Readers: Ald Chris Carter Should Remain In Office…For Now At Least; Residency Question A Non-Issue
Increasingly rare, I agree with readers in the latest non-scientific Sunday Poll:
Q: Ald Chris Carter was arrested, his wife accused him of abuse. Should he resign now or remain in office.
- Stay in office, resign only if found guilty 17 [54.84%]
- Resign immediately 8 [25.81%]
- Unsure/no answer 4 [12.9%]
- Stay in office, even if found guilty 2 [6.45%]
The allegation of something shouldn’t be enough to force an elected official to resign. The police, prosecutors, and courts will seek justice.
The other issue, however, is his place of residence. I contacted Ald Carter on Monday to ask him a few questions, we spoke by phone. He says he and his wife, Lotasha Carter, are separated. She and their 18 month old daughter moved out of their house in the 5900 block of North Pointe Blvd a few months ago, they’ve been staying with her mother on East Gulf Shore in unincorporated North St. Louis County. Carter says he visits daily to help with their daughter.
Chris & Lotosha Carter were married in June 2013, but they’d been discussing divorce — which is why she moved out of their home. They bought the home in July 2014 — year after getting married. Both of their names are on the deed. The Carter’s listed their home for sale in December 2015
Monday afternoon I replied to 27th Ward Committewoman Pamela Boyd’s email, who’d questioned his residency, to see if she had any facts otherwise. In her reply she indicated her claims were based on the fact she had seen a for sale sign in the yard. I also contacted the other person questioning Carter’s residence, I’ve not heard back from Rep Clay. Chris Carter told me the sale is scheduled to close Friday next week.
It appears the issue of his residency is much ado about nothing.
— Steve Patterson
You state that “his residency is a non-issue”. I disagree. I strongly believe that a representative, any representative, who is elected to represent a district (or ward) and is required to live in that district should actually (and continually) live in that district. We already have district lines and ward boundaries drawn to protect incumbent reps (and we also have them gerrymandered to attempt to protect voting blocs and to create “safe” seats). You also state that their home, in the ward, has sold and will be closing in ten days. What remains unstated is where Chris Carter will be living after the sale closes. I assume that he will be renting or buying someplace in his ward, but that is only an assumption on my part. Until Chris Carter states that he lives at X address, and it can be independently confirmed that he actually is living there (and not just paying rent on an empty apartment), the question of residency is NOT “much ado about nothing”!
That said, I also agree with you and the majority of the voters, that a person should be considered innocent until proven guilty. Making allegations is easier than proving them, and if our representatives resigned every time someone made an allegation about them, true or not, we wouldn’t have very many representatives left. As it stands, now, the scrutiny candidates face is so intense that many good, well-qualified people simply choose not to run. There are plenty of examples where someone was late paying their taxes and that’s held up as a reason to disqualify them. As long as the taxes were paid, including any penalties, who cares? The same goes for traffic tickets and minor drug possession cases. What it boils down to is competency and honesty – do what you say you’re going to do and I’ll be happy. Abuse the system? Then, I’ll have a problem. I understand why Chris Carter probably doesn’t want to “air his dirty laundry” in public, but an unequivocable statement about his residency is just as important as an unequivocable statement about resigning.
Of course elected officials should live within the boundaries in which their elected. My point is the suggestion that he hadn’t been living in the 27th ward is without merit. A false claim, a non-issue.
I’m sure, since this has been months in the making he’s thought about where he’ll live in the 27th ward.
I feel comfortable saying he probably won’t be staying with his wife, daughter, and MIL in North County. He has family in the 27th ward.
If Carter were a butcher at the corner store, the assault allegation would have been a non-issue, just as it should be with Alderman Carter. St Louis lionizes aldermen for whatever reason, but really they are very small inbred fish in a tiny pond that is stocked with only one specie of D-fish, eating from a well-stocked public trot-line, occasionally getting caught because they’re stupid or lazy or greedy, or all three, but usually getting thrown back into the pond due to their perceived size or because of public pressure to preserve the specie’s breeders. Next month, another one will get caught driving drunk, or extorting from a local business, or worse, but the public outcry will last only a few hours until the the cooling winds from the north arrive to settle the waters..
Indeed, when you have a small pond those who wish to be big fish will do & say things to knock out a bigger fish so they have room to move up.