McComb Mayor Zach Patterson at Tuesday’s city board meeting gave his answers to residency questions asked by Selectman Danny Esch, criticizing the Enterprise-Journal for “misleading” coverage and attorney Norman Gillis Jr. for “slanderous” statements.
Esch asked last week whether Patterson had been qualified to run for election because of a residence owned by the mayor in Atlanta. His inquiry followed questions from Patterson last month about Esch’s homestead exemption on homes in both Louisiana and Mississippi.
Esch’s Louisiana exemption has since been removed.
On Tuesday, handing out a packet that included his qualifying papers for the election, his 2006 and 2007 tax papers for Fulton County, Ga., and Mississippi, a Mississippi homestead application, Mississippi Attorney General’s opinions and a Monday article from the Enterprise-Journal, Patterson said his evidence proved he had acquired residency as required and said the issues being raised about him amounted to a smear campaign.
“Once this kind of cloud is out, there then I can never recover,” Patterson said. “I’ll say to you that that’s the intent.”
Patterson’s paperwork showed that he claimed a homestead exemption in Georgia in 2006 and a homestead exemption in Mississippi in 2007, as previously reported.
But Patterson said the characterization of the transition had been distorted by a statement in the Enterprise-Journal that the Georgia exemption was removed in 2007 due to a post office box listing in Mississippi. He said that made it seem as if he didn’t want the Fulton County tax assessor’s office to know something.
He provided March 9, 2007, correspondence with the Fulton County tax assessor’s office asking for the exemption to be removed, and reiterated that he had applied for a Mississippi exemption as soon as he was allowed by law.
“The story was pitched as if I put in a change of address and the Fulton County tax assessor (found out and) removed the homestead exemption,” Patterson said.
“That is totally inaccurate. … It’s a mischaracterization of what I’ve done, and a thorough research of the facts would have found that.”
The Enterprise-Journal cited the tax assessor’s office Monday in reporting the 2007 homestead exemption removal.
A call to the tax assessor’s office today to ask why the post office box address had been given as the reason for the removal of the exemption was referred to a supervisor, who was not available for comment by deadline.
Patterson also pointed to a Mississippi Attorney General’s opinion concerning election residency requirements that argued that a 1972 Mississippi Supreme Court decision had invalidated requirements of more than 30 days of residency before an election.
That, Patterson said, would make a section of the Mississippi Constitution that was cited in the Enterprise-Journal invalid.
The law, Article 12, Section 250 of the state Constitution, remains on file at the state’s Web site — though there are no annotations of relevant interpretations.
But with his case stated, Patterson argued that the issue was an intentional attempt to damage him politically.
The mayor took issue with a quote from Gillis, who is Esch’s attorney: “It’s kind of hazy or smoky under these circumstances as to whether or not the mayor was a qualified elector, and that’s what he (Esch) is asking.”
“What I’ve said to you is I’ve presented all the facts,” Patterson said. “I’ve answered all the questions. I’ll bring every utility bill, water bill, electric bill, gas bill and garbage bill to prove that I was sleeping there (at my McComb residence). …
“You do not have to spend the city’s money to investigate me. I will tell you that I have hired an attorney because I see that the attorneys are lining up, and I see from the Enterprise-Journal that there’s an effort here to make sure that I’m never elected to an office in the state of Mississippi again.”
Patterson said forcing him to defend his reputation on a part-time mayor’s salary was “nothing more than a setup.”
“You can get an attorney from the moon, Saturn or Alaska,” Patterson said. “Anyone who can read or write. You can take this and give it to any attorney and see if I’ve misquoted anything.”
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Meanwhile, the board had a pair of votes on items surrounding the residency issues.
Following the mayor’s response to the questions, all five selectmen voted down a request for the city attorney to investigate the specific questions about the mayor listed on the agenda.
And an agenda item authorizing the city to hire attorney Ronnie Whittington for representation in the inquiry into Esch’s residency was tied 2-2 among selectmen, with the mayor breaking the tie by voting for the hire.
Selectmen Melvin Joe Jackson and Robert Earl Smith joined the mayor in voting for it while Selectmen Wade Lamb and Bob Maddox voted against.
Esch attempted to vote against the hire, too, which would have made it a 3-2 vote in favor and prevented the mayor from breaking a tie, but Patterson refused to count Esch’s vote, saying he could not vote on a matter directly involving him.
