
This story has been updated.
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/lrs