EDITORIAL

A Little Help, Please . . .

Does the RV industry have a responsibility to RV owner when RVers' rights are being challenged because they are RVers?

The reason we asked that question is because there is an important story unfolding in Texas where the industry's involvement might be a key factor in settling a civil rights issue for RVers. Here's what's happening.

Politicians in Polk County, Texas, are determined that the 9,000 full-time RVers who have declared Livingston, Texas, in Polk County as their legal residence should not be allowed to vote there.

The full-time RVers many who have been voting in Polk County for years believe they should be able to vote there. So therein lies the conflict. And a battle is raging in Texas courts as well as Federal courts to determine if, in fact, these RVers have the right to vote in Polk County.

Livingston is the national headquarters for the Escapees, an RVers' club with 33,000 families as members with 54 percent being full-time RVers. Livingston is also the location of the club's mail service.

The politicians claim that since these full-time RVers apparently only use Livingston as a mail drop and then have their mail forwarded to where they are, they are not "residents."

The full-time RVers claim that since they have declared Livingston as their legal residence, register their rigs in Texas, pay sales tax in Texas when the buy a new RV, and bank in Texas, they have met the qualifications for residency and should be allowed to vote.

According to the Escapees, Polk County has traditionally voted Democrat, and when the politicians looked at the voter registration records, they discovered that the majority of the Escapees were registered as Republicans. And even though the Escapees have been headquartered in Livingston for the past 16 years, the local Democratic party believed they were vulnerable and should the Escapees decide to vote party lines, the Democrats longstanding grasp on power might be lost.

And since the local law allows any citizen to challenge another person's legal right to vote, the politicians used this provision to challenge the Escapees' members voting rights.

The good news is that a federal judge ruled that since the challenges were filed so close to the November elections, the challenges would not be honored for this past election. The bad news is that Polk County Democrats are still pursuing the issue. And since neither side seems willing to back down, the issue could well end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

So it isn't over.

And it could potentially affect the voting rights of all full-time RVers, as well as others such as construction workers who travel from job to job around the country and live in an RV.

The politician's attitude is, "Sure they are entitled to vote, just not here."

The Escapees respond, "If not here, where?"

One of the inconsistencies in the politicians' claim is during the 2000 census, one of the same politicians who is challenging the voting rights issue was a census official and came to Escapees' headquarters and encouraged them to count as many members as possible so Polk County and Texas could reap the financial rewards of a larger population.

Part of the reason why the Escapees decided to put their national headquarters in Livingston is that community invited them there. Since that time, Escapees has grown and today contributes about 40% of the total vehicle registration revenue for the county.  Escapees employ about 150 people and many of those are local citizens of Polk County.

With those underlying facts, it seems incredulous that the politicians would want to alienate the Escapees, but they have.

So again, the pressing question is whether or not the rights of these full-time RVers are industry issues or simply a local issue or club issue?

RV News believes it is an industry issue and the industry should step in and help these RVers protect their rights when those rights are challenged.

The RV industry under the leadership of RVIA has an effective legal team and an unparalleled record of success when  taking on major issues. And I doubt that RVIA would wait in the wings if Texas decided to try to pass legislation to put a surcharge on fuel for RVers. They would dispatch their legal and lobbying team into Texas and more than likely thwart those efforts. We bring up RVIA because of its proven track record in fighting issues that might have hurt the industry. But it isn't only an RVIA issue; it's an industry issue and needs the support of every national RV association.

RV News believes that the issue facing Escapee members is no less important than special taxes for RVers. Here, the issue is whether or not an RVer can choose their state of legal residency while they travel around the country. And after making that choice do they have to forfeit their constitutional rights because they chose full-time RVing as their lifestyle.

Let's get behind these RVers and show them that the industry cares about them and the issues they face because they are RVers.

RVN