Harris gave few signs of decision to quit race

By Johnny Brannon and Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writers

The explosive news hit state Democratic Party chairwoman Lorraine Akiba's office just after noon on Thursday: the party's battered top contender was throwing in the towel.

Mayor Jeremy Harris called to personally break the news that he would ditch his wobbling campaign for governor just one day before the start of the party's state convention.

The announcement caught Akiba off guard, she said, and she asked him to reconsider. Harris listened politely but made it clear that his mind was made up.

Indeed, Harris had made the decision the previous evening after days of soul-searching with his wife, Ramona, and key confidants.

Polls conducted the previous week showed he was trailing badly behind Republican challenger Linda Lingle, and Harris hunkered down with strategists Tuesday to review the data.

He left Honolulu Hale several times Wednesday to walk the grounds with advisers and weigh his options and their consequences. Over dinner at the Pacific Club that night, Harris somberly announced that he was out of the race.

Those dining with him — Ramona, city Managing Director Ben Lee and chief campaign fund-raiser Peter Char and his wife, Lynette, the city's deputy director of Enterprise Services — knew by then what was coming.

Harris had been all but invisible since the state Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit weeks ago that sought to force him from office to remain in the race. After two months of keeping his campaign on ice to await the ruling, he was free to start swinging hard.

But he acted like a fighter who had lost all heart, making few public appearances and dodging reporters on controversial issues that continued to pop up, such as the feud over the city budget and the indictment of half the city's liquor inspectors.

Since his public announcement Thursday, Harris has again retreated to his bunker. He declined to be interviewed about his decision, and he would say little during a brief appearance at the convention yesterday, at which delegates and party leaders gave him a standing ovation.

His top campaign officials had quietly begun gearing up for the convention in recent days, and were ready to launch a media blitz this weekend to show Harris was still the man to beat.

Char, who had helped pump more than $1 million into Harris' campaign, appeared all but crushed Thursday by Harris' decision to quit. Char said he was deeply disappointed and that he strongly believed Harris could have won.

An embarrassing criminal investigation into allegations that Harris' 2000 re-election campaign hid the source of illegal donations remains active, but Harris and his advisers insist that did not cause him to bow out.

Others in Harris' inner circle heard the news Thursday morning, but top Hawai'i Democrats were told later. Though some are relieved that Harris is out of the race, others don't think bad polls were a valid reason for quitting, and that he could have won if he had tried.

B. Rick Tsujimura, Harris' campaign co-chairman, said the decision to quit was "a total surprise" when he learned Thursday morning.

"As of 10 o'clock (the night before), we were still pumping up for the convention," he said. "The last time I talked to the mayor was on Tuesday, and the whole discussion was about the convention on Saturday."

Though Harris had kept a low-profile, the campaign was gearing up for an advertising splash, Tsujimura said.

"We were doing things behind the scenes that weren't visible, but we were moving," he said.

Harris campaign attorney Chris Parsons also found out Thursday morning.

"I was shocked when I got the word," he said. "We've all been working so hard for the convention."

Still, he said, Harris should not be labeled a glass-jawed quitter who dug his own political grave.

"He's still a major figure," Parsons said. "There aren't many people with his abilities."

The first real party shot-caller to learn of Harris' decision was U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, Hawai'i's Democratic patriarch. The senator got the news from his staffers, who met him at the airport Thursday morning as he returned from Asia. Harris had tried to call Inouye personally, but the senator was still in the air.

"I was greeted at the airport with gloom," Inouye told convention delegates yesterday.

Inouye later told The Advertiser he had been "shocked and surprised" by Harris' decision, but would not have tried to talk him out of it if Harris had been able to reach him.

"I've been in politics for quite some time, and I know how difficult these decisions are," he said. "I'd be the last one to say 'You should have done this and you should have done that.' "

As Akiba's phone line sizzled that afternoon with calls to and from party leaders, Harris called his Cabinet to a special meeting, and the news began leaking out all over Hawai'i.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie heard rumors but focused on work in front of him, he said, and didn't know Harris' plans for certain until he saw the mayor publicly announce them just after 4 p.m. Thursday.

Abercrombie said he had a feeling such a decision might be coming.

"There was some ambiguity about his running, and that cleared it up," he said. "I was glad that there was now certainty."

Gov. Ben Cayetano heard the news from staff members shortly after 1 p.m. but didn't talk directly to Harris that day. Harris' lack of public appearances in the previous weeks made Cayetano sense that Harris was out.

"I thought this was kind of strange behavior, so it didn't surprise me that something like this was coming about," he said.

Shortly after 3 p.m., Harris told Cabinet officials gathered in his office that he did not believe he could win the race in November and wanted to instead focus on running the city.

Many knew of the decision by then, but others were stunned.

Harris had been stung by weeks of criticism from City Council members about his handling of city finances, but on that day he emphasized that he wanted to make peace.

"This is not the time to point fingers at anybody," Harris told his administration, which must continue to work with the council for the remaining two years of his term.

Some Cabinet members talked about what the city can still accomplish; others grew misty-eyed. Each then spoke with Harris individually, giving him handshakes, hugs and pats on the back.

After the crowd left, Harris prayed in his office with Ramona and First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu pastor Dan Chun. Then he quietly reviewed the brief speech he had personally written to announce the toughest decision of his political career.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070. Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.