Florida doesn’t need the resign-to-run law | Bill Cotterell

If Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to run for president in 2024, Florida legislative leaders will happily get that nagging little “resign to run” law out of his way.

Whether the governor runs or not, they ought to repeal the law. First, having a Floridian seek the White House would be good. Second, it was never intended to prevent that anyway.

In a worst case, if DeSantis ran and lost, we’d still have him for two more years, completing the term for which he was overwhelmingly re-elected. If he wins in 2024, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez will have been his able understudy, presumably ready to carry their policies forward.

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner indicated their willingness to change the statute requiring Florida officeholders to file an irrevocable letter of resignation when they qualify for some other office. If DeSantis wants something, it’s as good as done.

But Florida’s most famous citizen, down there in Mar-a-Lago, wouldn’t like it. So, removing this hurdle from the governor’s path would be taken as another indicator that the GOP is ready, even nervously anxious, to move on from Donald Trump and Trumpism.

Florida has never produced a president, and nobody really thought we might grow one when they passed the resign-to-run law. In those pre-term-limits days, legislators were looking out for their own longevity — like, there are some mayors or county commissioners or school superintendents back home who might run against me, so let’s make them give up their own jobs first.

The best minds of the 1970 Legislature, the post-Pork Chop Gang of reformers, had to resign. Almost overnight, the Legislature lost Senate President Jack Mathews and Sen. Reubin Askew, running for governor, Lakeland Sen. Lawton Chiles and House Speaker Fred Schultz of Jacksonville, running for the U.S. Senate, and a host of others seeking Cabinet posts, Congressional seats, judgeships or the old Public Service Commission.

The words “stepping stone” were heard often. The idea was that officeholders shouldn’t be able to use one job to boost themselves to a higher office — or to squeeze campaign cash from lobbyists who’d still have to deal with a powerful senator or representative if he or she lost a big race.

More from Bill Cotterell State prepares for more protests in 2023 session | Bill Cotterell

More:Want to win? Get the non-party voters | Bill Cotterell

More:Why not try something new, like truth? | Bill Cotterell

Voluntarily resigning looks nice when seeking election to another office. But doing well in the job you’ve got is the best recommendation for any campaign.

DeSantis flew around the state during his recent re-election campaign, presenting grant money and making policy announcements, and doing his job with two hurricanes. People who don’t like him called it politicking at public expense but, obviously, about 60% of the voters showed they were OK with it on Nov. 8.

Coincidentally, the man who lost to DeSantis was the cause for resign-to-run getting relaxed once before. When Charlie Crist was a Republican governor in 2008, legislators changed the law so he could run for vice president, but John McCain didn’t pick him. When they didn’t like Crist anymore, lawmakers reinstated the rule.

They ought to spike it again, not for DeSantis but just to fix a needless flaw in the law. Legislators could still protect themselves from back-home challenges by applying the repealer to only federal offices, continuing to require resignation for any city or county officers who might be thinking about Tallahassee.

There’s historical precedent, kind of. Texas amended its resignation law so Lyndon Johnson could be re-elected to the Senate in 1960 while also running for vice president. He won both races and resigned from the Senate. Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen was re-elected to the Senate in 1988, while sharing the Democratic national ticket with Mike Dukakis.

DeSantis is being coy, but we know how one major Republican feels about our governor. Politico quoted a Nov. 10 social-media post by Trump, scorning DeSantis — who probably wouldn’t be governor now, if not for Trump’s endorsement in 2018.

“He says, ‘I’m only focused on the governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future,’ “ Trump said. “Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer.”

And if there’s a guy who knows class, it’s Donald J. Trump.

Bill Cotterell is a retired Tallahassee Democrat capitol reporter who writes a twice-weekly column. He can be reached at bcotterell@tallahassee.com

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Send letters to the editor (up to 200 words) or Your Turn columns (about 500 words) to letters@tallahassee.com. Please include your address for verification purposes only, and if you send a Your Turn, also include a photo and 1-2 line bio of yourself. You can also submit anonymous Zing!s at Tallahassee.com/Zing. Submissions are published on a space-available basis. All submissions may be edited for content, clarity and length, and may also be published by any part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida doesn’t need the resign-to-run law