Where in the world does Dot Glenn live? I ask because she doesn’t seem to know.
Twice in the last four years, Glenn has run for the Ward 5 City Council seat. And twice she ran into trouble because she couldn’t prove that she lives in that ward.
In 2015, she won the election before fellow Democrat Andrew Powell challenged the result.
A judicial tribunal, composed of specially appointed Judge Henry Lackey and Greenwood Election Commissioners Tish Goodman and Vallrie Dorsey, ruled that Glenn did not live in the ward and ordered a runoff between Powell and Norman Smith.
During that hearing, Glenn attempted to evade an attorney’s questions about her residence, sometimes refusing to answer.
Lackey chastised Glenn from the bench, saying, “I’m getting tired of your charade.
“That was a very simple question. It should be easily answered. Now, you’ll either answer it or the court will take other proceedings.”
During this 2013 case, evidence emerged that Glenn also lied about her residency in 2005 when she unsuccessfully ran for the Ward 5 seat.
Glenn appealed the tribunal’s decision. In July 2013, the Mississippi Supreme Court issued a stay, allowing Glenn to take her seat on the council. For more than a year she drew a paycheck and voted on city business, all under false pretenses.
In October 2014, the state high ruled, on a 7-2 vote, that Glenn did not meet residency requirements and ordered her removed from the council.
In a special election in December 2014, Powell won by one vote over Smith, who had died about two weeks earlier.
At least things didn’t go that far this time — or at least not yet.
Powell challenged Glenn’s candidacy — again on the basis of where she lives — after she qualified for the May 2 Democratic primary.
After a hearing last week, the Leflore County Democratic Executive Committee sent a letter to Greenwood City Clerk Nick Joseph asking that Glenn be removed from the ballot for the Ward 5 City Council race.
In his letter to Joseph, committee Chairman Robert Sims cited Glenn’s “failure to present convincing facts in support of her residency.”
Joseph said that ballots with Glenn’s name on them have been printed, but new ballots will be ready for the primary. He said no one had yet cast an absentee ballot.
I would love to give you Glenn’s side of this story. But when I called on Thursday, she hung up as soon as I identified myself.
She did the same on Tuesday when contacted by Staff Writer Bob Darden.
Political parties don’t check the information on candidates’ qualifying forms (obviously). They don’t get involved unless another candidate makes a challenge. Most of these challenges at the municipal, county and regional levels hinge on questions about where a candidate lives.
State law on municipal elections is lenient. A candidate only has to live in the district he or she wants to represent for 30 days before the qualifying date for an election.
One longtime legislator says he lives in Madison County. Reportedly, he almost never visits that residence, instead spending time at the stately home he and his wife share in Hinds County.
Several opponents have challenged this legislator’s residency over the years. All of those challenges have failed. Owning that house seems to satisfy the law and the county party.
I knew a veteran legislator who represented a nearby Delta county. But his son, whom I also knew, grew up in Jackson and graduated from a Jackson high school.
Trust is a big issue in elections, although trust in a candidate is often misplaced.
Glenn doesn’t strike me as the most trustworthy politician. During the 2013 election challenge, she listed multiple addresses and even a different name she sometimes used. Witnesses couldn’t agree on where she lived. At least one, the landlord of Glenn’s alleged residence, seemed very confused.
Not only is Glenn a cheater, but she’s not very good at it.
I wonder if she will try again in four years. If so, she will need some alternative residency facts.
• Contact Charles Corder at 581-7241 or ccorder@gwcommonwealth.com.
