Resign-to-run laws
Resign-to-run laws are laws in several juridictions in democracies where a current office-holder cannot run for another office.
Rationale and Advantages
- Campaigning may be time-consuming; campaigners may short-change their jobs while running for another office.
- While campaigning, office-holders may attempt to (inappropriately) use resources from their current office for the campaign. This could include the office-holders' current staff.
- An office-holder who aspires to a greater office may not work as hard in that office as they might if they actually wanted that office, and may take actions that make them attractive for the position they want.
- An office-holder who does want to run for higher office may time their run to complete their tasks in their current office. An example of this is Rodney Glassman, potential candidate for US Senator from Arizona, who delayed his formal announcement until the city's budget is completed.[1]
Disadvantages
- Those who aspire to higher office may not take the lower positions in resign-to-run areas, since the positions cannot be "stepping stones" for them.
- Office-holders who do want a higher office must work elsewhere for some amount of time before running, reducing the number of candidates for the higher office.
- Since office-holders often reward their home areas, it is advantageous to have residents of an area in the higher offices. Resign-to-run laws hinder running for those offices.
- An office-holder who wants to run for a higher office may resign to campaign for that office, whereas they otherwise would remain.
Examples
United States
Arizona
38-296. Limitation upon filing for election by incumbent of elective office,
which states that "[e]xcept during the final year of the term being served, no incumbent of a salaried elective office, whether holding by election or appointment, may offer himself for nomination or election to any salaried local, state or federal office." Except that "[a]n incumbent of a salaried elected office shall be deemed to have offered himself for nomination or election to a salaried local, state or federal office upon the filing of a nomination paper pursuant to section 16-311, subsection A or formal public declaration of candidacy for such office whichever occurs first." There is no definition of what constitutes a "formal public declaration", thereby creating an ambiguity that is currently a matter of controversy in Arizona.
Connecticut
Florida
Section 99.012, Florida Statutes, states,
No officer may qualify as a candidate for another public office, whether state, district, county or municipal, if the terms or any part thereof run concurrently with each other, without resigning from the office he or she presently holds.
Georgia
Hawaii
In 1978, the state constitution was amended to include resign-to-run.
References
- ^ http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2010/02/rodney_glassman_the_sole_poten.php