Let’s assume Rep. Verdi Tripp resides outside his House District for noble reasons. An elderly friend needed help at home and Rep. Tripp obliged by moving in with him. So, what should the legislature do? The law requires that state representatives physically live in their districts among the people who elected them.

It has been suggested that since Rep. Tripp’s actions are noble we should ignore the situation. I agree that ignoring the situation does seem to be the right thing to do. Doing so, however, is not without serious consequences that must be considered.

That section of the Maine constitution requiring that legislators be residents of their districts does not include gray areas. “No person shall be a member of the House of Representatives, unless…, during the period for which elected, shall continue to be a resident in the district which that person represents.”

If the Legislature allows Rep. Tripp to remain a legislator while living outside his district, the state’s lawmaking body will be breaking the law. The Legislature will also be establishing a new precedent, i.e. the legislator’s residency law can be ignored for noble reasons. This puts the Legislature in the very difficult position of determining what is noble and what isn’t the next time a legislator decides to live outside his district.

How many other legislators could make a good case for living outside their districts?

I haven’t read or heard any suggestions of an amendment to the constitutional residency requirement. Instead, the consistent message to lawmakers is, “ignore the law.”

If outrage is appropriate here it should be directed at Rep. Tripp’s actions, not at private citizens who question those actions; not at legislators who must render a verdict on a friend and colleague. Rep. Verdi Tripp has put the Legislature — Democrats, Republicans, Independents and especially presiding officer Speaker Rowe — in a difficult position. Surely he knows the residency requirement. And surely he knew when he moved outside his district that he was breaking a law that he, as a lawmaker, took an oath to uphold. That’s the crux of the issue. Richard H. Campbell Assistant House Republican Leader Augusta