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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, November 22, 2001

Official's resign-to-run interpretation challenged

By David Waite and Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Staff Writers

Former District Court Judge Russell Blair yesterday filed papers with the Hawai'i Supreme Court challenging the right of four elected officials to declare themselves candidates for elective posts without resigning from the offices they hold.

Blair said one of the four, Mayor Jeremy Harris, spent less than 14 weeks in his second term before announcing plans to run for governor in the 2002 election.

Others named in the challenge are Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who said Nov. 9 she planned to run for mayor; Councilman Jon Yoshimura, who filed an organizational report in March identifying himself as a candidate for lieutenant governor; and Councilman Duke Bainum, who filed a report in April indicating his plans to run for mayor.

Harris could not be reached for comment, but said earlier it was clear to him that under the state constitution a person would resign when they officially filing candidacy papers. Harris said he would resign when he filed his nomination papers for the governor's race, by the July deadline.

Blair's legal challenge contends that by taking steps to mount a campaign for another elective office, the four are violating a section of the state Constitution that requires office holders to resign in order to run for another office.

Simply put, Blair said he is asking the Supreme Court to decide "what actions trigger the requirement of a resignation." He contends that announcing plans to run for office or filing an organizational report with the state Campaign Spending Commission should require would-be candidates to resign.

Blair asked the court to order the elected officials to stop campaigning until they resign, and to return campaign contributions they have accepted so far and stop accepting new ones until then. He also asked for a definitive ruling on when exactly the resignation requirement kicks in.

Gov. Ben Cayetano said he believes Blair is wrong. "I think the courts will rule accordingly. I served with Russell Blair in the Legislature and he's a bright man, but I think on this particular issue his legal interpretation is not the correct one," the governor said.

Cayetano said he felt the issue had been resolved by previous court rulings that found state and county officials become candidates when they actually file for an office.

"Otherwise the whole situation would become chaotic," Cayetano said. "The law is not meant to remove continuity. It's meant to promote continuity, so that there be stability and there be no interruption in the service that public officials give to the public."

The governor said that if the high court ruled an elected official must resign upon declaring candidacy or raises campaign money, his administration would ask the Legislature to change the law.

Hirono said her understanding of the provision was that office holders need resign only when they file to run for a new office.

She said the purpose of the law is to prevent politicians from "taking two bites out of the apple" by running for one office from the safety of another, then serving out the original term if the race is lost.

Hirono noted that her term ends next year, and Harris' in January 2005, "so we're in very different situations."

In any event, Hirono said she is not required to resign because there is no vacancy yet in the mayor's office.

"That's a big issue," she said. "I can't be an eligible candidate for an office where there is no vacancy, and the constitutional provision applies to 'eligible candidates.' "

Bainum said he believes Blair's challenge "has little merit." He said he hopes the court acts quickly to resolve the issue. "In the meantime I will continue to represent the people of my district and prepare for the upcoming election," Bainum said.