I apologize, fellow bloggers, but I cannot leave this story alone. As you may recall, Steve Chapman, Republican candidate for the House of Delegates 50th district, has been charged with lying about where he lived when he registered to vote last fall, and then voting illegally in November. In a press release issued Saturday, the Chapman campaign made the following statement:
Steve Chapman is 100% innocent of these outrageous, absurd charges against him. Did he move in to Manassas Park? After paying rent, he changed his driver’s license, he changed his car insurance, he changed his car registration, he changed his mailing address, and he got verification of rental from his landlord, Michael Wilbourn, in order to get a mortgage. But it wasn’t just paper, Steve got to work immediately in his community…
I got to thinking. That’s an interesting list of specifics. There can be little question that Chapman made an effort to change his legal residence to the 50th district. But did he maintain his actual residence there? I posited the following question to Tom Kopko, Chapman’s communications director: “Did Steve actually live in a 50th district residence? As in… sleep there, make meals there, change his clothes there, shower, shave and brush his teeth there? You haven’t said that he did. You haven’t presented witnesses who can confirm that he did. Unless you do so, skeptics will assume that all the actions listed above were nothing more than a charade. Can you please clarify?”
I sent that message Saturday. I’m still waiting for an answer. If Chapman is willing to verify that he did all the normal things that people do at home, that’s good enough for me. I’m willing to drop the subject. Until he does, however, I suspect we’re being weasel-worded.
