Wichita ? Republican leaders accused state Sen. Henry Helgerson of falsifying his residency in an effort to win election to the 28th District seat to which he was appointed last year.

Helgerson, the Democratic candidate for the seat, contended he actually does live in the rundown house in question.

Nancey Harrington, chairwoman of the Sedgwick County Republican Party, held a news conference Friday in front of the house in a modest south Wichita neighborhood.

The windows — which had been blackened overnight — revealed a day earlier that the house was vacant, she told reporters. County records show Helgerson purchased the house Sept. 16.

“I called him a carpetbagger before. … Now we know he does not live here. It is a blatant attempt to scam voters of the district,” Harrington said.

She charged that Helgerson actually lives in a more upscale home in the Wichita suburb of Eastborough that he bought in 1996, rather than the empty house or the apartment he listed as his address when appointed to the district in October 2003 to fill the vacant seat of Paul Feliciano.

The telephone number listed at the time of his filing for candidacy was the phone located at his Eastborough house, which is outside the district, she said.

Helgerson, who owns eight houses in Kansas and California, told The Associated Press on Friday that the recently purchased house in the district was now his residence, and he slept in it last night. He said he lived in an apartment in the district before moving into the house.

“The house was in rundown shape. I am rehabilitating the house. I am improving the neighborhood,” he said.

Harrington charged the windows were covered because a Democratic supporter looking for Helgerson at the house Thursday found it vacant and confronted Helgerson about it before reporting it to the Republicans. She said the party had been researching Helgerson’s residency for two weeks before going public.

Helgerson contended the windows were covered because he was painting the inside of the house.

Harrington said his Republican opponent, Mike Petersen, had nothing to do with the flap over Helgerson’s residency.

“The south district deserves someone who lives in the district,” she said. “There should not be a double standard for wealthy Democrats.”

Petersen has lived in the district for 40 years, she said.

Republican attorney Mark Kahrs said Republicans planned to ask Atty. Gen. Phill Kline to investigate and were considering whether to file a lawsuit.