COMMENTARY

MILT THOMAS

District school board winner Shawn Frost wants the residency suit against him dismissed as baseless. Au contraire, sir, it is far from baseless. Here are some of the facts as reported on September 12 by InsideVero:

“Nearly two weeks before voters went to the polls Aug. 26, we reported on Frost’s claim to have established legal residence in District 1 by moving into living space above the garage at his father’s house at 6700 77th Street. All the while, according to Frost, his wife and children continued to live in his homesteaded property at 1301 38th Avenue in District 3.

We then reported that several month earlier, when filing to run for the District 2 seat on the Indian River County Commission, Frost gave as his address 30 acres of pasture land on 65^th Street.

After one of Frost’s neighbors came forward, we also reported that, according to the neighbor, the two vehicles driven by Frost and his wife could regularly be seen early in the morning and late at night parked in the driveway of their home on 38^th Avenue. Further, the neighbor said, Frost was often seen walking the neighborhood late at night.

That Frost received much of his financial support from state and national school-choice groups gunning for Brombach is of no relevance in this case.

That Frost has made a great effort of late to appear to be living at his father’s house should not impress, or sway the court.

Whether Frost is honoring the spirit of the law also bears no weight in this case.

The only relevant legal question to be answered by Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox is whether Frost complied with the letter of a clear and unambiguous law requiring that he establish legal residency in District 1 on or before the date he qualified as a candidate.

There are those who argue that the voters have spoken. Frost’s election “victory,” they say, should be the final word, even if that “victory” means a defeat for the rule of law.

Frost is due to be sworn in Tuesday, but as Charlie Wilson found out in 2009, it does not matter if he takes his seat on the school board and then loses it in court.