BRACK: Squishy residency law challenged in Senate District 41 race

[UPDATED BELOW; Residency challenge to be heard 9 a.m. Thursday]

Commentary by Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  GOP District 41 Senate candidate Sandy Senn seems to have thinner skin than Donald Trump.

You may recall a May 16 commentary in which we called on the state legislature to fix squishy campaign residency laws so candidates couldn’t cherry-pick districts to move into near elections to try to win legislative office.  In the column, we highlighted how Senn, a Charleston attorney, “lived in Folly Beach until the fall, when she took an in-district townhouse in West Ashley, now listed by candidacy records as her residence.”  Property records show she owns a house in a gated Folly Beach community about four miles outside the Senate district.

The column went on to emphasize that Senn, who said she had been gerrymandered out of a district she had lived in for years, had done nothing wrong by changing residences.  She faces three opponents in the June 14 GOP primary.

Now it seems, though, that a James Island lawyer is challenging Senn’s residency, which has gotten up the candidate’s dander.

Attorney Margaret Fabri on Friday filed a challenge [read it here] with the Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration requesting a hearing before the primary on whether Senn can run for the Senate seat based on her residency.  The complaint claims that Senn’s home on Folly Beach gets a 4 percent owner-occupied tax rate as a primary residence:

“If this was not the primary residence and domicile of Ms. Senn, her tax rate would be 6%, which it is not.  Although, prior to Ms. Senn filing for the Senate seat for District 41, she rented a townhouse in District 41, this is not her primary residence nor domicile, therefore, it is clear Ms. Senn has only leased a townhome or condo in District 41 to attempt to circumvent the residency requirements of S.C. Code Sec. 2-1-40, et seq.”

We contacted Senn by email Sunday and she cried foul in a series of replies:

We phoned Senn at 9 a.m. Monday.  She said she was sending a statement.  Here it is, in full:

“It appears one my competitors has selected Democrat Margaret Fabri to file a baseless challenge as to my residency and she has asked for a hearing one day before the election. No one can truthfully say that I live at the beach house which is where my newly married daughter and her husband now live. Regardless, if Fabri were right (which she is not) her challenge would not take me off the ballot or disqualify me. So, what this really is, is an attempt to distract me which will not work. I will continue my campaign in a positive fashion while being comforted in the fact that if owning a Folly Beach house is the worst my competitors can throw at me, then so be it.”

[UPDATED] The Charleston County Board of Elections and Voter Registration is scheduled to hear the residency challenge 9 a.m. Thursday at its office, 4367 Headquarters Road, North Charleston, Executive Director Joseph L. Debney said today.

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