Murphy – A candidate for town council dropped out of the race last week amid a hearing challenging whether she met the residency requirements.
Anne Chamberlain Rose answered questions about her personal life over the course of two hours before dropping out of the race without explanation. She announced the decision to county election officials after returning from a lunch break on the afternoon of Aug. 17.
“No comment,” Rose later told the Cherokee Scout when asked why she quit.
The hearing took place in the Cherokee County Courthouse as a result of a challenge filed by Margaret Keenum-Ackiss, a resident of Murphy and secretary for N.C. GOP District 11. In a candidate challenge form filed with the board of elections, Keenum-Ackiss argues that Rose does not reside within town limits and accuses her of falsifying candidacy documents.
“I walk or drive by that residence day and night at all hours,” Keenum-Ackiss wrote in the challenge form, adding that she lives near the address Rose used to file for candidacy. “I have pictures proving Mrs. Rose does not spend evenings or weekends at this residence; however, her business is in the front building of this residence. I also have witnesses I am willing to call.”
Rose testified that she lives in an apartment in the 600 block of Hill Street, while presenting bills, canceled checks and photographs as proof. She testified that she remained away from the apartment for an extended period of time on a couple of recent occasions due to air conditioning problems and vacation travel. Additional witnesses were never called because Rose dropped out of the race before Keenum-Ackiss’ attorney concluded cross examination of her testimony.
The proceeding required election officials to make a formal decision, so both parties withdrew all evidence that had been presented during the morning arguments, leaving the board with nothing to evaluate. Since Rose bore the burden to prove residency yet withdrew all evidence arguing her case, the board of elections unanimously upheld Keenum-Ackiss’ challenge.
“The candidate, having offered no evidence, failed to prove that she met the residency requirement to be a qualified candidate for Murphy city council at this time,” Gary Kilpatrick, chairman of the Cherokee County Board of Elections, wrote in an order disqualifying Rose from seeking office this term.
With the challenge to Rose’s candidacy formally upheld, her name will not appear on the ballot in November, unlike Jeff Crane, who dropped out of the mayoral race three weeks ago. Crane quit the race for undisclosed reasons and declared that he would step down if he somehow receives more votes than the presumed frontrunner.
Now that Rose and Crane are out of the picture, none of Murphy’s municipal races are contested. Barring any unexpected events, the following six people will take the oath of office as town council members in December: Frank Dickey, Keisha Dockery, Barbara Hughes, Barry McClure, Chandler Pash and Gail Walker Stansell. The town’s next mayor will be Tim Radford.
Murphy municipal races are nonpartisan. Prior to this year, no one had officially challenged the residency of a candidate for local office in at least 25 years, according to county election officials.