ONE sign of a good family is that its members pull together in tough times. By that measure, our city government family has become woefully dysfunctional. Bickering at City Hall
is demoralizingThe acrimony at City Hall is ugly to watch. City employees are marching on Honolulu Hale to protest proposed layoffs. Police are suing for overtime the city has no money to pay. Several agencies are fighting the mayor's reorganization plan. Top city executives can't decide whether Harbor Court developers owe the city money or not. Fraud and embezzlement allegations bedevil city housing projects.
After setting off much of the furor, Mayor Jeremy Harris took off for Japan. In his absence, his underlings couldn't even get the garbage collected.
This would be a good time for the City Council to show leadership, but that's not likely. Leading members can't get past their enjoyment of taking target practice on the mayor to attend to our city's problems.
Councilman Mufi Hannemann is as naked as Harris in his political ambition, with mayor on the short list of offices he aspires to. He gravitates to issues that enable him to find fault with the mayor.
After their feud over the Waiawa development, all civility is gone between Harris and Councilwoman Donna Mercado Kim, who also has an eye on higher office. He accused her of sweetheart dealing with the Bishop Estate and she called him a liar. And those were the nicest things they've said about each other lately.
Councilman Duke Bainum is frosted at both the mayor and his Council colleagues, who dumped him as budget chairman. He's firing away at anybody in his sights.
The shame of it, of course, is that they're all putting their personal aspirations ahead of the common good.
The sweeping proposal by Harris to drop hundreds of jobs and rearrange city agencies is not bad in itself. An occasional shakeup can be useful. The problem is that he just won't commit to sticking around to see it through.
Harris won't stop his coquettish little game about whether he's running for governor or not. The mayor missed his own deadlines in January and then February to make up his mind. He continues to feed the speculation.
His game creates problems for himself and the city. It undermines his authority as mayor. Why should city employees accept layoffs and forgo pay raises and overtime when the boss won't even commit to finishing his term and hanging in there with them?
And by leaving open the possibility of a mayoral election this year, he's dangling political narcotics in front of the Council's political junkies. They're jockeying for position in an election that may or may not happen instead of minding the city's business.
HARRIS enjoys high voter approval ratings. That could give him big clout in dealing with the city bureaucracy, the unions and Council members facing re-election this year. Instead, he has neutered himself into quasi-lame duck status with his political waffling.
Councilman John Henry Felix used to be one of the chief barb slingers on the Council. But when he became budget chairman, he said the leadership role carried an obligation to build consensus rather than promote discord. He's tried to do just that in considering the mayor's budget on its merits rather than its politics. His fellow city leaders should follow his example.
The public is tired of self-promotion and finger pointing at City Hall. People want to see real collaboration on bettering our city.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at editor@starbulletin.com.
Volcanic Ash runs every Saturday in the Star-Bulletin.
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