Mr. Mayor, don't forget about the city

It certainly wasn't a surprise, but it was news nonetheless when Mayor Jeremy Harris this week made it official: He will run for governor in 2002.

Harris said he needs to formally get his campaign in motion and will resign from his City Hall post next summer to devote full-time to the effort. He will run as a Democrat.

A formal statement of candidacy has yet to come from the other likely leading candidates — Democrat Mazie Hirono and Republican Linda Lingle — but it will. They are openly gearing up for the race.

Harris made his announcement talking fervently about the need to improve Hawai'i's public education system. That's certainly a matter of high concern for anyone interested in being governor, and timely indeed considering the current public education strike.

But it is not something that should be top-of-the-mind for someone running the City and County of Honolulu. And that is where Harris' early announcement leaves him with some proving to do.

By announcing, Harris makes official what has long been obvious: His political attention and interest has already shifted from the mayor's seat to the governorship.

He must not allow that quite-understandable sentiment to get in the way of the work he has to do between now and his resignation next summer.

In fact, that was precisely the point Harris made himself:

"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.

Fair enough. That's a goal that must be met not just in word, but in deed. Now that an announcement has been made and a gubernatorial organizational report is in the making, the fund-raising and planning can begin in earnest.

But please, not on company time.

Over the next year or so, Honolulu has a right to expect Harris to stay focused on the job it elected him to do: run the City of Honolulu.