Harris says he'll run for governor in 2002
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer
Less than four months after he took office for his final four-year term as mayor of Honolulu, Jeremy Harris yesterday said he will leave the job by summer 2002 to run for governor.
Advertiser library photo
The announcement was not unexpected, but the timing raised some eyebrows, coming this early for the 2002 gubernatorial election and less than seven months after Harris won the mayor's race, during which he refused to say whether he intended to serve the full four years as mayor.
Harris won his second and final four-year term as Honolulu mayor last fall.
His departure also means that there will be a special race during the fall 2002 elections to fill the remaining two years of Harris' mayoral term. The special mayoral race is expected to draw numerous candidates, including former City Council Chairman Mufi Hannemann and current councilman Duke Bainum.
Harris, who said he will run as a Democratic candidate, must resign after he files to run for governor by the deadline in July of next year.
He will run against probable opponent Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Republican Party Chairwoman Linda Lingle also is expected to run for governor.
Harris, who planned to file a campaign organizational report today to formally begin the campaign, yesterday said that he plans to make education his top priority. He also said the ongoing strike by public school teachers and University of Hawai'i professors did not prompt him to make his announcement now.
"No, this is the time. I need to get started and be organizing," Harris said. "I've gone through a lot of soul-searching, my wife and I talked it over and we've decided that this is the right thing to do and I can make a contribution, and so we're going to go."
When pressed during the mayoral campaign last year about whether he plans to run for governor in 2002, Harris repeatedly said he had not made up his mind.
"It's way too early for that," Harris said in August.
During a televised debate with mayoral candidates Hannemann and former Mayor Frank Fasi in September, Harris said he would decide on whether to run for governor as the race approached. He said he wasn't "about to sign any pledge card."
During an interview yesterday, Harris said he believes that the state has spent 30 years talking about education without backing up the talk with the tools.
"You simply can't have a first-class educational system unless you put the resources there, in facilities, in equipment, in technology and in teachers."
"This is not really brain surgery," Harris said. "That's got to be our No. 1 priority."
But without the details of the collective bargaining issues, Harris said he could not say what the appropriate starting salary should be or what the teachers should receive from the state. "You have to pay the teachers a competitive salary," Harris said.
Harris, 50, was first elected as Honolulu mayor in 1994 when he won the two-year term left by Fasi when he left the mayor's office to run for governor. Harris was elected in 1996 and re-elected in September of last year.
Harris pointed out that by the time he leaves office, he will have served eight years as mayor, about the same period mayors can serve under the current two-term limit law.
Harris said he doesn't think that being a candidate will interfere with his duties as mayor.
"I think that doing a good job at being mayor is the very best thing that I can do to prove my ability to be a good governor," he said.
Correction: A previously posted version of this story incorrectly identified councilman Duke Bainum as council chairman. The council chairman is Jon Yoshimura.
