Gatsby slithers away from residency question
Whenever somebody asks Ron Wyden if he really lives in Oregon, he points out that he's held hundreds of town halls throughout the state. And that he owns a home in Portland -- these days, a house in Eastmoreland.
That doesn't mean he lives here.
Today the question came up on the Bob Miller radio show, and old Gatbsy was able to tack on the barely relevant fact that he doesn't own real estate in New York:
Miller: Let's wrap it up with this because I've got lots of e-mails -- I told folks to write me and tell me what they wanted me to ask you about and stuff, and this one comes up a lot. In fact, there's a local blogger that refers to you as "Ron Wyden, R-N.Y." Um, where do you live?Wyden: Eastmoreland. We've got a beautiful, uh, beautiful home there and, eh, I just got up there this morning, had uh, a little toast and, and peanut butter, but eh, this has just, uh, reached a little bit, uh, of the point of the absurd, I remember the last time I heard somebody say, eh, that, uh, I lived somewhere else, I got up at home, got picked up, uh, a little bit later, drove out to Boardman for a Town Hall meeting. Bob, I've had about 630 town hall meetings in our state -- nobody's ever done that. And what I do when I'm home is try to get in every nook and cranny of, uh, of the state, and we've got a beautiful home in Eastmoreland and we're Oregonians, always have been.
Miller: Do you have a place in New York?
Wyden: I, I do not. I only own a place in Oregon and in Washington, D.C. I own absolutely nothing in New York.
Miller let him off the hook without asking him where his two young children and his wife live. They are New York City folk, through and through. His wife, owner of the famous Strand Bookstore, doutblessly owns lots of property there, including her and the children's home. And now, according to the senator, she's about to have a third child, which at her age is a high-risk pregnancy. Pre-natal care and birth will no doubt take place in New York. Indeed, if she's flying back and forth to Portland any time the rest of this year, she's nuts.
It also would have been interesting to ask how many days a year he spends in each of D.C., New York, and Oregon.
Oh well, at least somebody said something. Maybe there'll be another opportunity for some followup questions in some other venue.
The interview is here, in Hour 2 of the show. The residency question comes up at the end of the interview, at about 23:58.
| Posted at 4:06 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (18)
This is Oregon - If the elected rep lives outside of OR - No problem. If the donor is outside of OR, then a big problem.
We aren't that smart to tell the diff.
Actually, he should've asked him how the schools and restaurants in OR compare to NY.
Posted by Steve | July 2, 2012 4:10 PM
If someone wants to unseat him in the next election; all they have to do is set up a 24/7 video surveillance on his alleged "residence" and find out how many times a year he actully stays there. I'm betting it's less than a week a year.
Posted by Dave A. | July 2, 2012 4:23 PM
Scraping together toast and peanut butter for breakfast is a clear sign that the house is not lived in, but the clincher was when his wife had to ask directions to the house on her last visit to the state.
Posted by reader | July 2, 2012 4:32 PM
"We're Oregonians, always have been." She has, obviously, not always been an Oregonian. That's a stretcher right there. Does she claim Oregon residency now? Where do the kids go to school? DC or NY?
At some point, this is going to be a real issue for him.
Posted by dg | July 2, 2012 4:59 PM
"At some point, this is going to be a real issue for him."
Are you kidding me? He's untouchable and he knows it. The fact that he gives all of this pretense to the fact that his domicile is in Oregon when it's clearly in New York is laughable, but it's not something he really has to worry about on a practical basis or in terms of getting re-elected.
Posted by Usual Kevin | July 2, 2012 5:13 PM
I seem to recall his place of residence came up during the last election. He won anyway...
As usual, the voters in Oregon keep electing these folks over and over and over....no one should wonder why nothing changes....
Posted by thaddeus | July 2, 2012 5:28 PM
Nancy Bass Wyden is unlikely to ever put down roots in Portland. My brother married a lady born and raised on Long Island. He managed to bring her to Oregon for exactly a year - one miserable year - and after hearing constant kvetching about how she couldn't operate her catering business and the kids were going to be set upon by crazies from the nut farm in Salem, they moved back to Virginia. Nancy is President of The Strand Bookstore in Manhattan and co-owns it with her father - sort of an east coast mirror image of the Powell bookstore dynasty in Portland. I don't know why he doesn't just admit they own property in NYC or Westchester or wherever it is; it would certainly be easy enough to find out by looking at tax records although the paperwork might indeed be in his wife's or the Bass family's name.
Posted by NW Portlander | July 2, 2012 5:49 PM
He may own some peanut butter in New York, if that is one of his favorite breakfast items.
I listened to he answers this morning. Bob missed the possible follow-up question - does your wife own your residence in NY? and the possible variations...
In reality, he just may not own any property in NY.
Posted by Mike (one of the many) | July 2, 2012 6:26 PM
The question was phrased incorrectly.
Q1: "Where did you and Mrs. Wyden conceive your soon to be child?"
(If he answers outside of Oregon this could be logical, they could have been anywhere. So this is more a test to see if he's being honest.)
Q2: Do you and the mother of your child sleep together? Where? When was the last time you slept together, and where was it?
Q3: Where is your wife's maternity doctors?
Q4: Where do you plan to arrange the birth of your child?
Q5: Where is your child's pedetrician?
Q6: Where is your child's school?
Q7: Have you purchased furniture for the baby's room?
Q8: Where is it?
Q9: Will you have a nanny?
Q10: Where is the Nanny now?
Posted by Erik H. | July 2, 2012 6:55 PM
He married well, and he knows who wears the pants in his household.
He also knows the Oregon electorate well. He can treat them like the imbeciles that they are. He feels that he does plenty of stupid townhalls in all the hick towns of Oregon, so STFU already. Oregon gets what they demand and deserve.
Posted by Harry | July 2, 2012 6:58 PM
You can't start asking him about how often he sleeps with his wife. But how many nights he sleeps in New York vs. in Oregon would be eminently fair. And I'd love to see his state and federal tax returns.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 2, 2012 7:57 PM
He could always decide to tell the truth.
But that would be difficult. Could cause problems.
So stay the public deceit course Ron.
It suits you..
Posted by Truth | July 2, 2012 8:46 PM
This is easy to resolve... If wyden seeks reelection in 2016 it will be the first campaign where his twins will be enrolled in grade school. Where the wydens enroll them will tip his hand on residency. Methinks they will not be kindergarteners at Duniway Elementary School in Eastmoreland.
Posted by Jdorn | July 2, 2012 9:15 PM
This has got to be Ron's last term. Wait 'til he has three kids and is 65. He'll fade. And then we'll get Jeffer-Sam Smith, Kate Brown, or somebody like that.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 2, 2012 9:19 PM
What the hell is with the dopey peanut butter toast comment? That made absolutely no sense.
Posted by SKA | July 2, 2012 9:39 PM
If you listen to the tape, Ron's speech rambles. Severely.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 3, 2012 4:00 AM
Viagra and Rogain can be a scary combination. And it's not in the transcript, but I coulda sworn I heard him try to change the subject with "How 'bout those Portland Beavers?"
Posted by Mojo | July 3, 2012 5:23 AM
It may be a high-risk pregnancy, but thank the Lord that they have that wonderful medical insurance provided by being a member of the United States Senate.
Posted by MachineShedFred | July 5, 2012 12:16 PM