Posted on: Sunday, August 1, 2004

Councilman points out Harris' absence during veto

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

City Councilman Charles Djou believes the veto of a tax bill by Mayor Jeremy Harris was illegal because it was sent to the city clerk's office while he was out of town.

Harris was in Boston attending the Democratic National Convention on Thursday when his office sent down formal notice vetoing Bill 35, which gives a tax break to agricultural property, whether it's used for farming or kept vacant for future development.

"The City Charter is very clear: The mayor and only the mayor has the power to issue a veto," Djou said. If anyone's signature was on the veto that day, he said, it should have been that of then-acting Mayor Ben Lee, Harris' managing director.

"So consequently, that veto message is nothing more than the statement of a private citizen, which Jeremy Harris was when he was in Boston," Djou said yesterday. "Just because the mayor signed something and postdated it, how in the world is the public or the City Council supposed to know that there is an actual, live veto?"

Carol Costa, Harris' spokeswoman, said yesterday that the veto is valid and binding, noting that the mayor expressed the likelihood that he would veto the bill before he left for the Mainland earlier last month.

The mayor has 10 working days to veto a bill and the administration needed that time to study the bill "to determine what is the best course of action," she said. Following that period, the mayor "decided to go forward with the veto."

"During that 10-day period, the managing director was in contact with the mayor," Costa said, discussing, among other things, a compromise position on the issue for next year that's being worked on by city tax officials and farmers. Harris opposes the bill on legal grounds and also because he believes that it could end up costing the city up to $9.6 million in tax breaks returned to landowners.

Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz has scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday to override the veto.

Djou said Harris' absence during the episode underscores the need for a law requiring the mayor to notify the public, through the city clerk's office, before leaving O'ahu. Djou said the public should be informed when the mayor hands authority over to an official who was not elected.

Harris, who leaves office at the end of the year and is not eligible for another consecutive term, has scoffed at that proposal.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.