Thursday morning, Dr. Roger Marshall filed an Objection to the Candidacy of Timothy A. Huelskamp with the Kansas State Elections Board, based on alleged Kansas residency issues.
By the end of the day, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach had dismissed the complaint, saying U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp is qualified to seek re-election.
The complaint was filed by Great Bend obstetrician Roger Marshall, Huelskamp’s Republican challenger in the upcoming primary.
It contends that Huelskamp did not disclose his address when he filed his candidacy paperwork and should not therefore appear on the August ballot. It also alleges the address on his Federal Elections Commission filing does not belong to him.
Huelskamp’s campaign called the complaint frivolous and desperate.
Kobach said Huelskamp is registered as a voter in the Fowler area in southwest Kansas.
The secretary of state also said Marshall missed the June 2 deadline set by Kansas law for filing an objection to Huelskamp’s name appearing on the August ballot.
The objection pointed out that Rep. Huelskamp is “the only candidate for national office in the state not to disclose a residence, or even a ZIP code.”
Dr. Marshall’s complaint also noted that the Register of Deeds in Meade County does not list a single property in his name. Fowler, the city in which Huelskamp claims on the ballot to live in, is in Meade County. The objection also states that the address claimed on the congressman’s 2015 Federal Elections Commission document does not, in fact, belong to Huelskamp.
The Huelskamp campaign responded by calling on Dr. Marshall to “admit the claim he filed with the Secretary of State’s office is desperate and frivolous.”
“CEO Roger Marshall knows his campaign is going badly, and this is another desperate attempt to save his failing campaign,” said Jimmy Keady with Kansans for Huelskamp. “Claiming Tim doesn’t live in Kansas is as truthful as CEO Marshall’s claim that he is a 5th generation farmer.”
The Great Bend Tribune contacted the Secretary of State’s Office, where a spokesman confirmed the complaint had been filed shortly before noon. The office was reviewing the objection and a ruling was not expected before Friday.
Huelskamp’s “Candidate’s Declaration of Intention” form filed May 27 lists his residence as Fowler. It does not give an address.
The address Huelskamp provided in his 2015 FEC filings, 601 Church St., Fowler, is invalid, according to the complaint.
“Tim Huelskamp’s candidacy filings with both the Kansas Secretary of State and the Federal Elections Commission have either a false or no residency,” Marshall said in a news release. “Like most career politicians, he is hiding something, or he is lying. Either of which, in this case, disqualify him from being on the ballot.”
However, the Huelskamp campaign disagrees.
“Desperate Roger Marshall knows that Tim returns home to Kansas at the end of every week and spends the vast majority of his days in Kansas,” Keady said. “His kids are enrolled in school and play sports in Kansas. The family attends church in Kansas. He is properly registered to vote in Kansas and is a properly filed candidate for office.”
Keady continued, “Roger Marshall must be spending time trying to fabricate a charge against Congressman Huelskamp to distract from his own statements about his heart being drawn to Washington, and the fact he recently purchased a home in California. Tim Huelskamp’s heart is at home in Kansas. Unlike Roger Marshall, it’s the only place where he owns property.”
Web links:
Dr. Marshall’s complaint can be read online at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B231LPEjPPG0ZmZKOXMxRm9qcFE/view
The Kansas Secretary of State’s Candidate List for the 2016 Primary, available at: http://www.kssos.org/elections/elections_upcoming_candidate_display.asp.
