{"id":38602,"date":"2012-04-03T07:52:54","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T13:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=38602"},"modified":"2012-04-03T12:57:57","modified_gmt":"2012-04-03T18:57:57","slug":"rep-little-accused-of-living-outside-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/04\/rep-little-accused-of-living-outside-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Little accused of living outside district"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"State<\/a>

State Rep. Rick Little, R-Chaparral<\/p><\/div>\n

Group charges Rick Little with living at a home that, until recently, was located outside the N.M. House district he represents; Little says he\u2019s been primarily living at his business address, which has been in the district since before he ran for office.<\/h4>\n

State Rep. Rick Little<\/a> says there\u2019s a simple explanation for why he lists the address for his business, not a nearby home he owns, as his primary residence: He and his wife are divorced; she lives in the home, and he lives on the business property.<\/p>\n

The two are in the process of \u201creconciling\u201d their relationship, and Little said he does spend time at the home at 2301 Nike Air Road<\/a> in Chaparral. But the Republican said his primary residence is a double-wide modular home located on the business property at 305 Mesilla View Drive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sleep here most of the time,\u201d Little told NMPolitics.net. \u201cI\u2019m not saying I sleep here all the time, but this is my main place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little\u2019s explanation came after the left-leaning group ProgressNow New Mexico<\/a> accused him on Monday of representing a district in which he didn\u2019t live \u2013 at least until recently, when redistricting moved the Nike Air home into House District 53. From a blog post<\/a> on ProgressNow\u2019s website:<\/p>\n

\u201cThough both Little\u2019s voter registration and declaration for candidacy list his permanent residence as 305 Mesilla View in Do\u00f1a Ana County precinct 75,\u00a0public property and business records<\/a>\u00a0show that the property contains only \u2018vacant land\u2019 and the commercial and \u2018non-residential\u2019 property serving as the office for his house moving business.\u00a0Little himself even lists the property, as well as the phone number for his campaign, as his business address as a member of a\u00a0Texas professional association.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLittle and his family actually live miles away in\u00a0precinct 74<\/a>\u00a0at 2301 Nike Air Road, which\u00a0county property records<\/a> confirm as Little\u2019s 4-bedroom, 3-bath $307,000 residential property co-owned with his wife Cecelia.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThis is a fraud against voters on a monumental scale,\u201d Pat Davis, executive director of ProgressNow New Mexico, said in a news release. \u201cFrom what we\u2019ve found, Ricky Little\u2019s standing as a state representative has been illegitimate for two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018An absolute, bald-faced lie\u2019<\/h3>\n

Little disputes the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an absolute, bald-faced lie,\u201d he said of Davis\u2019 claim. \u201cI\u2019ve got a residence right here along with where my office is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A view of the property at 305 Mesilla View Drive in Chaparral. Little says the structure on the left is his residence. The structure on the right is the office for his business. (Photo provided by Rick Little; click on photo for larger view)<\/p><\/div>\n

Court records confirm that Little and his wife Cecilia divorced in 2007. Since then, he said, he\u2019s been living in the residence on the Mesilla View property, which he said has two bathrooms and four bedrooms. She has been living in the Nike Air residence and renting out a home she owns in El Paso, Texas.<\/p>\n

Little sent NMPolitics.net a photo of side-by-side buildings on the business property. The structure on the left, he said, is his residence. The structure on the right is the office for his business, which moves buildings, such as school portables, and also fixes up and resells structures.<\/p>\n

State law says candidates can run for office using an address where they\u2019re registered to vote, provided they live on the premises. Little is registered to vote at the business address.<\/p>\n

Little said he often spends weekends at the Nike Air Road residence with Cecilia Little, and sometimes goes there for dinner during the week. Though ProgressNow refers to Cecilia Little as Rick Little\u2019s wife, Rick Little said they have not remarried. Still, he acknowledged he sometimes refers to her as his wife.<\/p>\n

Attempt to serve lawsuit led to allegations<\/h3>\n

Little was first elected in 2010 by defeating incumbent Democrat Nate Cote<\/a> of Organ. At the time, the Nike Air Road residence was not located in House District 53, but his business property was. Redistricting recently shifted the boundaries, and both properties are now located in the district Little represents.<\/p>\n

You can view the new House Districts here<\/a>. You can also view the old District 53, where Mesilla View was located from 2001 to 2011, here<\/a>, and District 52, where Nike Air Road was located, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cote is trying to retake the seat this year, and three supporters who live in the district recently filed a challenge to Little\u2019s candidacy<\/a> because he, like a number of other candidates, failed to list the district number on nominating petitions as required by a new state law. That issue hasn\u2019t yet been resolved.<\/p>\n

Elias Barela, a former Democratic state representative and the attorney for the three Cote supporters, said he became aware the situation surrounding Little\u2019s residency when a summons server tried to deliver notification of the court challenge to Little.<\/p>\n

The server found the Mesilla View address to be a business with commercial equipment and materials on the property, and he could not gain access, Barela said. The server went to the Nike Air address and spoke to Cecilia Little, who said Rick Little had left for a political meeting in Albuquerque earlier in the day. That led to the assertion that Rick Little was living at the Nike Air home.<\/p>\n

Davis said ProgressNow stands by its allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our research and in talking to folks who have been in the community\u2026 he has been living there at Nike Air and not at his business address,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

More to come<\/h3>\n

ProgressNow\u2019s charges against Little are the third brought against a Republican in recent weeks. It\u2019s the same group that dug up the fact that a man who registered his dog to vote was married to staffer<\/a> on U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

And the group recently brought voter-fraud allegations against an Albuquerque-area House candidate that have led to an investigation<\/a> by the Sheriff\u2019s Department.<\/p>\n

Davis said there\u2019s more to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are far from done,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not looking only at Republicans. It just so happens that those have come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Group charges Rick Little with living at a home that, until recently, was located outside the N.M. House district he represents; Little says he\u2019s been primarily living at his business address, which has been in the district since before he ran for office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,107],"class_list":["post-38602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}