Attorney General Hawley sued over 'residence'

In this June 23, 2017 photo, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley speaks during a graduation ceremony for state troopers at Highway Patrol headquarters in Jefferson City. (Photograph courtesy of Brenda Campbell/Missouri Highway Patrol)
In this June 23, 2017 photo, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley speaks during a graduation ceremony for state troopers at Highway Patrol headquarters in Jefferson City. (Photograph courtesy of Brenda Campbell/Missouri Highway Patrol)

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley either should establish residence in Jefferson City or resign from office, Jefferson City resident Donna Mueller said Tuesday in a three-page lawsuit filed in the Cole County Circuit Court.

But Hawley's spokeswoman, Loree Ann Paradise, told the News Tribune: "The attorney general maintains a nearby residence as a matter of custom and his permanent residence is minutes away, enabling him to be at the capital on even the shortest notice."

The lawsuit was filed by Jefferson City lawyer Gaylin Rich Carver and assigned to Circuit Judge Jon Beetem. No hearing dates have been set yet.

Hawley, a Republican and former University of Missouri-Columbia Law School professor, was sworn in as attorney general Jan. 9.

But, the lawsuit argued, he has continued to live at his Boone County home on Missouri 163, between Ashland and Columbia, even though a state law says the "attorney general shall reside at the seat of government and keep his office in the supreme court building."

Missouri's Constitution defines Jefferson City as the seat of government.

The law applies only to the attorney general - none of the other five statewide elected officials face a similar requirement.

As evidence supporting her contention that Hawley is violating the mandate, Mueller cited the Sept. 20 finding by Boone County Clerk Taylor Burks that Hawley's vote in the Aug. 8 special election was cast by "a valid and legal resident of Boone County, (voting from) his 'permanent home.'"

Although not included in the lawsuit, Burks told the News Tribune that Hawley also voted from the Boone County address in last week's elections.

Carver wrote in a five-page "Suggestions In Support" of the lawsuit: "Missouri cases hold that the term 'residence' in most legal contexts is equivalent to 'domicile.' A person's residence or domicile means his or her place of abode or home, to which he or she goes and returns daily, weekly, or habitually from his or her ordinary business, wherever it is carried out."

The lawsuit asks the court to "command" Hawley to "reside in Jefferson City" as required by state law.

In late January, Hawley issued a statement saying his living arrangement met the law's requirements but that he also would rent an apartment in Jefferson City.

During Burks' investigation of a Boone County voter's complaint that Hawley violated election law, Hawley's attorney - Peter Patterson of the Cooper & Kirk law firm in Washington, D.C. - told Burks: "Earlier this year, in a nod to the tradition of Attorneys General also residing in Jefferson City, Mr. Hawley rented an apartment within the city limits of Jefferson City. He uses that apartment as a residence in addition to his family home."

However, Patterson also told the Boone County clerk, "Missouri law provides that a voter may reside in multiple places, but may be registered to vote in one place only."

And Patterson told the News Tribune in September: "The Missouri Supreme Court has squarely held - for decades - that 'residence' for purposes of voter qualifications is subject to the common law tests normally invoked when determining domicile an actual residence, coupled with the intention to remain either permanently or for an indefinite time."

Paradise said Tuesday: "The attorney general's residency clearly complies with Missouri law and precedent. The office is in Jefferson City as required by law."

An analysis written in January by Deputy Attorney General Michael Martinich-Sauter argued Hawley "fully complies with the residency requirement by maintaining his current family residence in rural Boone County (because) the Attorney General's family residence is within ordinary commuting distance from the capitol complex, and thus 'at the seat of government.'

"The purpose of the 1835 statute that imposed the residency requirement was to ensure the Attorney General was present to conduct business at the capitol. Attorney General Hawley plainly satisfies that requirement."

But, Carver wrote in her "Suggestions In Support" document, citing a 1998 appeals court ruling, "A public official is directed by law to perform a ministerial act, regardless of how the official may regard the propriety or impropriety of the act."

Carver wrote that the order she wants the court to issue, called a writ of mandamus, "can only compel a public official to do that which he or she is obligated by law to do."