Blair recasts An effort to force elected officials to resign before running for other posts will now move to state Circuit Court, possibly with a smaller cast of characters.
resign-to-run
court petition
The ex-judge says Hirono
and others are afoul
of the ConstitutionBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comThe Hawaii Supreme Court denied last week a petition by former state District Judge Russell Blair, also a former legislator, asking that four incumbents stop campaigning until they resign and return any contributions.
The four candidates are Mayor Jeremy Harris, a gubernatorial hopeful; Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who is running for mayor; City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura, a lieutenant governor candidate; and Councilman Duke Bainum, a candidate for mayor.
The announced candidacies, Blair contends, are illegal because the Constitution requires them to resign once they become declared candidates.
According to the Constitution, "Any elected public officer shall resign from that office before being eligible as a candidate for another public office, if the term of the office sought begins before the end of the term of the office held."
Blair said yesterday he will refile his lawsuit in Circuit Court, adding that he is not discouraged by the high court ruling and believes he will win in Circuit Court.
"There was nothing substantive about their decision," Blair said. "They were simply declining original jurisdiction. They weren't signaling their feelings one way or another."
Blair said he may now file only against Hirono and Yoshimura, to cut down on attorney costs.
"It's possible that two of the candidates might be sufficient to raise all the pertinent issues," he said. "And if the others ask to join, they could do so."
Hirono would remain because she is the only one of the four that holds state office. Yoshimura, Blair said, would be his city example because he is the only one of the four who believes he should be allowed to stay in office even after he files his candidacy for lieutenant governor.
Blair said that if the ruling is in his favor, all four would need to resign before running anyway.
"On one hand, I'd prefer to bring the mayor in because he's the most high-profile, but he raises essentially the same issues as Mazie does, so there's not much gain there," Blair said.
Robert Klein, Harris' attorney, said the language requires only that candidates resign "to be eligible" to run. "Mr. Blair misinterprets those words to say that you have to resign to be a candidate to run."
Bainum attorney Andrew Winer said his client does not even have a seat to run for because Harris must resign, as he has said he will do in July, before the Waikiki councilman can formally file his candidacy for mayor.