State may enter
resign-to-run fray

Cayetano says Harris should have kept
campaigning pending his high court appeal

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Staff and news reports

Gov. Ben Cayetano says he will discuss with Attorney General Earl Anzai whether the state should enter the legal fight over the state's resign-to-run law.

Meanwhile, an attorney for Mayor Jeremy Harris said he is working to expedite a Supreme Court appeal of Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna's ruling earlier this week that the mayor should have resigned last year when he began an active campaign for governor.

Harris has contended he had until July 23, when he has to file nomination papers for the gubernatorial election, to resign.

Cayetano said the attorney general has held in the past that the resignation required when an officeholder seeks another office with an overlapping term is triggered by filing of nomination papers.

Harris shut down his campaign activities Tuesday, pending his appeal, although McKenna later approved his request that enforcement of the ruling be stayed pending the appeal.

Cayetano said he does not think Harris should have stopped campaigning to await the Supreme Court's ruling.

"He should continue to campaign, and if the ruling is against him, then he could decide whether he is going to resign or not," he said. "Suspending his campaign is not something I would do, especially if I think I'm right."

The 1978 Constitutional Convention amendment at the time was seen as targeting former Mayor Frank Fasi, who in midterm would run for governor without jeopardizing his office if he lost, said Bill Paty, president of the 1978 Con Con.

Robert Klein, Harris' attorney, said he hopes to have a notice of appeal filed by as early as today.

Klein said he was working with attorneys for Russell Blair, who brought the case challenging Harris' candidacy, and McKenna's staff to have a final judgment filed immediately so that the notice of appeal can be filed at Circuit Court.

Harris has an automatic right to have the high court entertain the appeal rather than a lower jurisdiction, said Klein, a former associate justice of the Supreme Court.

"It's a case of constitutional interpretation. It places a first impression," requiring the Supreme Court to make a determination, Klein said.

"The only question is not whether, but when," he said.

With the primary election just more than six months away, Harris and his campaign officials are banking the hearing comes sooner rather than later.

Klein said the court can entertain the appeal within a month if it chooses.