Inside Honolulu got a question from a reader about Ernie Martin continuing to serve as Honolulu City Council chair as he considers a run for mayor. We thought we’d share our answer with the class.

Martin was just elected to the Council last year, so his four-year term isn’t up until after the 2014 election. The next mayoral election is 2012 — Mayor Peter Carlisle‘s 2010 victory was in a special election to finish the final two years of Mufi Hannemann‘s term.

Martin can use his current job as a springboard to his next one, to some degree. But he’d eventually have to resign from the Council if he actually wanted to run for mayor. That’s different from colleague Tulsi Gabbard, who can run for Congress in 2012 without risking her Council seat.

Civil Beat‘s Chad Blair wrote about the history and purpose of Hawaii’s resign-to-run law last year as Hannemann prepared to run for governor. Read that story here: Resign To Run Law Was Designed to Stop One Man