He noted that the law mandates the designation of the chairman of the Saipan local delegation, a member of the legislative branch, to be acting mayor in the absence of the mayor of Saipan from the CNMI.
He said the law appears to violate the separation of powers.
To illustrate the unconstitutionality of S.L.L. 17-8, Flores cited as an example legislation that mandates the chairman of the local delegation to appoint the presiding officer of the municipal council or mayor of Saipan to be acting chair of the delegation.
He said without a constitutional permission, S.L.L. 17-8 appears to cross the line separating a political office from a non-political office.
Flores maintained that his office is a political office unlike the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council which is a constitutionally created non-political office.
Before he left last week for a five-day official business in Maryland, Flores said he didn’t violate any law in appointing council member Ralph Yumul as acting mayor early this month.
“The mayor is elected on a partisan basis while the council members are elected on a non-partisan basis,” Flores said.
S.L.L. 17-8 stipulates appointing of the chairman of the municipal council if the mayor is off-island, but Flores said this crosses the line that separates a political office from a non-political office.
Mandating the mayor of Saipan to appoint a presiding officer of the municipal council, he added, crosses the line that the Constitution set up between the two offices.
According to Flores, S.L.L. 17-8 designates what the Constitution set up as a non-partisan elected official — the presiding officer of the municipal council — to be acting mayor, a politically elected position.
“This mandate is contrary to the intent and purposes of the Constitution’s Article VI, Section 6,” he said.
The local law, he added, appears to expand what Article VI, Section 6 provides, “and that is to anoint a non-partisan council member to be partisan.”
Furthermore, he said the mayor of Saipan should be given the discretion to appoint an acting mayor, adding that such discretion assures the mayor that the business of his office is “faithfully and responsibly carried out consistent with his authority as a constitutionally elected mayor.”
Flores said to require a non-political council member to execute the responsibilities of a political office is “taking a stab at the heart of Article VI, Section 2.”
He added, “It bridges the line that voters approved to separate a non-political and political offices.”
