Remember the high-profile 2006 Pennsylvania Senate race between then-incumbent Senator Rick Santorum (R) and then-challenger Bob Casey (D), where Casey continually criticized Santorum for living full-time outside of Washington D.C. and spending little time in state? The same line of attack could perhaps be used again this year against Elise Stefanik (R), a prominent Washington D.C. political operative and former Bush aide who is now running for Congress in New York's 21st Congressional District, which contains most of the state's North Country, Adirondack and Upper Hudson Valley regions.
The truth of the matter is that Elise Stefanik currently doesn't own or rent property anywhere in the State of New York or the 21st Congressional District. The only property which Stefanik is currently believed to pay taxes on is a Washington D.C. townhouse, assessed at $1.3 million, which she partially owns. Last summer, Stefanik declared her legal residency at her family's long-time vacation home on Lake Champlain in Willsboro, deeded to her parents. Under New York State law, a congressional candidate is not required to maintain residency in the district where they run for office, but they must be a full-time resident of the State of New York in order to assume office. Reviewing the preliminary facts and information, it seems that Stefanik's residency in New York appears shaky at best.
In additon, to make matters even worse, The Hill magazine recently reported that Stefanik has a history of making late property taxes on her partially-owned townhouse in Washington D.C. and has faced over $4,000 in penalties over the past four years.
From The Hill, April 29, 2014:
"New York Republican House candidate Elise Stefanik has a history of late property taxes on a Capitol Hill townhouse she owns with a number of others, racking up over $4,000 in penalties and interest on the home."
"A review of public Washington, D.C. tax documents shows that taxes on the property at 610 Independence Ave. SE, which was acquired by EMS DC Properties in August of 2010, have been paid late in 2011, 2012 and the latter half of 2013, accruing a total $4,316.71 in interest and penalties."
"Stefanik lists the property as a “residential rental property” owned by EMS DC Properties on her Personal Financial Disclosure forms, and values her stake in the townhouse between $250,000 and $500,000."
To top it off, Stefanik hasn't really lived full-time in New York State in nearly twelve years, since graduating from Albany Academy for Girls in 2002 before attending Harvard for four years and then working as a Republican political operative in Washington for eight years
While Republicans continue to relentlessly criticize Democratic congressional candidate Aaron Woolf for being an outsider from Brooklyn, at least Woolf is a full-time resident of the State of New York and actually does indeed own property in Essex County in Elizabethtown, which in many respects gives Woolf far more legitimacy to run for Congress in the 21st District than Stefanik does.