Jackson Free Press

ht>This story will appear in the print edition of the Jackson Free Press on Wednesday.

by Adam Lynch
April 5, 2005

On April 4, Jackson resident James Rice asked the Jackson Municipal Democratic Executive Committee to take a second look at the qualifications of Democratic mayoral candidate Frank Melton, asserting that Melton was not qualified to run in the district because he had not filed homestead exemption there. Rice, wielding a printout from the Hinds County Tax Assessor's Web site, questioned whether Melton's campaign could be derailed by Republican opponents. (A Mississippi Supreme Court ruling says that the homestead exemption can set a strong precedent for determining where a candidate lives.)

"My fear is that if Mr. Melton wins the primary and then gets disqualified by someone challenging his residency, the Democrats will have lost their seat," Rice said.

Melton's deadline for filing homestead exemption was April 1. The Jackson Free Press has taped recordings of Melton telling the same commission on March 9 that he had filed homestead exemption in Jackson. Melton had previously filed for homestead exemption in Tyler, Texas, in 1997, and hadn't filed elsewhere since.

The face of committee Chairman Claude McInnis hardened as Rice presented his findings. It was McInnis who had been told by Melton that he had filed weeks ago.

"The election commission has the responsibility to make sure that whoever our nominee is, he or she can withstand a challenge from a Republican or anybody else," McInnis said, adding that he wasn't sure how the committee was initially going to handle the situation.

Attorney Sarah O'Reilly-Evans, who works with the Melton campaign, offered a suggestion. "You treat it as any court of law would when something is brought up outside the statute of limitations—you dismiss it as not timely filed," O'Reilly-Evans said. "It is my understanding that … there was a 10-day window for this committee or any other individual to come forward and deal with this issue at that time."

O'Reilly-Evans, who said she has the counsel of the state attorney general, said the chance for any contention would have to have been expressed last month to remain legally credible.

David Blount of Ward 7 was incredulous: "We asked every candidate the same question with the intention of preserving the viability of every candidate, and we were told by Mr. Melton that he'd filed homestead exemption in the city of Jackson, and we relied on that in certifying him, as we did every other candidate. That bothers me, because when we have folks come forward we rely on them telling the truth to the committee. If we rely on something that's not true, we can still not go back and deal with it—is that what you're telling us?" he demanded of O'Reilly-Evans.

Trent Walker, of Ward 5, suggested that the 10-day statute of limitations may not even set limitations in the face of fraud.

"I'm informed by several different attorneys that misleading statements are not subject to the statute of limitations for time if they influence a decision," he said, but hinted that more information may be needed.

The committee agreed to table the item until it met with the attorney general. (Attorney General Jim Hood was out of town and could not be reached.)

O'Reilly-Evans said that Hood had told her that homestead exemption was not an "exclusive determiner" for qualification. She also said that if an independent review declared the committee had the authority to brush aside the statute of limitations that she would "return and respond to these allegations."

Melton supporter Stephanie Parker-Weaver called the allegation "an act of desperation," by supporters of Democratic mayoral incumbent Harvey Johnson, Jr.

"Councilman Kenneth Stokes, when he was elected for Ward 3, did not file homestead exemption. He lives with his momma, just like I do. I don't file, but I ran as a candidate in Ward 2 and was qualified. Homestead exemption doesn't have a hill of beans to do with anything," Parker-Weaver said.

When asked his feelings on finding Melton's claim several weeks ago in question, Claude McInnis responded, "I've been in politics ever since I was 26 years old, and I've learned in politics that almost anything that can be said will be said."

Melton has told reporters that he filed homestead exemption in Tyler, Texas. He has divided his time between his home in Texas and his home here in Jackson for 21 years. His wife has a pediatrician practice in Tyler, where his biological son and daughter graduated high school. "Somebody needed to be the full-time parent," Carolyn Redd, Melton's sister-in-law and campaign press official, told the Jackson Free Press in February.

Redd also said that the Meltons had not decided whether Ellen Melton would relocate here if he wins the mayor's race. Dr. Melton "may retire," Redd said, adding, "that's something for the family to decide.
Additional reporting by Donna Ladd.

Previous Commentsshow

In case any one needs a definition for homestead exemption (like me), here's how it's qualified by the Mississippi Code. The whole code is searchable and readable at the Secretary of State's Unannotated Code Search.

Walker Sampson

Apr 5 2005

Walker, your first link isn't working for me. Also, be sure to see yesterday's long thread about this issue for text from Texas' laws on homestead exemption that Todd posted.

ladd

Apr 5 2005

The homestead exemption is for property tax calculation purposes. It decreases property taxes for owners who use their property for their own residence, as opposed to commercial uses (a business or other income generating use, e.g. rental property). It has nothing to do with whether a person is a resident of a particular municipality. For example, I do not have a homestead exemption because I don't own any property; I rent an apartment. But this doesn't mean I'm not a resident of the city: I live here, am employed here, am registered to vote here, etc. Surely I could run for public office in Jackson.

