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Yumul packs up Senate office, says he will follow Constitution
Independent lieutenant governor candidate Ray N. Yumul has been clearing out his Senate office on Capital Hill and in his first public comment about his standing as a public official—albeit posted only on social media yesterday—he acknowledged a constitutional provision requiring him to resign as a senator upon the certification of his candidacy.
“My position is clear. The constitution requires me to resign and I will follow it,” Yumul said, responding to a question on social media posed by senatorial candidate, attorney Stephen Woodruff, on his position on Article 8 Section 5 of the NMI Constitution.
Article 8 Section 5 of the NMI Constitution reads, “Resignation from Public Office. 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.”
In his response to Woodruff on social media, Yumul said he met with some senators last week to discuss the issue “pertaining to my seat…and they suggested for me to come in to the Senate for a final session that was supposed to be scheduled to today but for some reason, the session call was moved to this Thursday. I’ve been spending the last few days clearing out my personal belongings from my office.”
A special session was initially set for yesterday only to tackle Yumul’s standing at the Senate. This did not happen. Instead, the Senate will hold its regular session scheduled for Thursday.
Senators have been waiting for Yumul’s resignation letter, only to receive from him a “personal leave” memo dated Aug. 12.
One of the issues now is whether the Senate would allow Yumul to still participate as a senator in the regular session on Thursday, or even tackle the Yumul issue.
There is also no telling when the Senate would inform the governor of a vacancy at the Senate.
Yumul declined interviews before, during, and after the Commonwealth Election Commission certified his and 98 others’ candidacies on Aug. 13.
A day before that, he filed for “personal leave” effective Aug. 15, or two days after the certification of candidacies.
