Kos's post about Lugar's residency (which as several commenters including me have pointed out is entirely baseless on a legal basis) got me thinking about residency for federal officials, and how real the issue is.
I think most people want their representative to continue to living in the district, right? Because if they move to D.C., they will lose sight of the issues that actually affect their constituents, and will evolve into that DC beast that is a career politician, more swayed by lobbyists than their own constituients.
That seems like a fair enough desire. But let's look at what else we want in and from our representatives. We want representatives who come from the 99%, right? We want people who have lived in our circumstances, who aren't independently wealthy. We want mothers and fathers. We want soldiers, business people, teachers, workers. We don't want a congress that is made up entirely of Mitt Romneys.
We also want a full-time congress. There has been no end of ridicule for the short schedule that the Republican leadership has keep since it came back into power in the House. 3 and 4 day work weeks and weeks off at a time are unacceptable, we have real, pressing issues that face the country, and we need full-time legislators working. The rest of American works 40 hours a week, 52 (50 if they are lucky) weeks a year. So should our representatives, we pay them enough.
But those three, seperate, desires that I think the average voter wants are incompatible. I'm not saying that every single representative should pack up and move to DC the day after the election, some people's circumstances allow them to continue an actual residence in their district (versus merely a legal one). My representative, John Yarmuth, is still actually a resident in Louisville. The last time I heard, he was sharing a townhouse with his adult son in DC when the House is in session. He flies home most weekends. But his son is an adult, and happens to live in DC. He is also wealthy, and it is not a stretch for him to maintain two homes. His wife doesn't work, so she can go back and forth as she likes.
What if he had children still in school? Do we expect our representatives to become absentee parents? I don't know about you, but I am glad I lived in the same house with my father 7 days a week growing up. If he had been gone Monday through Friday every week, I wouldn't have liked it. What if his wife worked? The choice would be between them being seperated during the week a majority of the year, or her moving to DC and finding work there, so they could live together the majority of the time. I think representatives having their families around them is probably a good thing. It's perfectly reasonable for an elected official to move his family to DC, especially if they have school age children.
And while lots of representatives can afford to maintain two homes, one in DC and one in their district, I don't think that should be a requirement for being elected. Most of the 99%, even with a congressional salary, wouldn't be able to maintain a true residence for their family both in DC and back in the district. And does congress pay to fly the wife and kids back and forth every week, too?
So when I see attacks based on a representatives "living" in DC, I don't give the attack a lot of credit. But I do understand the motivation behind, which represents real concerns. But I don't think where our representatives spend their weekends is the real issue. I think that the power of incumbency, and the lack of turnover in federal elected officials is the real problem. If you want someone who has maintained real ties to your district, and who knows first hand what life is like for their constitutients, stop sending the same person back to congress year after year. We already have term limits, they're called elections. If your representative has lived in DC for 10 years (or, god forbid, 35 years) stop voting for them. You might love them, they might be a great representative, but stop voting for them. They'll be okay. They will get a job, where they will probably have almost as much influence over the political process as they did while in office. They'll probably make more money. Tell them you think it's time for new blood in office.