Why do so many California politicians have a hard time following this simple rule? | Opinion
The United States Constitution does not require members of the House of Representatives to live in their district, only their state.
But it’s not clear that Rep Adam Schiff is even doing that.
Opinion
Considered by some to be the front-runner in the U.S. Senate seat once held by the late Dianne Feinstein, Schiff represents California’s 30th Congressional District. It’s a densely populated area north of Los Angeles that includes Hollywood, Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank. He claims a 650-square-foot condo that he owns in Burbank is his primary residence, and received a $7,000 homeowner’s reduction in his tax bill. He announced his candidacy for the California Senate seat in January 2023.
CNN reported Thursday that Schiff, who was elected to Congress in 2000, designated his home in Maryland as his primary residence in 2003, and deed records show that, in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, after Schiff refinanced his mortgage, he again marked that it was his primary residence. He even paid his California property taxes in 2017 with a check featuring his Maryland address, according to tax record reviewed by CNN. The site also found that when Schiff and his wife refinanced their home in Potomac in 2020, the house was designated in a legal document as a second home. The congressman pays California state income tax, is a registered voter in the state and has a state driver’s license.
California law states that “a dwelling must be the person’s true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment to which he/she, whenever absent, intends to return.” A person’s “in-state presence, vehicle registration, voter registration, bank accounts, and state income tax filings” can all be used to determine residency.
Legal experts told CNN that Schiff likely won’t face legal jeopardy for the ethical gymnastics of claiming a tax reduction in California when his residency was muddled at best. But it certainly doesn’t reflect well on Schiff. It’s a terrible look for him. It seems as though his primary residences changes according to his tax preferences.
But Schiff wouldn’t be the first person to play this kind of cat-and-mouse game with his home; he’s not even the first in Sacramento County.
Last year, Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee was found by a Bee reporter to be living in a second residence outside of his district, though a subsequent city investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing. Loloee claims to live in his Hagginwood residence with an employee and her family, and not with his family, who lives in the a $1.4 million second property his wife owns in Granite Bay.
The residence he claims inside his district has been beset with issues, including reports of fights, shots fired, and now numerous, illegally parked and presumably abandoned cars — in violation of a whole host of city codes.
And of course, just last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom picked EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat — the same seat Schiff is running in next year’s election to replace — but Butler was forced to re-register to vote in California when it was discovered she also lived in Maryland at the time of her appointment.
How can these politicians expect to be the voice of their community if they’re not a part of that community? Politics, not unlike journalism, deserves people who are representative with the people they’re supposed to speak for, and it’s these kinds of small omissions that add up to the voters’ larger distrust. Moreover, it’s sadly indicative of a culture of rot that apparently starts at the top, in D.C, and is permitted all the way down to our very own City Hall.
California has an inconceivable number of talented people who actually live in the district they want to represent. Let’s put one of them in office. It shouldn’t be this hard.
