Mayor calls criminal probe 'massive smear campaign'

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Mayor Jeremy Harris angrily charged yesterday that the state Campaign Spending Commission's decision to seek a criminal probe of his 2000 re-election team is part of an orchestrated conspiracy to torpedo his run for governor.

Mayor Jeremy Harris is not dropping out of the race for governor. Advertiser library photo

The commission, which has documented numerous illegal contributions to Harris's 2000 campaign, voted Tuesday to refer the findings to Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle. The commission's complaint names Harris, former campaign chairman Lex Brodie, treasurer Roger Liu and deputy treasurer Peter Char. Harris said that he was not considering withdrawal from the race and that he was confident he and the others would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

"I am still running for governor," Harris said. "I have not dropped out, and I'm not dropping out."

But Harris's troubles are having a ripple effect. City Councilman Duke Bainum said last night that he is reconsidering his decision to run for mayor.

"I feel like recent events warrant careful review," said Bainum. "I plan to meet with my campaign advisers over the weekend and will have an announcement next week regarding my campaign for mayor."

Bainum announced his mayoral bid in April last year after Harris said he would be leaving the office to run for governor. The councilman said Harris had not told him anything regarding whether he would stay in the governor's race.

Harris said yesterday that the commission's charges — that campaign officials illegally circumvented contribution limits by attributing donations to people who never made them — have done "tremendous damage" to his campaign for governor.

He declined to specify who he believes is behind such a scheme, but he noted that the field of gubernatorial candidates is small.

"There has been a clear series of events designed to thwart my campaign for governor, and there are only a few beneficiaries of these events," said Harris, who is running as a Democrat.

Commission executive director Robert Watada has repeatedly denied that he is part of any political vendetta against Harris.

The first shot across his campaign's bow, Harris said, was when former state District Judge Russell Blair filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force him to resign immediately as mayor because he is running for governor.

Harris maintains that he does not have to step down until the July 23 deadline for officially declaring his candidacy. The Hawai'i Supreme Court in December rejected Blair's request to rule directly on the matter, and the suit is pending in state Circuit Court.

Blair said it was ridiculous for Harris to suggest that the lawsuit is part of a conspiracy to harm his chances of being elected governor.

"I think he's just feeling the heat and trying to distract attention," Blair said. "It's a fairly bizarre assertion."

Harris's campaign committee yesterday denied reports that federal investigators are looking into its fund-raising efforts.

"There have been no requests for interviews and no subpoenas for documents from any federal agencies, so how is there an investigation?" campaign spokeswoman Ruth Ann Becker asked.

Carlisle said he would work with other authorities, if necessary, but he declined to say whether federal prosecutors and the FBI are already involved. But neither Carlisle nor the federal agencies yesterday flatly denied reports that they had begun reviewing evidence and would soon present the case to a federal grand jury.

At the commission, Watada said yesterday that he had provided Carlisle's office with boxes of financial records and interview transcripts from its probe of the Harris campaign. He would not say whether the commission's investigators had found specific evidence of wrongdoing by Harris or the others named in the complaint.

Gov. Ben Cayetano said the probe could help or hurt Harris' chances of succeeding him.

"It depends. If it's dismissed, I think that people will feel that he was treated unfairly," Cayetano said. "And I think it might actually help him. What he's going through now is not pleasant for him, for his family or anyone else."

Cayetano said he believes that Harris leaves most details of fund-raising to campaign staff.

"I don't think Jeremy Harris is personally involved in any of this," Cayetano said. "Usually, the only time I see names is when I sign the campaign spending report or someone tells me, 'Eh, I made a donation to your campaign.' "

Harris said the commission has not pursued campaign finance irregularities of other candidates as aggressively.

He said another example of "behind the scenes politics" targeting him was the Campaign Spending Commission's assertion that money raised for his 2000 campaign should count toward contribution limits for the governor's race.

Each donor is allowed to give $6,000 to a candidate for governor, but some of Harris' strongest financial backers had already given him $4,000 during his 2000 race and can legally give only $2,000 more.

Watada contends that money from the prior campaign does count because it was raised during the election period that began four years before the November 2002 election.

Harris, who announced his decision to run for governor just 14 weeks after he was re-elected mayor, called Watada's position "an unusual interpretation" designed to hold his campaign down.

"They're holding me to an unprecedented standard, which I think is meant to limit my ability to raise campaign funds," Harris said.

He said that contrasted sharply with the commission's treatment of other political candidates, such as Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who recently dropped out of the governor's race and announced she would instead run for mayor.

The commission later ruled that six fund-raising events Hirono held while running for governor would not count against the limit of two allowable fund-raisers while running for mayor, as long as Hirono did not receive more than the $4,000-per-donor limit limit for mayoral candidates.

Watada agreed that the situation seemed unfair to other mayoral candidates but said that nothing in state law addressed such cases.

Advertiser staff writer Robbie Dingeman contributed to this report. Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.