McIntosh fires back on residency issue

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - David McIntosh responded Thursday to the critics who question his Indiana residency as he pursues the Fifth District seat in Congress. McIntosh said he's a Hoosier, always has been.

He said he consulted lawyers before deciding to give up his Indiana driver’s license at the same time that he continued to vote here in Indiana.

McIntosh critics have launched a website, wheredoesdavidmcintoshlive.com, intending to tell voters that the former Congressman lives in Arlington, Va., and works in Washington, D.C. Those are facts that McIntosh has never hidden, and he didn't hide them in a phone interview from northern Indiana Thursday afternoon.

"I've always voted in Indiana and, yes, for a period of time I had a Virginia driver’s license," he said.

That Virginia driver’s license is a problem in the view of some, however, because McIntosh had to declare Virginia residency to get it. Voting in Indiana requires residency here, and McIntosh opponents are challenging him.

"How does someone live in another state and vote in our state?" asked McIntosh primary opponent Susan Brooks on Wednesday. "That's the basic question."

If McIntosh, who rents a home in Anderson, is concerned about a legal challenge, he won't admit it.

"You know, that'll have to be up to somebody else," he said. "I'm going to focus back on the campaign."

But others in the Republican Party worry that McIntosh could win the GOP primary and then face a residency challenge that would cost the party a seat in Congress.

Wednesday, the McIntosh campaign produced a letter from the Madison County prosecutor that says he may vote in Indiana and be a candidate in this election. If he has a problem, however, it would be the result of voting in Indiana in 2008 and 2010 while living in Virginia.

Critics said he committed voter fraud, perjury or both. But so far no formal complaints have been filed.