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Absent Voter? Grim-faced, the short smartly dressed nominee admitted that the episode in Georgia "showed poor judgment and, at that age, poor maturity." But, he insisted, he had "honestly and sincerely" intended to settle in Georgia and practice law there, went home only because he could not get any cases in Atlanta. Morrissey made no use of his Georgia bar membership. He later finished his education and routinely passed the Massachusetts bar exam. How long did he stay in Georgia? 'I was there about three months in Athens," Morrissey said at one point I was there [in Georgia] altogether a little less than a year," he said later Again: "Totally, I was there for about nine months." And finally: "I left less than six months after I was admitted to the bar. I did not leave the following day." If, as he implied, he stayed in Athens for three months, and for six months more in Atlanta, his residence in Georgia lasted from June 1933 until some time in March 1934.
The subcommittee chewed this over but took no vote. A day later the parent Judiciary Committee called Morrissey back for an hour of private conversation, then voted 6 to 3 in his favor with seven committee members absent' Frank emerged beaming. "I have no hard feelings toward anyone," he said
As Morrissey waited for the full Senate to act on his confirmation this week a new mystery turned up. Boston records showed that on July 26 1933 when he was ostensibly cramming law in Georgia with every intention of staying there, Morrissey registered in person to vote in Massachusetts. He celebrated his return to Boston by entering a Democratic primary for the state house of representatives in 1934— though the Massachusetts constitution stipulates that "every representative for one year at least immediately preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of the district for which he is chosen." Anyway, Morrissey placed twelfth out of 16 candidates. It was his last fling at elective politics.