In a posting submitted to Talkabout, the Review's online message board, an anonymous writer claimed Slater-Carter's primary residence was in Incline Village, Nev. The poster questioned whether that would preclude Slater-Carter from running for office in California.
Slater-Carter called the Review's offices to protest the accusation and Review Managing Editor Clay Lambert removed the posting until the newspaper could investigate the claims.
 Kathryn Slater-Carter |
She and her husband own at least two residential properties in San Mateo County, one in Pacifica and the other in Montara. Since 1992, they have also owned a house in Incline Village. In June of 2006, according to the Washoe County Assessor's Office in Nevada, Slater-Carter filed an AB489 form, which caps the property tax at 3 percent and essentially designates the Nevada house her primary residence - in Nevada.
Meanwhile, the San Mateo County Assessor's Office reports that Slater-Carter and her husband had a homeowner's exemption on file for the Montara property, effectively deeming it their primary residence - in California.
Slater-Carter said in a phone interview Tuesday morning that the Nevada house is the only property she and her husband own in Nevada and that they use it about three weeks per year. "We bought it thinking we were going to retire there, and haven't," Slater-Carter said. She and her husband filed the AB489 form in 2006, she explained, because "Nevada taxes are absurd," and they wanted to assist a lawsuit that was being waged against Washoe County.
San Mateo County Elections Manager David Tom said it was possible for a candidate to establish residency in two states simultaneously, calling it "a gray area" in local election law.
"As long as she claims that this is her primary residence and that she's not voting in Nevada," then Slater-Carter is a legal candidate and public official in San Mateo County, Tom said.
A call to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters confirmed that Slater-Carter has never been registered to vote in that county.
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