ÌìÃÀÊÓƵ

Outgoing Honolulu City Council Chairman Nestor Garcia says he never wanted to be chairman in the first place.

That’s part of why he says he’s glad to leave his leadership post, a change that will happen if his colleagues in July approve a resolution to install Ernie Martin as the new chairman.

“I’m happy,” Garcia said — smiling and pointing to his dimples as though they were proof — to a group of reporters at Honolulu Hale on Wednesday. Garcia repeatedly said he was relieved, but often appeared uneasy and even emotional as he described his plans to step down.

Garcia called the press conference after Civil Beat on Wednesday broke the news that Martin and Ikaika Anderson had engineered a reorganization that would make them council chair and vice chair, respectively.

Garcia, 54, became acting chair when former Chairman Todd Apo stepped down in November to take a private-sector job. He had been vice chair and became the permanent chair when the council organized after last November’s election. Garcia was elected to the City Council in 2002, and re-elected in 2004 and 2008.

Before joining the council, Garcia served four terms as a Hawaii state representative. He worked as a TV reporter for KHON in the 1980s, and left that job in 1991 to serve as U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye’s press secretary.

Garcia’s term ends in 2012, and his name has come up as a possible candidate for the Hawaii Second Congressional District vacancy left by Mazie Hirono, who has announced she is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Daniel Akaka. But he has also floated the idea of returning to the private sector.

Garcia insists there is nothing “cloak and dagger” about his decision to step down, which he says he initiated.

“I did this as an obligation and as a duty,” Garcia said of his stint as chairman. “I’ve done it. I’m happy.”

He also said he reached the three goals he set out to accomplish when he became chair:

• Help lead the City Council through an “orderly transition” as five new council members took office in January
• Stay at the helm through the budget process during a time of “economic chaos”
• Advance some technical changes to “bring the council to the next level,” including strategic planning for the future

“I’ve accomplished one, two and three goals,” Garcia said. “I don’t know if I need to prove anything more or I have to deal with any more challenges.”

But Garcia’s short stint as council chairman was not all rosy, and ultimately a decision on how to name the council’s appointees to the new rapid transit authority led to his ouster.

Behind closed doors, colleagues complained that his leadership style was weak. Asked if any council members brought those concerns to him, Garcia said no one did.

“No conversations about whether or not people were upset with my leadership,” Garcia said. “Of course, you can never please everybody. Now, for myself, if I had let anybody down, I haven’t heard any of that.”

Questions were raised about Garcia’s judgment when it was discovered that he has a $60,000-a-year part-time job as executive director of the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce, an advocate for the city’s rail project. Garcia rejected the idea that a pending city ethics investigation related to that job had anything to do with his departure from council leadership.

“Far from it,” Garcia said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen (with the investigation).”

Garcia’s council colleagues stood behind him after that scandal, saying they supported him, but many were also careful to distance themselves from his decision to work for the chamber.

Garcia’s faith in City Council newcomer Breene Harimoto may have ultimately led to the end of his council chairmanship. City Council member Ikaika Anderson, who is poised to replace Harimoto as vice chair under Martin, called a “majority” of council member’s unease about Harimoto’s Transportation Committee leadership a “major factor” driving the reorganization.

Garcia has been determined to cast the leadership changes as an amicable passing of the torch rather than a power grab. But if it was amicable, there was a glaring absence at his press conference.

The man who will succeed him, Ernie Martin, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Martin left Honolulu Hale early and had an aide issue a statement, which began:

“I have the utmost respect for Council Chair Garcia and I am humbled by his confidence in my ability to succeed him.”