State Rep.-elect Reggie Fullwood is just the latest in a long line of elected officials (and candidates) to face residency questions.

State law required Fullwood, a Democrat, to be a resident of House District 15 by Election Day. He said he was, but publicly acknowledged voting in a precinct outside the district on Nov. 2 — something that could be a third-degree felony.

His case brings the residency issue front and center for Jacksonville voters yet again. In 2008, a Jacksonville judge nullified the election of City Councilman Jay Jabour on the grounds that he failed to meet residency requirements when he ran for office in 2007. But that only happened because a defeated candidate — Democrat Bob Harms — pursued the issue in court. Similar complaints about former Duval County School Board member Brenda Priestly Jackson were brushed aside and never investigated. And hers wasn’t the only one.

“I know it happens,” Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said. “If you come in and say 'I live in the district,’ we take you at your word.”

In 2004, Connie Mack IV moved across the state, leaving the Fort Lauderdale district he had represented in the Legislature for three years. Once he was safely ensconced in a conservative Fort Myers district, Mack won his Dad’s old congressional seat in a landslide.

And, of course, John Thrasher moved from Orange Park to St. Augustine to seek Jim King’s Senate seat.

But Mack and Thrasher, both Republicans, followed the rules. By voting in an old precinct, Fullwood raised legitimate doubts about whether he even met the residency requirements.

In an age when public distrust of government is at an all-time high, voters should at least have confidence that a candidate can at least be honest when he files paperwork to run.

If Fullwood failed to meet that most elementary of expectations, he has no business representing voters in Tallahassee.

Taken for granted

Despite the fact that only 20 percent of Florida’s population resides in the 36 counties that comprise North Florida, the region delivered 25 percent of GOP votes cast in the Nov. 2 governor and Cabinet races. Voters in Northeast Florida and the Panhandle may be loyal to Republicans, but the party has virtually shut them out of leadership positions in the Florida House.

The chief lieutenants of House Speaker Dean Cannon are from Central and South Florida. Only one of his nine committee chairs — state Rep. Bill Proctor of St. Augustine — hails from an area north of Daytona.

Why should that raise eyebrows in North Florida? One major issue: water. We have it. Central and South Florida want it.

During a Jacksonville appearance last year, Cannon, an Orlando Republican, put forth an argument that should force our region to take pause.

“[Water’s] a state asset,” he told me after speaking at a Cornerstone Regional Development Luncheon. “And while we respect the region that it comes from, it belongs to the population as a whole.”

With that in mind, it might be worthwhile to keep a sharp eye on water issues in 2011.