Council wants
new blood at director

They're urging the mayor to go
outside his inner circle to find
a new second in command

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

City Council members are urging Mayor Jeremy Harris to look outside his inner circle to find a new second in command.

Managing Director Bob Fishman yesterday announced he is resigning to become a vice president at Hawaiian Airlines later this month.

Council members say either Chief of Staff Benjamin Lee or Budget Director Malcolm Tom could be named as interim managing director. Both men have had stormy relationships with various Council members, many of whom are now saying neither will have an easy time winning confirmation to fill Fishman's term.

Under the City Charter, Harris has 90 days from the effective date of resignation to fill a Cabinet post. The selection would need Council confirmation. If a selection is not made within the 90 days, the Council gets to pick the managing director.

Harris would not comment yesterday, but spokeswoman Carol Costa said the mayor would set up a search committee to help find Fishman's successor.

Councilman Mufi Hannemann, who has often referred to Fishman, Lee and Tom as the mayor's "troika" management team, urged Harris to look elsewhere.

Nominating either Lee or Tom "would come under tremendous scrutiny," Hannemann said. "The mayor should look outside city government if he's going to stick around the next two years. He should get someone who can combine Fishman's communication skills and invest in him or her the authority to be a managing director."

Council Budget Chairman John Henry Felix also thinks a Lee or Tom nomination would be in trouble. "It's highly problematic that either could be confirmed at this particular time," Felix said. "They both have their unique strengths, but a managing director must be more global in his or her thinking."

"Probably either would have a hard time," Councilman Steve Holmes said.

"I don't think so," said Councilman Duke Bainum when asked if either Lee or Tom could become managing director.

"No way," Council Chairman John DeSoto said. Getting someone from outside Harris' inner circle, and outside the city, "would be my suggestion," he said.

"I suspect we'd need to bring somebody in who has experience in government," Holmes said.

Council members say they are most unhappy about the timing of Fishman's departure.

"I'm disappointed he's leaving at this critical period when we're considering a major reorganization because he is an excellent spokesperson for the administration," Felix said.

Bainum said he's never been a supporter of Harris' reorganization plan, but notes he's now even more worried about its implementation with Fishman out of the picture.