Caught red-handed living outside her district, state Assemblywoman Ann Margaret Carrozza did not even flinch. Although state legislators are required to live in the district they represent, she said legislators are not breaking the rules as long as they intend to move back into their district.
Carrozza owns two homes and two sites used for offices in Bayside, but she does not live here. For at least the last four months, she has been living with her husband in a home in Glen Head, L.I. The home is an investment property, she insists.
She plans to move back to Bayside in August. When told the Glen Head property was her husband’s permanent residence, once again she did not flinch. “There’s no requirement that a husband and wife have the same primary residence,” she said.
Maybe we are old-fashioned, but we expect husbands and wives to live in the same county, especially if like Carrozza they have two children and are planning to adopt.
It may be Carrozza has good intentions. But if she did not intend to live there, we question why she and her husband bought a nearly $2 million house one year ago.
Requiring state legislators to live in the districts they represent is the essence of representative democracy. Carrozza may not have broken the law, but has damaged her credibility.
