Mayor, El Sid pitching
Oahu to Japan

City, state decide to
team up for the effort

By Keith Kosaki
Star-Bulletin

City and state, one team.

That's the message from Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris and Sid Fernandez, the city's sports industry development director, who left yesterday for Japan.

Harris said through a spokesman that he and Fernandez will be touting the benefits of both the city's and state's proposed baseball complexes on Oahu in an attempt to get Japanese teams to train here.

The mayor on Tuesday met with Gov. Ben Cayetano's chief of staff, Sam Callejo, and they shared design plans with each other, said Cayetano spokeswoman Kathleen Racuya-Markrich. She said Cayetano "is open to working with them."

Harris spokeswoman Carol Costa added: "They decided to have a coordinated effort. (Harris is) actually going to be talking up the state's plan at this time."

The meeting came a day after Cayetano appointed Wally Yonamine, a center fielder enshrined in Japan's Hall of Fame, as the state's emissary to attract Japanese baseball teams to its Kapolei ballpark.

Groundbreaking there is set for August, and construction is expected to be completed in 2000.

The city's Waiola Sports Complex, in the meantime, is in the land acquisition and planning stage and still must win City Council approval.

Until the meeting the state and city appeared to be in competition with each other, although both sides said otherwise. On the same day Yonamine was appointed, city officials disclosed plans of Harris' trip to Japan.

Harris and Fernandez are scheduled to meet with officials from five Japanese major league teams.

Yonamine is scheduled to leave for Japan on April 17. Two days later, he plans to talk with Yomiuri Giants officials. He played for the Tokyo team for 10 years and managed them in 1979.

Yonamine said while he hasn't been asked, he would welcome an opportunity to work with the city.

"My first responsibility is to the state, but after that I'll be glad to help."

Yonamine, 72, spent 38 years in Japanese major-league baseball as a player, coach and manager.

Fernandez, 34, retired last season after pitching 15 years in the big leagues. He has no ties to Japanese baseball.

City Councilman Mufi Hannemann unsuccessfully urged Harris and Fernandez to cancel their trip because he felt the city's effort duplicates the state's. Hannemann said the state's commitment of funds and Yonamine's expertise "give credence and caliber to the state's effort."

Hannemann suggested further renovation to Hans L'Orange field in Waipahu as an alternative to the city sport complex.

The field already had a massive renovation in 1995 to accommodate the West Oahu Canefires of the now-defunct Hawaii Winter Baseball League, with seating expanded from 600 to 2,100 and new dugouts and fences added.

Senate President Norman Mizuguchi (D, Aiea), who for a decade has envisioned a state sports complex in Kapolei, believes two complexes could be sustained.

Some Japanese teams have said they would want other teams here so they could have other squads to play against.

"If (the city) can find the financing and build it, if it's a success, I would think that we could accommodate more than one facility," Mizuguchi said.

Harris said, "Each team will need a separate baseball facility, so the city and state projects could accommodate two teams."

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Mayor must decide
what office he’s seeking

The Campaign Spending Commission
wants a direct answer

By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

To be a candidate or not to be a candidate may be the question before Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris.

But Robert Watada, state Campaign Spending Commission executive director, wants a definitive answer.

Harris last month filed a revised organizational report with the commission. His political campaign name remains the "Jeremy Harris Campaign," but the office sought has changed.

It used to be just "mayor." Now it is "mayor or statewide office."

When Harris filed a form stating his intent to have a fund-raiser, held Tuesday night in Honolulu, the mayor said the office he was seeking was "Mayor/State office."

All that indecision doesn't satisfy Watada, who says the commission must know what office a candidate is seeking because there are different campaign limits.

"If he is running for mayor, then he is allowed to collect $4,000 per person during an election cycle," Watada explained. "If he is campaigning for governor, it is $6,000."

Donors also must know what Harris is running for because they must know how much they are allowed to contribute.

Harris, who is traveling in Japan, was not available to comment.

Harris' campaign Chairman Lex Brodie said: "I have been telling him: 'Please don't run for governor. Let Cayetano take full blame.' "