Thursday, September 15, 2011

Leffler withdraws from Kuna mayor's race

Shirley Leffler has withdrawn from the race for Kuna mayor, just a few days after filing her declaration of candidacy.
Leffler, the owner of Cowgirls, filed her paperwork on Friday, Sept. 9, just under the deadline, and announced that she had withdrawn on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
At the time, she and incumbent Mayor Scott Dowdy were battling for first place in a Kuna Melba News poll.
By Thursday morning, Dowdy and Leffler had received 181 votes each.
“I am very proud of the people's turn out to show they wanted change,” Leffler wrote in an email to the Kuna Melba News on Wednesday.
Leffler did not give a reason for withdrawing but it apparently had to do with the location of her primary residence. Candidates for city office are required to have lived within city limits for at least 30 days prior to declaring for candidacy.
On her declaration of candidacy, Leffler listed her address as 2371 N. Alcorn Place, in the Chapparosa subdivision within city limits. But a white pages listing gives 5125 Roy Drive, off McDermott Road in Nampa, as her home address, and in other business filings, Leffler has listed 5125 Roy Drive as her residence.
When asked by the Kuna Melba News on Tuesday if 2371 N. Alcorn Place were her primary residence, Leffler answered yes and she said that she had lived there for the past two years.
Deputy city clerk Chris Engels said that the city was investigating whether one of the candidates had a primary residence within the city limits. She declined to say which candidate.
Leffler’s decision to withdraw leaves three candidates for mayor.

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