Mayor Jeremy Harris, with his wife Ramona and supporters, enjoys
some watermelon at his campaign headquarters last night.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin

Reports of flood evacuations at the old plantation villages of Varona, Tenney and Renton villages, sent Harris, his two top lieutenants and wife Ramona from the victory celebration at the mayor's campaign headquarters on Kapiolani Boulevard.

Harris knocked on doors asking residents if they were all right. In September, about 25 area residents were given eviction notices by the city, but those notices were rescinded and the city apologized.

Soon after the third printout showed him with a comfortable 14-point lead, Harris - the "everywhere mayor" - was at it again, out in the field rather than celebrating his win over a game and tenacious Morgado.

Assured by Civil Defense and National Weather Service officials that the worst of the storm had passed, Harris and his retinue returned to headquarters about 1 a.m. where only a handful of diehards remained.

The "everywhere mayor" was at it again last night, even before he learned that he had won re-election. Mayor Jeremy Harris slogs through flood waters in Ewa along Renton Road in Varona Village last night, getting a firsthand look at problems caused by heavy rain.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin

Before the first printout came out, various aides scurried around the headquarters parking lot nervously. Some polls, including the Star-Bulletin's, had Morgado closing the gap to 9 percentage points.

And all seemed to agree that a weather-induced low turnout would favor Morgado.

Harris pollster Donald Clegg said he was also worried that Gov. Ben Cayetano's decision to leave the polls open an hour later would be to Morgado's benefit.

Clegg's mood changed immensely after the first printout, showing Harris ahead by 13 points. "We can all go home," Clegg said. "There is some margin of error in my (poll) numbers, but there is no margin of error in these numbers," he said, pointing to the first printout's "polling size" of 96,000 voters. "There has never been 14 points made up between the first and second printouts."

Harris said he does not know what changes are in store with his Cabinet as he enters his first four-year term. He added that any change in appointments would not come quickly since the new term does not begin until January.

As he did during the campaign, Harris spoke of crime being the No. 1 priority during his first four-year term, followed by making government more efficient. Harris, city managing director for eight years, took over as mayor when former Mayor Frank Fasi ran for governor in summer 1994. Several months later, he bested a field of 12 to fill out the last two years of Fasi's term. Morgado finished second in that race.

Harris and his supporters last night often spoke of "the next four years." But the talk that he might run against Cayetano in 1998 resurfaced. "I'm not signing any pledges, but the goal was to be mayor and I intend to be mayor for four years," Harris said.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Marilyn Bornhorst, who showed up to congratulate Harris, said the mayor should not resign to run for governor in two years.

"I don't think he will, I don't think he should, being mayor's a tough enough job," said Bornhorst, a former councilwoman who ran unsuccessfully for mayor several years back.

Bornhorst said Fasi was a good mayor his first two years - until he ran for governor in 1974. "He was new, he was fresh, he put in a lot of good ideas," she said. "But I think Jeremy is too smart to run for governor. I think he should serve out his term, but he didn't ask me."

That view was not shared by everyone at the celebration. Ronnie Tiqui, a 48-year-old Waipahu hotel inspector, said she would vote for Harris if he took on Cayetano. "I like him, I respect him and I believe in him," she said.

Arnold Morgado chats with Gov. Cayetano after the first printout
showing Morgado losing to Jeremy Harris.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin

And weather permitting, Morgado hoped to spend much of today recuperating at Waimanalo Beach with his family.

After two unsuccessful tries to lead the city, Morgado, 44, told a handful of supporters early this morning, minutes after conceding the race to Jeremy Harris, that he hasn't "given any thoughts to any contingency plans."

Morgado's concession came shortly after midnight, after the third printout showed him trailing Harris by 22,835 votes.

By then, many of the state's leading Democrats - Sen. Daniel Inouye and Gov. Ben Cayetano - had dropped by Morgado's Waiakamilo campaign headquarters to offer support.

Even former Mayor Frank Fasi, who had urged his supporters to back Morgado after Fasi fell out of the mayoral race in September's primary, tried to put a positive spin on a dismal, drizzly evening.

"I have been behind many times," said Fasi as Morgado faced a deficit after the first printout. "And I have pulled it out."

Cayetano told several hundred supporters that Morgado "ran a good campaign, an honest campaign, a clean campaign."

And Inouye, in describing Morgado as "a man of courage," said he expects the former City Council chairman will run again.

But Morgado, who has served one two-year term in the state House and two terms as a city councilman, said he would have to "sit down and talk with my family before making such a decision."

Responding to criticism that the waning weeks of the campaign may have appeared to be a lot of negative attacks, Morgado said he didn't believe that "comparing records" could be perceived in such a manner.

"I think it's a mistake at this point to say it was a negative campaign. Our position all along has been to prove to the people of the City and County of Honolulu that the current administration has not lived up to their promises.

"Our campaign did all of these things above board."

Morgado stressed that this year's mayoral race was one of accountability: holding the Harris administration accountable for the rise in the cost of government and the crime rate and the drop in the number of police officers on the street.

Bill Meheula, co-chairman of Morgado's campaign committee, said: "I think we picked up some momentum, but we didn't change our strategy very much.

"The idea was to get into as many debates with Harris as possible because they showed that Arnold knew his stuff."