Changing Hawaii

by Diane Yukihiro Chang

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Imagine this scenario: It's a winner-take-all match at the Special Events Arena. The crowd roars. On one side of the net is Gov. Ben Cayetano; his opponent is state Sen. Malama Solomon. And Joe Blanco is the volleyball.

Blanco is seeking another four-year term as a UH regent, perhaps even as chairman. But first he needs confirmation by Solomon's powerful Executive and Judicial Appointments Committee.

Slight problem, according to Solomon. She sees a conflict in Regent Blanco also serving as executive assistant to the governor (although the State Ethics Commission didn't).

How can Blanco preserve, protect and defend the best interests of UH if he's getting his marching orders from Governor Cayetano, Malama muses?

This is a valid query. The Big Island senator is simply doing her job as appointments chairwoman, and it's Blanco's responsibility to convince her and her committee that a conflict of interest does NOT exist.

Hah! Good luck, Joe. Because this is politics.

As we watch this scintillating match in play, consider this game plan: Solomon is really holding Blanco's reappointment hostage while she attempts to "negotiate" with the governor on a topic of key concern to the neighbor islands.

The topic? Three little words: UH-West Oahu.

Cayetano is an avid proponent of moving the West Oahu college to expansive Campbell Estate lands in Kapolei. Most UH-Manoa boosters understandably hate the idea, but neighbor island students downright fear it. They know that if the Kapolei land exchange goes through, they can kiss aloha to even more funding, resources and attention to campuses in Hilo, Lihue and Kahului.

Solomon isn't about to let that happen so readily. Thus, with Blanco's reappointment up for renewal, the ball is fortuitously in Solomon's court. In fact, the ball is Blanco.

Now the questions of gamesmanship arise:

• Will Blanco be judged on his past performance as a UH regent and on his good intentions to serve his alma mater to the best of his abilities? He's already said that, if the governor asked him to push an idea to the BOR on which Blanco didn't agree, he would resign as Cayetano's assistant and return to his development company.
• Will Solomon play hardball, and insist that the neighbor islands come out of this with at least a few aces?
• How badly does the governor want to keep his executive assistant on the BOR team?

BECAUSE as long as this kind of behind-the-scenes manipulation continues, qualified businesspeople who can actually make government more efficient - like Blanco - won't spare the time and effort to help improve democracy. Why bother, when these kinds of shenanigans take center court?

Joe Blanco is proud to be the first Filipino American to chair the University of Hawaii Board of Regents. But he may go down in history as the first human volleyball to ever get spiked off the BOR, "thanks" to the ugly game known as island politics.