| Julia Hurley residency issue ongoing Jeremy Nash news-herald.net Nearly two months after Loudon County Commission requested 9th Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson help settle a controversy over Commissioner Julia Hurley’s residency, a resolution doesn’t appear in sight. Commissioners at the Aug. 5 meeting asked that Johnson weigh in on the matter. As of Monday, Johnson is waiting for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to conduct an interview with Hurley and her attorney, T. Scott Jones. Johnson said a TBI agent could talk with Hurley next week for a formal statement if Jones agrees. Johnson requested TBI’s involvement.
The
issue dates back to a July workshop when Commissioner Van Shaver
questioned whether Hurley had moved out of the second district and
into the fifth district after he saw some social media posts by
Hurley.
Hurley repeatedly declined
comment on the matter during the meeting.
“Of course, we’re just in a
holding pattern waiting to hear back from the district attorney
and see what (Johnson’s) conclusion is,” Shaver said. “Whatever
his decision is then we’ll have to make our decision, but
hopefully his will be definitive, whichever way it is, and then
we can move on. ... It’s not personal to me whatsoever. I mean
she’s left her district. It’s not fair to her constituents.”
Tennessee Code Annotated 8-48-101
indicates a vacancy occurs when an elected official ceases to be
a “resident of the state, or of the district, circuit or county
for which the incumbent was elected or appointed.”
Hurley has claimed the move is
temporary. She was not present when the August vote was taken to
look into the matter.
According to TCA 2-2-122, a
person does not lose residency if there is intention to return,
“the person leaves home and goes to another country, state or
place within this state for temporary purposes, even if of one
or more years duration.”
“I’d like to get it resolved once
and for all,” Henry Cullen, commission chairman, said. “(Is it
a) temporary move or does she have to make a decision on her
own? That’s all I can say. ... Temporary portion is not defined
in the law. It doesn’t say two weeks, one month, one year, two
years, so I have no idea where this is going to end up.”
Hurley declined comment,
instead deferring to her attorney for an official statement.
Jones could not be reached for comment by News-Herald
presstime.
“I think that is the core
issue of this whole thing is that temporary is not defined
and I think county commission and the state somehow need to
fix that issue by defining temporary in case this issue ever
comes up again in any other county,” Gary Whitfield, county
commissioner, said.
Whitfield hopes a
resolution can be reached sooner rather than later.
“I think for all of our
constituents the sooner that this can be resolved the
better off we are,” he said.
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9/30/19