State Rep. Pam DeLissio wins Commonwealth Court ruling on residency
Challengers contended DeLissio should be knocked off the ballot because she used a second property in Harrisburg to register her car and claimed a homestead exemption.
State Rep. Pamela DeLissio, whose district includes Roxborough, Manayunk and East Falls, has survived a residency challenge, based on her ownership of a suburban Harrisburg property where she had registered her car and claimed a homestead exemption.
Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Rochelle S. Friedman ruled Monday that while DeLissio used the Harrisburg property to ease her commuting while working in the Capitol, and took advantage of it to save money on her auto insurance, the evidence was insufficient to prove that she had changed her stated domicile in Roxborough, the base for her legislative seat.
"Candidate credibly testified that the Philadelphia property has been her permanent residence since 1997 and is the place to which she returns when she is not working in Harrisburg," the judge said in a six-page opinion, noting that DeLissio's voting address, family, doctors, bank and credit card statements and home garden remained in Philadelphia even after she bought the Harrisburg property in 2006.
DeLissio, a Democrat, was elected in 2010 and is now seeking her third term.
Her opponent in the Democratic primary, Dave Henderson, issued a statement saying voters "won't soon forget this self-serving deception."
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