Raising Cane
By Rob Perez
Wednesday, May 2, 2001
When Mayor Jeremy Harris ran for re-election in 1996, critics said he unfairly used an anti-pollution television commercial funded by the city to boost his standing as a candidate. Timing of
pollution ads with Harris
raises eyebrowsThere was enough of a brouhaha that actor Richard Chamberlain, who was featured in the ad with Harris, asked that the commercial not be run during the rest of the '96 mayoral campaign.
When Harris announced last month that he plans to run for governor, the Chamberlain commercial and another one featuring Harris and actor Jason Scott Lee started airing the same week.
The messages of the two TV spots were the same: Keep Oahu's streams free of pollution.
But like in 1996, the commercials raised the eyebrows of skeptics who wondered whether Harris was trying to score campaign points at city expense.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa has defended the airing of the commercials, saying they were part of an education program required under a state Department of Health permit. She also told the Star-Bulletin recently that the time slots were purchased months in advance and "nobody in this administration knew when the mayor was going to announce."
Yet KITV, responding to a Raising Cane inquiry yesterday, said the time on its station was bought early last month -- just days before Harris' big announcement.
Costa did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
The timing of the commercials, which ran for roughly one week, underscores the fuzzy line Harris now walks as the city's mayor and a gubernatorial candidate. No matter how hard he tries, it will be difficult to separate Harris the mayor from Harris the candidate.
And that line will blur even more as next year's election draws closer, fueling questions about Harris' motivations for even the smallest of gestures, no matter how well-intentioned.
Already, his critics are saying Harris has an unfair, taxpayer-financed advantage over his likely gubernatorial opponents. Some are even harsher in their assessment.
"It's worse than an unfair advantage," says insurance salesman Dick Rowland, who believes Harris should resign as mayor now that he's announced his candidacy. "What he's doing is using my money and your's in order to buy himself into the governorship."
For his part, Chamberlain says he doesn't intend to ask that his ad be pulled from the air waves this time around.
"Weighing the environmental value, I think that's more important than any slight, tiny, infinitesimal effect (the ad) may have on a campaign," Chamberlain says.
After the latest advertisements began airing, though, Councilmember Andy Mirikitani introduced a bill that would prohibit the mayor, council members and appointed department heads from appearing in public advertising funded by the city if they have announced their intention to run for another political office.
"This will level the playing field and remove the unfair advantage in any campaign or election period," Mirikitani says.
The bill should be adopted.
The city still can run anti-pollution advertising. It just shouldn't feature a mayor who happens to be running for governor.
Star-Bulletin columnist Rob Perez writes on issues
and events affecting Hawaii. Fax 529-4750, or write to
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. He can also be reached
by e-mail at: rperez@starbulletin.com.
