The situation in the Town of Rochester regarding the residency of Councilwoman Manuela Mihailescu demonstrates that ignoring the letter of the law is part and parcel to New York politics. According to a report in last week's Journal, Mihailescu, it is alleged, is actually a resident of Queens, and is therefore ineligible to hold public office in the Town of Rochester. While Mihailescu has stated that the allegations are untrue — and she certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt until such time that her anonymous accuser provides irrefutable evidence — one wonders why this is such a big deal. After all, members of our state legislature appear routinely to be ignoring Article 2, Section 3 of the New York Public Officers Law which states that such officers must be "a resident of the political subdivision or municipal corporation of the state for which he shall be chosen."

The new Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Pedro Espada (D-33) — who has recently been in the media spotlight because of his defection to the Republicans, and then back to the Democrats, repeatedly throwing the state senate into chaos — has been accused of the same things as Mihailescu. Espada, it is alleged, actually lives in Mamaroneck and not in the Bronx district he was elected to represent. And, several days ago, the New York Post ran an article stating that Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza (D-26) is under investigation by NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office regarding her own apparent flouting of state law. Currently, the story says, Carrozza is living in a million-dollar mansion in Glen Head, Long island, and not in her district home in Bayside, Queens.

The Town of Mamakating also has such a controversial figure when it comes to residency. Planning Board Chairman John Piazza, it is alleged, does not live in Mamakating, and instead lives in Middletown. While Piazza has strong community ties — he was born and raised in Mamakating, and his mother still lives in the town — documents obtained by the Journal appear to indicate that these allegations are at least worthy of investigation, as all of these documents list Mr. Piazza's Middletown address as his primary residence.

But why should we care about this? After all, if the person in question is doing a good job representing his or her district (an admittedly subjective criteria), then why throw the baby out with the bathwater? But there is good reason for this statute. Quite simply, it prevents moneyed interests from moving into a small town and taking over the place. Imagine that a company wanted to build a large facility in your home town. Without a residency requirement, this company could move into the area, spend lavishly on local elections, and eventually take over the various town institutions — council, planning board, etc. — thereby creating a playing-field upon which it would almost certainly get what it wants, the public be damned. While this is an extreme example of what could happen, it does illustrate why residency is an important component of good government.

But none of this is going to matter if our leaders at the state level continue their apparent disdain for the law. Espada and Carrozza are two high-profile elected officers who are treading dangerously close to illegality. Attorney General Cuomo should investigate the matter vigorously. Who knows? Maybe this would eventually have the effect of trickling down to the local level.