On Politics
BY RICHARD BORRECA
‘Everywhere mayor’
is out of the pictureIf you liked "Where's Waldo?," you might enjoy a new version called "Where's Jeremy?"
In the children's picture book, you had to find the fellow with the red-striped T-shirt and the funny hat. To torment you, sometimes a pseudo-Waldo would hide on the book's crowded pages, wearing vertical instead of horizontal stripes, or sans the hat.
In this year of the big political races, the game so far has been to find Jeremy Harris, Honolulu's mayor and candidate for governor. It was assumed that if the mayor was freed from the constraints of a Circuit Court ruling forbidding him from running for governor while occupying the mayor's chair, Harris would be in full campaign mode.
In earlier campaigns, Harris enjoyed being called the "everywhere mayor" as he was riding in a garbage truck, ducking down sewers, opening parks and generally making sure there was a spotlight tracking his every move.
So far, since the Supreme Court overturned a Circuit Court ruling saying that he should resign or stop campaigning, Harris has been relatively quiet. He was out of town last week, wrapping up his participation in an Asian Development Bank conference in China, but this week provided few Harris sightings.
His campaign has hired a public-relations professional, Ruth Ann Becker, who answers questions from the news media, but as for any words from the candidate or actual signs of campaign volunteers, the sound is only of silence.
Some veteran campaigners from past gubernatorial races say Harris is wise to ratchet down the public appearances after the court victory to avoid the appearance of gloating.
Others say the place for Harris to make his move will be at the state Democratic convention, to be held May 31 through June 2 at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel.
Meanwhile, Becker reports that the weekly campaign meetings have resumed, the search is on for a full-scale campaign headquarters and discussions have started about holding a summer fund-raiser.
So far Harris has not had a good year. He has been hammered with a series of campaign-spending violations -- which he has denied, but which have been referred to the city prosecutor for criminal investigation -- and then repeated blows to his ability as a manager from critics on the City Council who say the budget drafted under his guidance is a mess.
If he does make his first major appearance at the convention, the spotlight will be shared with two other candidates for governor -- his former boss, D.G. "Andy" Anderson, who was city managing director when Harris was his deputy, and Rep. Ed Case.
All that might be reason enough for Harris to forego the modesty and stake out a position before the convention.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com.
