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The Honorable Patsy T. Mink <br />July 11, 1986 <br />Page 3 <br />person is in effect saying that he no longer wishes to <br />fulfill the responsibilities of the ?ffice to which he was <br />elected, and accordingly he should resign from that <br />office. The voters should not be saddled with an elected <br />public official who no longer wishes to fulfill the duties <br />of the office to which he was elected and will do so only <br />if he fails to win election to the other office. This is <br />not fair to the voters, who elected him to serve a full <br />term, and is a violation of the public trust. <br />I Proceedings of the Constitutional Conventon of Hawaii of <br />1978, at 678. <br />In explaining their underlying intent, the framers <br />distinguish between officeholders whose offices were to be <br />filled by an upcoming election and those whose offices were not <br />then subject to election: <br />Your Committee does not believe it would be warranted <br />for a candidate to resign if the office he is seeking has <br />a concurrent term. In this case, he is in effect <br />resigning since, if he loses the election, he does not <br />have an office to return to. He is not abusing his <br />elected office by using it as a safe haven from which to <br />make political forays and return if he proves <br />unsuccessful. <br />Id. (emphasis added). <br />The committee report indicates that it was not the <br />delegates' intent to require an elected officeholder to resign <br />if the term of the office sought was 'concurrent" with that of <br />office held. It appears that the delegates intended the phrase <br />"if the term. . begins before the end of the term of the <br />office held" tobe synonymous with the committee's reference to <br />"concurrent term." The discussion concerning 'safe havens" <br />suggests that offices with concurrent terms' meant offices <br />which were filled at the same election. <br />This distinction is echoed in the floor debate of the <br />committee of the whole. The chairman of the committee to which <br />the "resign to run' provision was first referred summarized it <br />as follows: <br />There is a new provision with reference to forced <br />resignations, when any public official who intends to run <br />for an office which happens to overlap his present office <br />would be required to resign. <br />II Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of Hawaii of <br />1978, at 701. <br />AC ❑p. No. 86-17 <br />