Request By:
Honorable Jonathan A. Mason
Attorney at Law
707 First National Bank Bldg.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of October 16 in which you as legal counsel for a fifth class city raise the following question:
"Does the mayor of the City of Fifth Class have to resign his office in order to run for the Kentucky General Assembly in the primary as well as general election?"
Our response to your question would be in the negative. There is no constitutional or statutory provision that would require the mayor to resign his office in order to become a candidate for another public office.
The office of mayor and that of membership in the General Assembly are of course incompatible under § 165 of the Constitution and KRS 61.080; however, the incompatibility does not occur until the person assumes the second office, in which case he vacates the first office pursuant to KRS 61.090.