Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Monday, January 6, 1997

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Don't be shocked
by mayoral 'payback'

POLITICALLY speaking, the Star-Bulletin believed in Jeremy Harris so much that it readily endorsed him for his first four-year term as Honolulu mayor. Professionally and personally, I like the guy for his apparent sincerity, strong work ethic and effectiveness.

Thus I was simply flabbergasted when City Councilman Steve Holmes wondered out loud whether Harris had made certain Cabinet appointments and job shifts as "paybacks" for his successful mayoral campaign.

Harris calmly denied the allegations, but I was incensed enough for the both of us.

Oh, for goodness sake, Steve! How can you actually ponder such an asinine question? Of course he did.

Harris is and will always be an astute politician. Wheeling and dealing with high-paying government positions is standard operating procedure for any candidate who wants to get into or remain in office.

Campaigns cost money - big money. They also require a lot of man-hours, sign-wavers, mass mailings and strategic meetings. Nobody can do it alone.

Therefore, "quid pro quo" runs rampant here and in every American jurisdiction, a Latin phrase which loosely translated means, "I'll help you get elected but there had better be something in it for me."

Even an average citizen like myself can look at the list of Harris' Cabinet choices and sense collusion:

Roy Amemiya Jr. and Manuel Valbuena, both employees of Bank of Hawaii, were appointed finance director and deputy finance director, respectively. Is it coincidence that the higher-ups at Bankoh wanted desperately to defeat mayoral candidate Arnold Morgado, who works at First Hawaiian Bank?

Sandra Ebesu was nominated as city personnel director. Apparently Harris has no concern that the former communications official with the Hawaii Government Employees Association will oversee the destinies of city HGEA workers. As we all know, Harris loves the unions and vice versa.

Note all of the Filipino Americans who are popping up or remaining in high-powered county posts: Robert Agres, Mila Medallon, Abelina Shaw, James Remedios, Isidro Baquilar. As a bloc, Hawaii's Filipino-American voters are a future force to be reckoned with and need to be courted by those aspiring to higher office.

During the campaign, Chris Parsons, the former television reporter turned neophyte lawyer, spoke vehemently on behalf of the incumbent. Then after the election, poof! Parsons has rematerialized as chief deputy corporation counsel, even though he graduated from law school less than five years ago.

And let's not even get into the particulars of development attorney Jan Sullivan getting pegged to head the Department of Land Utilization, or mention that her daddy is high-powered, likewise pro-development attorney Roy Takeyama . . .

THUS, in just the first week of his new term, Mayor Harris is already a big fat disappointment - not because he made politically appointed Cabinet choices but because he is denying that he has done so. So much for being honest and forthright.

What is he so embarrassed about, anyway? Every other "public servant" does the same thing, including governors, legislators and self-righteously indignant City Council members.

It's called quid pro quo. Payback time. Or politics as usual circa 1997.