Wallace: Legg no longer lives in district, should resign from House

Posted Jul 20, 2012 by William March

Updated Jul 20, 2012 at 03:01 PM

State Senate candidate Rob Wallace says his opponent in the Republican primary, Rep. John Legg, should resign his House seat.

The reason, Wallace says: When he moved into the Senate district, Legg moved out of his House district.

Legg faces Wallace, a former state House member from Carrollwood, along with John Korsak of Tampa in a Republican primary for the District 17 seat representing northwest Hillsborough and southern Pasco counties, and has the backing of Senate leadership in the primary race.

He told The Tampa Tribune recently that he had moved from a house he owned in Port Richey, located in House District 46, which he represents, to a house in Trinity, which is located in the state Senate he hopes to represent, but not in the House district.

But, said Wallace, the state constitution says a legislator must be a permanent resident of the district he or she represents.

“To me he abandoned his constituents, and he’s not in compliance with the Constitution or with his oath of office, because of the cat and mouse game of where he lives,” Wallace said. “He forgot that he had a constitutional duty to stay with his constituents.”

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Update:
Asked for an interview, Legg instead issued the following statement through a Tallahassee public relations agency:
“My wife and I have two houses, one is in my current House District and the other is in the Senate District for which I am running.  I have begun preparations to be in the Senate District by Election Day as Florida Statutes require, and I have been advised by the House General Council that those preparations are fine and there is no obligation for me to resign.”