By

The Taos News

TAOS — Two members of Mayor Darren Córdova's re-election campaign filed a complaint with state election officials alleging that challenger Jeff Northrup doesn't live within town limits.

Northrup told the Taos News that has been sleeping on the floor of his printing business, which is at the same address he put on his official declaration of candidacy on Jan. 5.

Northrup said he had been bunking down on a couple of blankets under his North Face sleeping bag ever since he declared his mayoral candidacy. He moved from a house outside town limits near Ranchos de Taos, where he was house-sitting, he said.

"I can sleep anywhere, even there," Northrup said, pointing to a narrow shelf in the office. "Among the other sacrifices in running for mayor is sleeping on the floor."

Northrup owns Southside Copies and leases the building from owner George Flores. He recently sold the neighboring business, Jack Wrap-It, which he started in 1994.

All candidates for municipal office in New Mexico must declare their residency to a notary public. In the case of the Taos mayor's race, each candidate must reside within the limits of the town.

State law defines residency for voting or running for office as "that place where (the candidate's) habitation is fixed, and to which, whenever absent, he has the intention to return."

"It's spurious as to defining residency," Northrup said, after initially reviewing a copy of the statute. "If I win, I'll rent a place in town."

Deputy Secretary of State Francisco Trujillo confirmed this week that his office had received the complaint from campaign workers Bill and Linda Knief, and that an investigation has been officially initiated.

State investigators will have to determine if returning to Southside Copies each night and staying there until morning constitutes "residency."

The incumbent mayor, meanwhile, has been living in a house next to his guitar shop and the offices of DMC Broadcasting and his radio stations.

"I'd say I spend at least 90 percent of my nights here," the mayor-musician said, noting that he also owns a home on Llano Quemado Road where his recording studio is located. "Sometimes we go late recording and I'll stay over there."

Córdova said he and his wife, Brenda, remodeled the home next to his guitar shop in 1998 after finding the frequent late-night commutes to Llano Quemado too difficult on their children.