Throughout the short campaign so far, Rob Wasinger has attempted to portray himself as a Kansan who was simply returning to his roots.It's been a delicate balancing act because he still owns a nearly $1 million home in Virginia that he hasn't been able to unload. To further compound the situation, his wife had listed the home on her website, which was quickly noticed here in Kansas. As of today, the site has been taken down.
Further, just this past March, Wasinger signed off as a Catholic for McCain listing Virginia as his home state. All this combines to make it rather difficult for Wasinger to look like anything but a carpetbagger.
However, I discovered today that he may be even more "locationally challenged" than previously thought.
It began over a week ago when I got word that a house in Cottonwood Falls was to be renovated for, "a former Brownback staffer who has nine children." No question who they were talking about.
Campaign finance records filed January 30, 2009 indicated a travel expense reimbursement to Robert K. Wasinger. This was one of two expenditures in his report to addresses in Kansas even though earlier today he stated that all of his campaign funds would be spent in the first district.
The December 11 reimbursement lists 309 Oak Street in Cottonwood Falls for an address. I didn't quite understand why a Cottonwood Falls address would appear in his report. A voter registration search showed no voters registered at that address.
Today a repeat visit of his campaign filings showed an amended report from February 1, just two days after his quarter report. It was for a change of address to the same Cottonwood Falls address.
In a December 30 story in the Hutchinson News by Mary Clarkin, Wasinger claimed to be living in Hays with his Aunt. Why list your address on December 11 as Cottonwood Falls and then tell a reporter you live in Hays, only to change you address a month later back to Cottonwood Falls? Where exactly are you from Rob? Where exactly do you plan on living in a couple of months?
The Clarkin story also said that, "...he has bought a residence there and his wife and their nine children will relocate from Virginia." Why tell a reporter you live in Hays and bought a house in Hays and then change your address to Cottonwood Falls? Why all the lies?
I don't exactly understand all the deception, other than Secretary of State records show Rob has only voted in Kansas once this past November. He lists his aunt's Hays address on his voter registration record. Perhaps as the voter registration deadline neared for the November election the Wasinger family had been unable to buy a house in the district and thus he talked his aunt into loaning her address to avoid the embarrassment of being a candidate in a state where he'd never voted. This, of course, is just conjecture on my part because quite honestly I don't understand why you'd list multiple addresses or why you'd tell a reporter you're moving to Hays when you're not.
A friend in Cottonwood Falls took the above pictures. He has told me that the house at 309 Oak Street is currently vacant but has been gutted inside in what looks like preparation for a renovation.
A Register of Deeds records search will hopefully reveal more information, such as when the home was purchased.
