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School Board District 4 candidate Charles Dennis said he does meet
residency requirements for office, despite a lawsuit filed Friday
attempting to disqualify him by claiming Dennis doesn't live in the
district.
Dennis qualified for candidacy using an address on Judy Street in District 4. He said he moved there roughly a year ago, but maintains his previous home on Failla Street, outside the district.
A hearing on the issue has been set for 1:30 p.m. Monday before Judge Herman Clause.
"I'm confident that's my address, that's where I live," Dennis said of his Judy Street home.But in a lawsuit filed Friday morning, resident John Paul Stoshak contends that Dennis' true domicile is his Failla home in District 9. The suit argues that state law requires a candidate for public office be domiciled for the preceding year in the district from which he seeks election.
"Mr. Dennis has not maintained a residence in District 4 for the one (1) year preceding his qualifications for election to the Lafayette Parish School Board District 4," the suit states.
When asked how long he had been living in District 4, Dennis said he did not know exactly, but estimated it to be "a little over a year ago."
Dennis is the only candidate who qualified to run against incumbent board member Ed Sam for the District 4 seat. Records from the Registrar of Voters' office indicate Dennis has been a registered voter of District 4 for the past seven months. On Jan. 24, he changed his voter registration to 422 S. Sterling St., which is in District 4, with his mailing address still Failla Road. On March 16, he changed his registration again to the Judy Street address.
Stoshak said Friday that he filed the lawsuit because he feels "this type of fraud should not be perpetrated on the people of Lafayette Parish. ... The representation in District 4 is bad enough without Charles Dennis attempting to insult the integrity of the electoral process."
Attorney Gary McGoffin, who filed the suit on behalf of Stoshak, said he will present a variety of evidence at Monday's hearing about Dennis' domicile.
"They look at everything - Do you prepare your meals there? Do you wash your clothes? Do you get your mail?" he said. "You take the totality of circumstances."
Dennis declined to discuss why he moved from his Failla Street house, where his wife still lives and many of his belongings remain.
"It's a large property, it's got everything I've acquired all my life - equipment, tools, trailers, all that kind of thing. I maintain it, and I frequent it," Dennis said. "I just don't know how to take all this."
After Monday's hearing, the judge will have 24 hours to issue a ruling.
Resident John Paul Stoshack will present evidence about Charles Dennis' residency in a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Monday.