Crisostimo, D-Saipan, who is running as an Independent, is the only incumbent lawmaker among the candidates.
“No,” Crisostimo told Variety when asked to explain if he must still resign as a senator. “The local statute does not govern the federal statute. It’s like Obama when he was a state senator then moved to the U.S. Senate.”
A House legal counsel said all elected officials of the NMI who will run for the congressional election must resign.
His legal analysis was based on the plain reading of Article VIII, Section 5 of the NMI Constitution which states in part: “An elected public official shall resign from office upon certification to be a candidate for another public office, if the term of the office sought begins before the end of the term of the office held.”
The analysis came after Rep. Ray N. Yumul, R-Saipan, and Crisostimo, expressed their intent to run to run in the delegate election.
Yumul later backed out of the race after the U.S. military called him to active duty last month.
Crisostimo said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Hawaii was probably not brought to the House legal counsel’s attention at the time.
“We can legislate at the local level but we cannot legislate at the federal level. Impossible. Among the candidates, I think I’m the only one sitting in the lawmaking body so I pretty much understand the law. My advisers, my attorneys, the many people that surround me, and I, have concluded that I need not resign,” he said.
Senate President Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, said he will ask their legal counsels to issue an opinion regarding Crisostimo’s candidacy.
He confirmed that like Crisostimo, he heard about election-related cases in the U.S. Supreme Court making a clear distinction between federal and local election rules.
“It’s pretty clear in the [CNMI] Constitution that he has to resign but at the same time, we were told by our legal counsel that there are similar cases in Hawaii where the constitution says they have to resign but because this is a separate election, we don’t know whether this applies to our situation,” said Reyes.
He added, “We need to get an advice from our legal counsels on what we need to do. We are sworn to uphold our Constitution, every single one of us.”
