Harimoto: ‘God Intervened’ In Dispute with Mayor
Honolulu City Council Transportation Chairman Breene Harimoto says God stepped in and helped ease weeks of mounting frustration over the way the administration has handled the city’s $5.5 billion rail project.
“Frustrations were building and things were happening 鈥斕齛nd were not happening 鈥斕齮hat I wasn’t happy with,” Harimoto told Civil Beat. “It’s just human nature that things just kind of escalate. I don’t know how much I should get into this, but I’m a Christian and I’m very spiritual, and I really believe that God intervened.”
Harimoto said he has nixed his plan to write a letter to the Federal Transportation Administration detailing his concerns about the administration’s lack of transparency. He said he’ll still hold a public hearing to vet concerns about the project because he promised to do so, but that he’ll try to take some of his dealings with the administration “behind the scenes” going forward.
In late March, Harimoto told Civil Beat he had a meeting about his serious concerns with Mayor Peter Carlisle, but the mayor told Civil Beat he couldn’t remember what they had discussed.
Harimoto referenced the mayor’s spotty memory in a tense Transportation Committee meeting in which many City Council members raised wide-ranging concerns about rail with the administration.
“My relationship (with the mayor) got to where it seemed like both sides weren’t talking to each other,” Harimoto said Monday. “It got a little out of control.”
Days later, Harimoto said something significant happened. He felt compelled to reach for a favorite book, and when flipping through it, came across a passage that he says put a series of decisions into motion.
“The Lord just put in my heart to get the book ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren, off my shelf,” Harimoto Told Civil Beat in an email.听“I believe that God led me to this particular paragraph on page 162.听It reads:
听
Conflict is usually a sign that the focus has shifted to less important issues, things the Bible calls ‘disputable matters.’听When we focus on personalities, preferences, interpretations, styles, or methods, division always happens.听But if we concentrate on loving each other and fulfilling God’s purposes, harmony results.听Paul pleaded for this:听 ‘Let there be real harmony so there won’t be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.’
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“I instantly knew what God was telling me,” Harimoto wrote.
Harimoto said the passage inspired him to arrange a meeting with Managing Director Doug Chin, and a separate meeting with the mayor. Harimoto says he apologized to both Carlisle and the managing director.
“I did share with both Doug and the mayor how God has pointed me to this one passage in ‘The Purpose Driven Life,'” Harimoto said. “Usually it’s the Bible that God points you to, but I believe it was a reason it was ‘The Purpose Driven Life.’ I read the passage to the mayor, and hopefully it sunk in. I’m not sure. But we had a nice meeting and we agreed to work together. I think time will tell.”
Carlisle is reluctant to talk about the details of his conversation with Harimoto. Asked whether he apologized at any time during the meeting, Carlisle said things between him and Harimoto are “just fine.”
“I’m not going to get into a fight between me and him,” Carlisle told Civil Beat. “There’s no reason for it, and there’s no reason to suspect that the problems haven’t been addressed.”
Carlisle and Harimoto say the bottom line is that they both want the city’s rail project to move forward.
“He wants the rail project to go forward in the worst way,” Carlisle said. “So do I … As long as he’s for rail, which he is. And as long as I’m for rail, which I am, we’re going to get along splendidly.”
Going forward, Harimoto says he will continue to turn to his faith as he navigates his relationship with the mayor.
“Ultimately, God’s in control,” Harimoto said. “I can only do so much.”
Asked how he would answer constituents who might be concerned that his reliance on God might detract from his responsibility to represent them, Harimoto said he believes there is a line between faith and duty.
“That’s the age-old dilemma, that line between my responsibility and faith in God,” Harimoto said. “I think elected officials have this tendency to go way past the line, and I’ve done that many times, and after the fact realized that it was about me and I was trying to be in control. I do have a responsibility as a council member to still pursue the questions and to hold the administration accountable, but the difference is the style, in how you do it.”
Later, Harimoto emailed Civil Beat to follow up on the conversation and wrote that he knew not everyone would understand his experience.
“I’m not sure that non-Christians will really听understand, so I hope you won’t make me look like a crazy person hearing voices,” Harimoto wrote.听“But I truly believe that God put me in this position for a reason that I may never understand, and in all that I do I will have faith in the Lord and give praise and glory to him.听In this crazy world of politics, that’s the only way for me to keep my sanity!”
