Suzanne Chun Oakland's gutsy race against powerful state Sen. Milton Holt elevated local politics. Her classy campaign ran over the Senate bad boy and taught a lesson to all legislators who think character doesn't matter to voters. She's somebody to watch for higher office in the future.
The three candidates for Honolulu prosecutor distinguished themselves with sharp, issue-
oriented campaigns befitting men seeking to become high officers of the court. David Arakawa and Peter Carlisle give voters a can't-lose choice in the general election.
Mayor Jeremy Harris was this year's unfortunate recipient of Frank Fasi's biennial mud bath and he handled it with style. He stuck to the issues and his record, refusing to join his former mentor in the gutter.
But it's just as well that Harris didn't get a majority vote to win re-election outright. Arnold Morgado also campaigned cleanly and honorably on the issues, if you give him the benefit of the doubt on the racial overtones of his "local roots, local values" theme.
Morgado is a former leader of the City Council who has deep knowledge of city operations and problems. He deserves a chance to make his pitch unimpeded by the noisy distraction of Fasi in the race.
Morgado's battle is uphill, as it should be. He's trying to unseat an incumbent who has done a good job in the short time he has had to prove himself. The burden is on Morgado to provide voters a compelling reason to make a change. Harris' lopsided primary vote indicates Morgado has a long way to go.
But more clean discussion of the issues can only benefit voters. The runoff forces Harris to abandon his "above-the-fray" strategy from the primary and engage in hard debate.
One question the mayor needs to address more forthrightly is Morgado's charge that Harris is using this election as a stepping stone to a run for governor in 1998.
Harris wouldn't give a yes-or-no answer at a recent Star-Bulletin editorial board. He said he has no plans to run for governor in 1998, but won't rule out any opportunities.
He's campaigning as the candidate best qualified to lead Honolulu into the new century. It's fair for voters to want assurance that he'll still be on the job at the turn of the century.
Harris has done a good job of running the city in his brief time, but he has yet to make a dent in solving the city's big, intractable problems - traffic, Waikiki, a decaying infrastructure. These need four years of his full attention.
FASI left the city on hold his last two years as mayor to run for governor. Harris had to spend much of his first two years running for re-election. For him to spend the next two years running for governor and then stick the city with yet another two-year mayor would be contemptuous of his constituents.
Harris is a young guy. If he does a good job in a full term as mayor, he'll be an attractive candidate for governor the next time around.
The bottom line is that many of the same reform-minded voters who like Harris also like Gov. Ben Cayetano. They want the two working together to solve problems the state and city share, not engaging in petty competition.
Harris could challenge Cayetano in 1998 only by aligning himself with the special interests that want Cayetano out because he has put the public's interest ahead of their own. Many of these same forces backed Milton Holt. Look at what good they did him.
