“Although the conduct reviewed is questionable and it appears that Ms. Bucher was manipulating her residency documents, there are no Florida statutes that directly address her behavior.”

So says a Palm Beach County state attorney’s memo concluding that no criminal charges should be filed against Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher for her multiple residency changes while she was a state House member from 2000 to 2008.

Read about it here.

Bucher and her husband owned a house outside her legislative district, but — in a practice that’s not uncommon among elected officials in Palm Beach County – Bucher registered to vote at a series of addresses inside the district.

A political rival alleged in 2008 that Bucher didn’t live where she claimed and therefore had signed false voter registration documents. Eighteen months later, the state attorney’s office concluded that Florida’s residency standard is too “vague” and “ambiguous” to pursue any charges.

On his way to winning the state House District 78 seat last year, state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, often reminded voters that he actually lived in the district while Democratic primary rival Steve Nichol did not and candidate Steven Perman had merely rented an apartment there while owning a house in Broward County.

Now Rader is entertaining thoughts of running next year in a state Senate district where he doesn’t live.

He has plenty of company.

(more…)

Roll Call is reporting that U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, has spent more than $6,700 in campaign contributions this year on attorneys to help answer questions about his residency.

The story says Wexler paid nearly $3,700 to the Florida-based law firm Berger Singerman; $2,200 to the Washington, D.C., office of McDermott Will & Emery; and $900 to the Miami office of law firm Hunton & Williams.

Wexler’s chief of staff, Eric Johnson, told the newspaper that the firms were hired to address questions about Wexler’s residency as well as a series of unrelated amendments to the congressman’s FEC filings.

Wexler got into hot water last year for claiming his in-laws retirement village home as his Florida residency. Wexler and his family live mostly in Washington D.C.

From left: Rep. Pete Stark photo from The Los Angeles Times; Rep. Robert Wexler

A liberal Democratic member of Congress owns a house in Maryland while using his inlaws’ address for his voter registration back home. This time it’s not U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, but U.S. Rep. Fortney H. “Pete” Stark, D-Calif.

Read about it here.

Unlike Stark, Wexler stopped claiming a tax break on his Maryland home several years before his residency became an issue.