Editorials
Tuesday, September 10, 1996
Choice of Bornhorst
as party chairwoman
RICHARD Port turned the previously low-profile job of chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Hawaii into a platform for his nonconformist opinions. With the outspoken Port stepping down for reasons of health, the Democrats have selected another independent, Marilyn Bornhorst, as his successor. She may continue to use the position as a "bully pulpit."
Bornhorst won a narrow 31-28 victory over retired state appellate judge Walter Heen, the candidate of Governor Cayetano, former Gov. John Waihee and other mainstream party members. Her election may have been a sign of restiveness in party ranks.
Unlike Port, a retired career state employee, Bornhorst has held elective office, serving 14 years on the City Council. She ran for mayor in 1988, losing to Frank Fasi, but has since been inactive politically. As a result of her political career, she is much better known in the community than Port was when he became chairman. An independent who got into politics by lobbying for civic organizations, she may continue Port's needling of powerful Democrats. But that style could alienate the party establishment, which could not have been happy with Port's pot shots and would have preferred someone less divisive.
After 40 years in power, Hawaii Democrats need someone to rouse them from their complacency, to remind them that they should be more responsive to the voters. The bickering that characterized the last session of the Legislature angered many people. The party chairmanship is an unusual place to find a boat-rocker, but Port turned out to be one and Bornhorst might be another, and that wouldn't be a bad thing.
Okinawan plebiscite
THE Okinawan plebiscite on the U.S. military, as expected, resulted in an overwhelming 89 percent vote to reduce the military presence on the island. But the turnout was lower than expected - 60 percent of Okinawa's 910,000 voters, short of the 70 percent sought by opponents of the U.S. bases.
Sovereignty vote
DISCLOSURE of the results of the vote among native Hawaiians as the first step of a sovereignty process has been delayed once again. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay overruling federal District Judge David Ezra, who last week cited the public interest in ruling that the plebiscite results could be released. However, disclosure of the vote tally would have no bearing on the question of whether the referendum was legal, and the appeals court may yet decide that is the case.
The legal issues will be decided in due course, but that is no reason why the election results should remain under seal. Whatever the outcome, the legal issues are secondary in importance to the community's need to obtain a clear assessment of the views of the Hawaiian community on this question.
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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor