Bill O’Reilly broke a story last night involving Congressman Wexler’s (D-Fl) residence, and wether or not he is, or should be eligible to represent Delray Beach Florida. As it turns out the Congressman from Florida, is not actually a Florida resident. Wexler’s full time residence is in Maryland where his children attend school, while the Florida residence he used on his voter registration card is actually owned by his mother in law.

The home owned by Congressman Wexler’s mother in law is in a gated 55 and older community which does not allow children to reside there for more than a period of 2 months each year. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal states that no laws are being broken, but I would beg to differ. Article I Section II of the United States Constitution says “No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.”

The word inhabitant is generally accepted to mean permanent resident, which of course Wexler is not. Although I could not find a Florida statute defining how to qualify as a resident, Maryland’s residency requirements are quite clear.

Maryland Residency

What establishes whether or not you’re considered a Maryland resident? The answer seems to depend on what the issue is. The Maryland MVA requires you to obtain a MD drivers license 60 days after you become a resident of the State. So, when are you a resident of the State? COMAR11.11.06.02 defines a resident as someone who: (1) Owns, leases, or rents a primary place of residence in Maryland for more than 6 months; (2) Has no other residence in any other state or country (see COMAR section for further details). For income tax purposes, the definition is similar. There, a resident is defined as:

1. is domiciled in this State on the last day of the taxable year; or 2. for more than 6 months of the taxable year, maintained a place of abode in this State, whether domiciled in this State or not (Tax General Article of the MD Code 10-101). Finally, as far as voter registration, the Maryland Law Encyclopedia quotes Roberts v. Larkin, 340 MD 147, 1995 as defining residence as “the place of a person’s fixed domicile.” ”
Hat Tip American Thinker

At the age of 47, Robert Wexler is not eligible to live in the gated community which he claims as his residence, therefore he would then be considered a resident of Maryland according to the above definition. This of course raises the issue of potential tax fraud, as O’Reilly noted that Wexler may claim Florida as his home State, thereby avoiding Maryland State taxes. Insurance fraud may be another issue, as the two cars in his driveway appear to have Florida license plates on them, which would potentially save Wexler several thousand dollars per year.

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Congress, Constitution, Features, Politics, Video