PHOENIX — Congressional hopeful Matt Heinz has failed in his bid to knock one of his competitors off the ballot.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joshua Rogers ruled Tuesday that Ann Kirkpatrick met the legal definition of being a resident of Tucson at the time she filed her legal paperwork for the open congressional seat being vacated by Martha McSally.
In a 10-page ruling, Rogers acknowledged that Kirkpatrick, who used to represent a congressional district centered in Northern Arizona, still owns a home in Flagstaff.
There also are records introduced into evidence showing that the property is listed as owner-occupied, a classification that reduces its property tax.
Rogers also said Kirkpatrick does spend time at a Phoenix condo which she jointly owns with her husband, Roger Curley.
But Rogers said based on the evidence he saw, as well as Kirkpatrick’s statements in court, led him to conclude that from the time she announced her candidacy in July 2017 and began to collect petition signatures for the Democratic nomination, she “was physically present in Tucson and had an intent to remain in Tucson.”
The ruling will not be appealed, said Brian Robinson, a spokesman for the Heinz campaign that financed the legal challenge.
But he said the hearing did accomplish much of what Heinz wanted. Robinson said it brought to light what he said are facts that should get voters of Congressional District 2 to question Kirkpatrick’s links to the area.
“It moves from the legal court into the court of public opinion,” he said.
The legal issue before the judge was not so much where Kirkpatrick lives now.
Nothing in the U.S. Constitution requires that members of Congress live in the district they represent. In fact, Heinz himself does not live in CD2; Heinz lives in Tucson in CD3, which is represented by Rep. Raúl Grijalva.
But attorney David Weatherwax argued that Kirkpatrick violated a state law that requires candidates for all offices to file nominating papers “giving the person’s actual residence address.” A separate state law says nominating petitions also must list the candidate’s address.
Weatherwax argued there is evidence that Kirkpatrick, at the time she filed the nominating papers and was collecting petition signatures, was living with her husband at their condo in Phoenix.
He produced documents showing that as recently as last November — months after she declared her candidacy —Kirkpatrick signed legal papers telling a bank that she and her husband would occupy the Phoenix condo as her primary residence.
The paperwork Kirkpatrick filed to run for office and her nominating petitions contained one of two different Tucson addresses.
The first was a a home where Rogers concluded she first lived when moving to Tucson in April 2017. Kirkpatrick testified she moved there to be near her daughter, Whitney, who was finishing up a medical residency program, as well as her grandchildren.
Kirkpatrick acknowledged she paid no rent, picking up only the cost of utilities at the home, which was owned by friends of her husband who spend only part of the year in Arizona.
Then, in October, Kirkpatrick and stepson Sheridan Curley co-signed a lease for a two-bedroom home on North Shannon Road. She testified she pays at least part of the rent and utilities.
On Monday, Weatherwax grilled Kirkpatrick about the property, arguing that it is questionable whether she resides there now. He even suggested that a photo of her closet, taken a day after the election challenge was filed, did not show enough clothes to prove residency.
But Rogers, in his 10-page ruling, noted there are other indications, including photos in the apartment of her children and grandchildren, and of a hummingbird feeder.
The judge said there was other evidence of her presence in Tucson, including her voter registration, the address on her driver’s license, receipts for where she bought gas, and her membership in the Pima County Public Library for “a couple of months.”
Anyway, the judge said, where Kirkpatrick spends her time is only one indication of where she lives. “Residence is determined by both physical presence and intention,” Rogers wrote.
Rod McLeod, spokesman for the Kirkpatrick campaign, brushed aside questions about some of the evidence presented in court, including the document from last November saying she would occupy the Phoenix condo. He said the only thing that matters is that the judge concluded Kirkpatrick lives in Tucson.
Robinson, for his part, said the fact that Heinz lives in the adjacent CD3 does not undermine what he said are stronger local roots than Kirkpatrick’s. He said Heinz, a doctor at Tucson Medical Center, has been living and working in Southern Arizona for 15 years.
McLeod countered that Kirkpatrick moved to Tucson four decades ago to attend the University of Arizona. “I don’t know if he was born when she moved to Tucson,” he said.
