Posted on 03/11/2023 9:36:40 AM PST by bitt
If you are a current elected officer in a state their are laws that applys. You might want to read the law.
Read it. Not interpreting it to mean what you apparently think it means.
Moreover I don’t want him to run.
Interpreting it to mean that one can’t hold both offices at one time.
Not that one must resign to run.
The real question is what the law means by “qualified”.
I don’t believe it means the familiar Constitutional eligibility standards (natural born citizen, age 35 or more, etc.)
To become a presidential candidate, you have to fill out a FEC form to that effect (the easy part), and take steps to get listed on the ballot in every state (the hard part). Each state has different requirements for that, generally requiring a certain number of petition signatures, paying fees, etc.
A state-by-state list is here:
https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_for_presidential_candidates
I believe the law means that when a potential candidate holding a position in Florida begins this process by taking concrete steps in that direction (as opposed to merely talking about it), that is the point at which qualification takes place. When you form campaign committees, start raising money, circulating petitions, hiring staff, you are a candidate, and you need to file the resignation.
I read it that way as well. Thanks for the summary : )
Scared, eh?
Well, then why was it reported in the news that the Fla. state legislature was trying to change the law so that he wouldn’t have to resign to run? I guess we will find out soon.
Scared of what? What a bizarre statement.
This is interesting:
(f)1. The failure of an officer who qualifies for federal public office to submit a resignation pursuant to this subsection constitutes an automatic irrevocable resignation, effective immediately, from the office he or she presently holds.
I did graduate from school. GED is still available for you. It’s never to late to better yourself.
Ding! Ding!
Interesting. DeSantis is a lawyer so I think he will take all of this seriously and likely not cut corners. As mentioned I had read a week or so ago, that the state legislature was planning to vote to change this. I’ll be curious to see what happens.
I’d rather vote for a candidate who is NOT a lawyer.
“...why was it reported in the news that the Fla. state legislature was trying to change the law so that he wouldn’t have to resign to run?”
Who knows.
Perhaps yours truly is simply nose blind to the finer points of Floridian Legislative English. Perhaps the existing law ABSOLUTELY DOES present the obstacle to DeSanctus running that some are saying it poses—at least in Florida.
Then again, legislators are quirky. They sometimes do things because they feel the time is right, or because this or that issue is “ripe”, or, because of a number of factors, it has become “expedient” to haul out the lawmaking apparatus and exercise the lawmaking or law-”changing” function. Or, they decide to do something because they finally have a free, relatively unobstructed shot to do it.
Interestingly, here's an earlier version of the same PDF that shows that prior to 2019, the law allowed candidates for federal office to run without any resignation, so one might ask why the law was changed in the first place:
It's an interesting thought experiment to consider that in a presidential race, the law may not even apply because of the defintion of the word "qualify" - as discussed HERE.
What does it take to “qualify” for the office of president?
The Florida law is a bit hazy on this, but I believe in this context “qualify” means that the person has taken specific actions to become a candidate. According to the FEC...
“An individual running for the House, Senate or President becomes a candidate when they raises or spends more than $5,000 in contributions or expenditures. Candidates must register using a Statement of Candidacy (Form 2) within 15 days after becoming a candidate. A candidate, including an incumbent, must file a Statement of Candidacy for each election cycle in which they are a candidate.”
https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/filing-reports/registering-candidate/
Florida law is not hazy on what it means to qualify at all. The first day of the “qualifying period” (when a candidate can submit paperwork to gain ballot access) for a federal election is 120 days before the primary election. Since the primary will be March 19, 2024, that means the qualifying period begins on November 21, 2023. So even if the law isn’t changed, DeSantis has until November 21 to consider whether he wants to proceed without any consequences of any kind.
99.061 Method of qualifying for nomination or election to federal, state, county, or district office.—
(1) The provisions of any special act to the contrary notwithstanding, each person seeking to qualify for nomination or election to a federal, state, or multicounty district office, other than election to a judicial office as defined in chapter 105 or the office of school board member, shall file his or her qualification papers with, and pay the qualifying fee, which shall consist of the filing fee and election assessment, and party assessment, if any has been levied, to, the Department of State, or qualify by the petition process pursuant to s. 99.095 with the Department of State, at any time after noon of the 1st day for qualifying, which shall be as follows: the 120th day prior to the primary election, but not later than noon of the 116th day prior to the date of the primary election, for persons seeking to qualify for nomination or election to federal office or to the office of the state attorney or the public defender; and noon of the 71st day prior to the primary election, but not later than noon of the 67th day prior to the date of the primary election, for persons seeking to qualify for nomination or election to a state or multicounty district office, other than the office of the state attorney or the public defender.
The issue is, though, that it’s arguable one doesn’t “qualify” to be placed onto the primary ballot for president, because state law says that the parties themselves submit the list of who is to appear on the ballot, so no candidate has to proactively place their name on the ballot for the primary. This is why it’s possible/likely that DeSantis can run for the nomination without resigning, and continue to serve as Governor if he gets the nomination. In that scenario, he’d be required to submit his resignation (to take effect on presidential inauguration day in 2025) by 120 days prior to the actual presidential election in 2024, which would be July 8, 2024.
Same for you, speak for yourself.
Signed,
A good person of FL who is weary of Trump.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.