The state law Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth has been accused of disregarding is different from the one that forced Secretary of State Katherine Harris to resign prematurely. Harris, who is running for Congress, violated a statute that requires state officials to submit a letter of resignation at the time they qualify to run for federal office. Butterworth, who is running for the state Senate, technically failed to comply with another section of the resign-to-run law that requires state officials seeking another state office to submit a letter of resignation 10 days prior to the qualifying deadline. Butterworth says the law doesn't apply to his circumstance, because term limits require him to leave office anyway.

Legally, Butterworth is correct. More about that later. Politically, however, he finds himself caught in a conflict he could have avoided. If Butterworth chooses to remain in office until Election Day while running for a legislative seat, he risks perpetuating a controversy that could detract from his exemplary record as attorney general and stick Florida with another partisan spat it can't afford.

The conflict isn't merely theoretical. Butterworth already has been drawn into an unseemly war of words with state Republican Party chairman Al Cardenas. Earlier this week, Cardenas claimed Butterworth violated a state law that "clearly required" him to resign as attorney general. Cardenas was guilty of typical partisan hyperbole that deserved to be ignored. However, Butterworth responded inappropriately, wondering aloud what cases the attorney general's office might have against some of Cardenas' legal clients. "He might like to have some of (the cases) stopped," Butterworth said.

That is an intimidating insinuation for the state's chief law enforcement officer to make. It might well cause other opponents of Butterworth's legislative campaign to think twice before criticizing the attorney general.

Cardenas and other Republicans are looking for ways to run Butterworth out of the state Senate race, and he is rising to their bait. Still, legal precedent supports Butterworth's interpretation of the statute. The law is intended to prevent an incumbent from announcing his resignation just before the filing deadline for his office as a way of helping a hand-picked successor and leaving other potential candidates without enough time to enter the race. That isn't relevant in Butterworth's case. It has been known for years that Butterworth would be leaving office because of term limits, and seven major-party candidates are seeking the job. In an earlier case, the state Supreme Court ruled that the resign-to-run law did not apply to term-limited candidates in circumstances similar to Butterworth's.

In any case, Butterworth could have avoided controversy if he had chosen to step down as attorney general at the time he registered to run for the Legislature. Of course, not every public official should be expected to resign from office before seeking another post. However, the fallout of the 2000 presidential campaign drove home the point that Florida's attorney general and secretary of state -- our chief law enforcement officer and elections officer -- have a special responsibility to keep their offices as far removed as possible from partisan influence.

Both Butterworth and Harris erred in 2000 when they chose to take largely ceremonial posts in the Florida campaigns of Al Gore and George W. Bush, respectively. That experience should have made them especially careful to avoid such entanglements in 2002. Instead, they have both been drawn into new controversies that are distracting voters from serious issues.

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