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Two candidates to replace Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey are fighting over whether one of them actually lives in the district.
Brian Wilson filed a complaint with county elections officials Tuesday, claiming that Eric Zimmerman hasn't lived in the district long enough to qualify as a candidate on the May ballot.
County elections officials quickly ruled last night that Zimmerman, chief of staff to Multnomah County Commissioner Diane McKeel, meets the residency requirements to run for County Commission Seat 1.
But Wilson, a longtime volunteer, says he may keep trying to get Zimmerman kicked out of the race.
Wilson, who is part of crowded field of seven candidates, says he has a meeting with County Elections Wednesday and may bring further challenges.
"We are reviewing their response, and a challenge is likely," Wilson tells WW.
Zimmerman spokesman Jake Weigler says Wilson was raising the issue as a distraction.
"Sadly, Brian has been spreading this rumor for months," says Weigler. "We provided the elections division with Eric's residency background and they found him eligible to run. Today's move is Brian trying to distract from his stalling campaign."
The residency question Wilson is raising about Zimmerman is complicated, and involves several houses.
District 1, where the two candidates are seeking office, includes the entire West Side of Portland and portions of Inner Southeast. Candidates are required to live in the district for 18 months before taking office—in this case, that's July 2015.
But Zimmerman voted from an outer Southeast Portland address in May 2015, and didn't register to vote from an address within the district until November, four months after he needed to establish residency, Wilson said in his complaint on Tuesday.
Zimmerman also bought a house in Southwest Portland in October and didn't move in until December, Wilson complains.
Even before the challenge from Wilson, Zimmerman had already submitted a letter earlier this month—March 7—explaining his complicated residency situation.
His letter says:
- Zimmerman bought a house in March 2011 in Northwest Portland. He continued to own the home but moved out in January 2014 into a nearby rental.
- In April 2015, he was pushed out of by rising rents, he writes, and moved in with family in Southeast—where he did not pay rent.
- He changed his mailing address, and his ballot was simply forwarded to the new address, he says. He never officially changed his address.
County elections official Tim Scott says Zimmerman remains eligible to run for several reasons: He owned a home in the district, never changed his driver's license to an address out of the district, and "never intended" to change his address for voter registration.
Willamette Week