Ewa group fails in bid
to oust Harris by recall

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

The first-ever attempt to remove a Honolulu mayor by recall election has failed.

The Old Ewa Villages Community Association gave itself through yesterday to obtain the signatures needed to place a recall vote against Mayor Jeremy Harris on this November's ballot.

The association needed 38,655 signatures, or 10 percent of those casting votes in the 1996 general election, to make the ballot.

But association member Richard Wasson said that, as of yesterday, the group only had about 15,000 signatures counted and possibly another 10,000 to 15,000 uncounted.

Wasson said the association still intends to turn in the signatures as a show of protest but will wait a few days in case late petitions appear in the mail.

The final signature count may decline, however, the longer the association waits.

City Clerk Genny Wong said her office will validate signatures received only up to 60 days prior to the day the association turns them in.

So, assuming the association turns in its signatures 63 days after the petition drive began, the first three days' worth of signatures would be invalid.

"It's frustrating, but it was at least worth the effort to show people what kind of mayor we have," Wasson said about the drive. "It's a shame voters weren't smart enough to see that."

The association began its recall drive after the Harris administration agreed to sell 96 lots in a section of Ewa Villages to Unity House for $17,000 each, factoring in some $7.3 million in federal block-grant monies.

Harris was accused by the association of fiduciary mismanagement.

Wasson said association members who could afford them paid $65,000 or more for their lots when they were first offered.

Unity House chief Tony Rutledge has defended the deal, noting that his organization would not be able to sell homes -- averaging $153,000 and available only to those in qualifying income brackets -- if not for the federal aid.

Longtime tenants of record would get first crack at a third of the Unity House units.

But Wasson and other critics say retired plantation workers on fixed incomes can't afford to pay those prices.