TIJUANA ? Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon has made no secret of his ambition to become Baja California's next governor. But there's always been a hitch: The
state constitution doesn't allow mayors to leave their posts early to run for other offices.
Last week, however, the mayor won the support of Baja California's State Electoral Council for his gubernatorial quest. In a 4-3 vote, the council
agreed that the wording of an article in the Baja California Constitution is grammatically flawed and, thus, invalid.
?It's the response we'd anticipated,? Hank told reporters. He announced plans to take a leave from his hard-won mayoral job January or February,
months before his term ends December 2007.
But the council's decision is legally meaningless, said Miguel G?rate Velarde, a specialist in constitutional law at the Autonomous University of Baja
California and former director general of the State Electoral Institute.
G?rate said the law can only be overturned by the Baja California Legislature or through legal challenges in Mexican federal courts.
?The council's ruling doesn't affect anything,? he said. ?It's not up to them to decide.?
The Baja California Legislature in 2002 unanimously passed La Ley Antichapulin, ?The Anti-Cricket Law,? a constitutional reform meant to prohibit
elected officials from taking leaves of absence from their positions to run for other offices. ?Cricket? was the nickname for such candidates ready to
hop between elected positions.
Baja California is the only state in Mexico with such a prohibition.
?It was society's clamor,? G?rate said. ?There was a widespread practice that elected officials didn't finish their terms, and they left public
matters unresolved.?
The issue came up last week when a member of Hank's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) presented a challenge on the mayor's behalf. The
last-minute introduction of the 24-page document at a session of the State Electoral Council of the proposal was ?highly irregular,? G?rate said, and
did not give all counselors a chance to study the issue beforehand.
The document questioned the wording of Article 42 of the state constitution and demanded a ruling by the council. It questioned the absence of the
phrase ?cannot be elected? in the paragraph that names the mayor. The two preceding paragraphs naming other public officials include the phrase.
?I could see there was a grammatical deficiency,? said Jaime Vargas Flores, one of four counselors who was persuaded that the amendment should be
nullified. The wording of the article was ambiguous, he said, and ?we can't know what the intention was.?
G?rate acknowledged that the wording is problematic. ?But you cannot interpret it just grammatically,? he said, and one must study the article's
intent.
The ruling has generated controversy across the state and drawn criticism of the council, Baja California's highest electoral authority, made up of
seven voting citizen-counselors.
Rodrigo Mart?nez Sandoval was one of three counselors who opposed the resolution. ?We are not invested with the authority to interpret the
constitution,? Mart?nez said. ?We're not judges. The four counselors made an illegal decision.?
Encouraging
John M - 8-14-2006 at 05:54 PM
Even though it will take on the outward appearance of a single drop of water in an empty bucket it brings hopeful signs that folks care.
I applaud his efforts.
John MDavid K - 8-14-2006 at 06:07 PM
Here's Mayor Hank with my web host's esposa the day we first saw him in person...bancoduo - 8-14-2006 at 09:11 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Here's Mayor Hank with my web host's esposa the day we first saw him in person...
