Roberts: Residency Challenge Is 'Ridiculous'

, a Republican candidate for House District 81, dismissed a challenge from her opponent that she doesn't actually live in the district as "frivolous" and "ridiculous."

The other Republican seeking the seat, , has , charging she has not lived in the district for a full year and therefore can't legally run for the office.

"His ridiculous accusation is that I don’t live where I live,” Roberts said. "For the record: I live at 3297 Rose Ridge in unincorporated DeKalb County. I have lived in DeKalb County for more than 20 years."

Boedecker is charging that, as of June 1, 2012, Roberts declared a homestead exemption for 2832 Hawthorne Drive, which is just outside of the district's new boundaries. He asserts that Roberts has failed to make her Rose Ridge address her permanent home for at least one year before the election.

Campaign spokesman Mike Hassinger said Roberts has voted repeatedly in her District 81 home precinct.

“I expect this complaint to be dismissed, and I call on Chris Boedeker to stop his bullying and try to run a campaign on the issues that matter to the people of District 81,” she said.

Roberts also said she has filed a police report in regard to a June 9 incident in which she alleges that a man approrached her residence "apparently to try to frighten me out of the race."

Roberts alleges that a man named Joe Newton came onto her property this past Saturday while she was unloading groceries from her vehicle. She said Newton has recently urged her to withdraw from the race because of concerns over her residency.

"I immediately called my husband to tell him to hurry home," Roberts said. "I then attempted to take a picture of Joe through my front door, and when he saw what I was attempting to do, he left our property and sped away."

Roberts said she filed a police report the next day.

"Joe is not a supporter of my campaign," Boedecker said. "I've had my own run-ins with Joe in the past. He and I are not on the same team."

Roberts said Newton had given Boedecker information about her residency in the district, which Boedecker confirmed to Patch.

"But it wasn't any information that I didn't already know about," he said. "This campaign should be about integrity, and if you're going to start off your political career with lies, there's nowhere else to go but down."

(Patch was unable to locate any contact information for Joe Newton.)