Are the rumors true? Are Wyandotte County state lawmakers living elsewhere illegally?
It has long “been in the wind” that some Wyandotte County state legislators may not live in the districts they represent. Well, now it’s on the ground, too.
Committed neighborhood canvasser Faith Rivera says she recently was trying to hand-deliver information to area legislators about their colleague and admitted bullier state Rep. Aaron Coleman’s effect on his female victims. But she says she found few signs of life at the stated home of District 34 state Rep. Valdenia Winn — who has another house in a neighboring district. And, asking around in her Democratic political circles, Rivera also heard serious doubts about the true residency of other elected officials, including 31st District state Rep. Louis Ruiz.
Both legislators say they split their time — Ruiz at his wife’s home in Johnson County, and Winn at a house at 2710 N 87th St. that her family built in 1965, but which happens to be in Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore’s District 36.
“The (Kansas) Constitution requires a legislator to live in the district they represent,” says House Speaker Ron Ryckman, Republican of Olathe.
“I know the law,” Winn says. “But I also know that the law allows individuals to own property.”
Therein lies the rub: It can be fuzzy what constitutes residency. In a spot check the evening of July 19, The Star found Rep. Ruiz in his wife’s home in a cul-de-sac in Shawnee. Yet, if Ruiz truly has a pillow firmly planted in his Wyandotte County district, it’s certainly noble for him to be caring for his disabled wife in Shawnee, as he explained he was doing when we found him there.
Then again, both Ruiz and his wife are registered to vote at his house at 2914 West 46th Avenue that he calls home in Kansas City, Kansas — despite the fact that his wife is clearly a resident of Johnson County. That’s a possible legal violation as well.
As for Winn, she says she doesn’t “count the nights” spent in her two houses, yet pushes back firmly against any notion she doesn’t live in the house she was born in, at 1044 Washington Blvd., which is in her district. She questioned Rivera’s motivations no less than half a dozen times in a 10-minute interview with The Star.
“I live there. I spend nights any place I choose,” Winn told The Star. “I spend nights at both residences. I’m not breaking any laws. And I’m true to my district. So what’s the motivation?”
Yet, interestingly, Winn had to rely on the next-door neighbor’s video of someone parking in her driveway and taking pictures of the house. And Rivera says neighbors told her that when they expressed an interest in renting the house, a mower told them it was being used for storage. Winn’s address on her Kansas Legislature web page is a Post Office box number.
‘You should be proud of the community itself’
As for her motivation, Rivera says she’s just a Wyandotte County resident who left a flyer on Winn’s door July 17 that Winn had yet to pick up nearly a week later. Rivera, who took video of the cobwebs around Winn’s front door, says she didn’t go looking for controversy, only hunting for a member of the Legislature whose house appeared unlived in.
“When you see it, you’re just like, ‘Wow, what did I stumble onto?’,” Rivera says. “You can’t turn a blind eye. You always hear the urban legends here in Wyandotte County about such-and-such representative doesn’t live here. And you never know whether it’s true or not. You just kind of take it with a grain of salt. You really hope that your state representative lives in their district, because they represent you.”
It’s not only the law, but it’s also a vital principle, says former Kansas City, Kansas, councilman and Unified Government Commissioner Nathan Barnes.
“That’s what’s in the wind,” Barnes said of the belief that Winn lives outside of her district, where he has seen Winn for himself. “It seems like it’s common knowledge, but nobody has done anything about it. For Faith to do the footwork, I applaud her. Guess what: (Winn’s) neighbors know out there on 87th Street that she’s a representative and they know what community she represents. So it’s a known factor. And then the neighbors down there where she says she’s supposed to live, they know the story also.
“It is important. I think that if you’re going to represent a community, you should be proud of the community itself. You have to have more than just a passing concern for the community. You have to be from the neighborhood. Period. If I don’t love my neighborhood enough to stay in it, that’s not good.”
“You can have multiple houses,” Rivera says. “I don’t have any problem with that. But to live outside of your district? It’s not like, ‘Oh, I have a house in Wyandotte County and then I have a house in Miami (Florida).’ No, this is a house in Wyandotte County and another house in Wyandotte County. And she chooses to live in a house that’s not in her district. That’s not good, and people need to know it, especially her constituents.”
Possible violations are especially insulting in a county such as Wyandotte, where rank-and-file government employees are mandated to live in the county. Problem is, no one is policing this stuff, apparently except for Rivera. Neither the Secretary of State nor the local election office verifies or enforces residency requirements.
“From what is stated in your email, you are making allegations of potential criminal conduct,” the Kansas director of elections wrote to Rivera Friday. “Neither the Secretary of State’s office, nor the Wyandotte County Election office have authority to investigate allegations of criminal conduct.”
“The House does have a process for investigating complaints regarding the conduct or qualifications of its members,” Ryckman says. Don’t hold your breath.
“It’s not a good thing, but the fact is that nobody’s motivated to pursue it,” says Barnes.
Thank goodness at least one citizen is.
There’s a civics lesson in all of this, if only we choose to learn it.
This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This column has been updated to say that Kansas state Rep. Louis Ruiz is the owner of the house at 2914 West 46th Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas.
