EDITORIAL: Residents, not visitors, needed for board

Porter County Commissioner John Evans' appointment of Richard Riley to serve on the Indiana Dunes Tourism board should be rescinded. Better yet, Riley should resign.

The selection of Riley became controversial when it came to light that Riley, owner of Riley's Railhouse bed and breakfast in Chesterton, might not fulfill the residency requirement for the board.

So where does Riley live? This gets complicated.

Riley also has a home in Orland Park and has an Illinois driver's license as well. Yet Riley said he spends more of his time in Chesterton these days.

The obvious answer is that he's officially an Illinois resident, as his driver's license indicates, so he's not a Porter County resident. At least, it's not his main residence.

"He would be an excellent appointment to that board," Evans said recently.

Except for that residence issue, yes.

So now the attorneys are sorting out the residency requirement. It's in the state law creating tourism bureaus, not in the county ordinance establishing this tourism board, so it couldn't — and shouldn't — be changed to fit this situation.

To be completely above board, the Porter County commissioners should appoint to the county tourism board someone whose residency is unquestionably in Porter County.

Even if Riley switches his driver's license and voter's registration to Indiana, in light of the controversy, he still wasn't a Porter County resident at the time he was appointed

This being an election year, Riley should do Evans the courtesy of withdrawing his name from consideration so Evans is freed from this awkward situation.

Barring that, Evans should select someone else to serve on the tourism board. Evans already has said he's re-evaluating his appointment in light of the questions about Riley's residency.

Sorry, but the Illinois voter registration and driver's license rule out Riley.