Justin

Apr 5 2005

If that earlier link to homestead exemption doesn't...maybe this will. Thanks Justin for the info--

Walker Sampson

Apr 5 2005

A Mississippi Supreme Court ruling says that the homestead exemption can set a strong precedent for determining where a candidate lives. I think this is the point, but it's being misunderstood. What I would assume is that filing homestead exemption would create a strong presumption that a person lives where he or she has filed, but not filing says nothing about whether a person is actually a resident of any place. The other issue, though, is that Melton appears to have misled the Jackson Municipal Democratic Executive Committee about this. That's serious, IMO. -- Tim

Tim Kynerd

Apr 6 2005

...and so I woke up and found this in my email from [email]contactus@mayorharveyjohnson.com[/email] ...guess it went to anyone on the mayor's office's "Jackson City Happenings" weekly email updates: [quote]Please visit www.wjtv.com to participate in the web poll asking, ìShould Frank Meltonís name appear on the ballot for Jackson mayor?î Thanks to all[/quote]

GDIModerate

Apr 6 2005

My take on this is that it is not an act of desperation on the Johnson camp; but, a section of his supporters that are fed up with the pansy-ass reporting done by the major media outlets. At some point the C-L and TV need to participate in this election, and stop being so limited and weak on the issues. Kudos for you guys taking this issue head on months ago now. I think we had hashed it out, decided it was not a major issue; but, good for the discussions surrounding the election. And, that was by a majority of Johnson supprters on this site! It was never mentioned as a disqualifing factor. It is important for people to know how Melton and his family keep two homes with the Jackson one his SECOND home, and in Texas is his PRIMARY home. At one time, I remember Mississippians being kind of territorial. It's sad to see what I used to think are good people become jokes right in front of our eyes as they give us their opinions. Regardless of the out come, their biased views and negative rants about the city and some of its citizens can't be undone. If this is the way Melton wants to begin his tenure and the type of support he wants from those Jacksonians who think Jax is so bad, he can have them.

tortoise

Apr 6 2005

Hmmm... I wish the mayor would dodge this issue and instead seek specifics that seem to be missing in Melton's campaign like who, what, when, where, and how he will reduce crime and tear down entire hotels and neighborhoods... Those are the issues I'd like to see tackled by all the administrations. HOW are they gonig to fulfill their promises?

kaust

Apr 6 2005

I wish the mayor would dodge this issue and instead seek specifics When all gets said and done, and Melton stays in the race, at least an entire week or more will have been wasted on this issue. With less than 30 days before the election that can't help the Mayor's campaign which has me thinking that he didn't really ask for this but once it started he couldn't avoid getting sucked in. I don't understand why he is insisting on just one TV debate. Wouldn't TV debates be an opportunity to shift the campaign back to issues and get face time? Mayor Johnson's comment that there isn't enough time to do more than one TV debate doesn't sound like power talking.

Proud To Be Right

Apr 6 2005

Was in Bush's best interest to debate Kerry? The talking heads said that if Bush didn't want to debate he didn't need to. It is only good for the challenger to debate. Don't you listen to Rush or watch Fox PBR? The incumbent has a job and a record to stand on. It is the challenger that needs to get his message out. Now in Jackson's case it may be good since the C-L doesn't cover the city as it should. Also, I'm sure Bush nominated a team to discuss debate issues. Too bad Melton wasn't running for Pres. he could of tried his machismo act about meeting man to man to discuss the debates with Bush...lol!!!!

tortoise

Apr 6 2005

i've said it before, and i'll say it again: frank melton needs to run for mayor in texas. if that's where his wife lives and where he raised his kids, then that's his home. regardless of what he says. talk about a carpetbagger! unfortunately, it seems we have a bad case of the vision-impaired leading the vision-imparied... and, again, i too want to know exactly how melton plans to reduce crime and provide better housing for the poor. i'm sure he has a solid plan. but i want to know details. beyond firing chief moore.

Jay

Apr 6 2005

He's going to give all the poor children jobs fixing houses. Making $25-$30 an hour! Sign me up, that's the kind of pay I can deal with! This guy will say anything to get elected and his people just eat it up. It will be an entertaining 4 years if he is elected! http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050406/NEWS01/504060383/1002

tortoise

Apr 6 2005

FACTCHECK: Alan Lange is spreading the false rumor that the Johnson campaign provided the tape of Frank Melton's homestead testimony to the JFP. In fact, we were covering the campaigns well before that and my reporter, Adam Lynch, attended that event and recorded it. The tape is, and has always, been the property of the JFP. I believe Mr. Lange owes Mr. Lynch an apology for this malicious falsehood. You can read more about the homestead controversy on this long thread that resulted after we posted the press release we received Lavaree Jones on Monday about the challenge. There is much more info there, including details on Texas' homestead exemption laws.

ladd

Apr 6 2005

I guess we're finding out that Texas DOES care. Notice melton now claims "dual residnecy." That may not look good on a legal interpretation...

GDIModerate

Apr 7 2005