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State Rep. DeLissio defends her residency

Though she used a Harrisburg address for her auto insurance, state Pamela Rep. DeLissio says there's no question that her home has always been in Roxborough.

State Rep. Pamela DeLissio made arrangements this week to double her bill for auto insurance – not to get better coverage, but to move her drivers' license, registration and insurance to her house in Roxborough, instead of the house in Harrisburg where PennDOT had her registered since 2007.

The new arrangements were provoked by a legal dispute over DeLissio's residency, now pending in Commonwealth Court and threatening her bid for re-election to a third term.

Though DeLissio has owned her Roxborough home since 1997 and has always considered it "home," she testified Wednesday, she bought a house in Harrisburg in late 2006 while running a business there, and filed tax returns from the address from 2007 through 2010. She continued to use her Roxborough address for her voter registration, bank accounts, credit cards, weekends, family dinners and gardening, won election to the state House from Roxborough's district in 2010 and resumed filing taxes from Roxborough in 2011.

DeLissio told reporters that her insurance agent had assured her she could legally continue to use the Harrisburg address for her auto coverage, because of the time she spends in the state capital.  But she switched the coverage this week, DeLissio said, because she didn't want her constituents to be confused by any questions over where she lives. She also made arrangements this week to repay $341 to the Harrisburg School District, the amount she had saved over the past five years through a homestead exclusion she had claimed for the Harrisburg property.

Commonwealth Court Judge Rochelle S. Friedman promised a decision in the case by early next week.

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