Former D.C. Deputy Mayor Chris Geldart — who resigned this week after an argument in an Arlington, Virginia, parking lot led to a police statement that the District official lived in Falls Church — is defending his living arrangement.
Geldart stepped down Wednesday as deputy mayor for public safety and justice, facing scrutiny over an allegation of assault and battery and questions about his residency in Virginia.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Geldart said he was staying part-time with a friend in the District to meet the requirement that high-level officials live within D.C. city limits.
“I spent nights in the city when I needed to, and I spent nights at home,” he told the Post. “That is what I did. I geo bachelored.”
‘Geo bacheloring’ is a slang term often used in military service circles, where a military family lives in a different location from the service member.
Geldart, who served in the Marine Corps, said he stayed part-time with his family in Falls Church and part-time with a friend and former colleague in Washington.
Geldart said he paid part of the rent in the District, as well as city taxes, and submitted all the required documentation for residency.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced at a news conference Wednesday she had accepted Geldart’s resignation, as “all of the questions being raised are distracting from his job and my job.”
Bowser said she expected all cabinet members to be “bona fide” residents of the District.
Geldart has a hearing scheduled Monday, in Arlington County General District Court, on the misdemeanor count.
The 53-year-old Geldart was accused of assaulting another man in an Arlington Gold Gym parking lot. The man, who filed a criminal complaint, said Geldart grabbed him by the throat during a dispute about Geldart’s car door hitting his car, according to a police statement.
NBC Washington was first to report on the parking lot incident, which was captured on video obtained by Fox5.
When contacted by WTOP, Geldart declined to comment for this story.
