One cold morning, a farm woman goes outside to find a beautiful snake caught in a sudden overnight frost. Attracted by the snake's bright, iridescent colors, the woman brings the snake inside and puts him by the stove.
Shortly, the snake starts to thaw and wiggles to life.
Amazed, the woman picks up the reptile for a closer look, whereupon the snake sinks his fangs in her arm.
As the woman collapses, she asks, "Why did you bite me after I rescued you?"
"Because that's my nature, I'm a snake," the snake says as the woman passes out.
This cautionary tale is offered to politicians who take in former opponents and expect the newly rescued to behave.
For instance, Arnold Morgado is welcoming Frank Fasi into his campaign for mayor.
During his long career, Fasi, the mayor of Honolulu for 22 years, has never suffered in silence, nor has he been content to leave the spotlight to others. For him to suddenly sign on to a former opponent's campaign should give everyone pause.
Fasi says he is supporting Morgado because he will "do anything and everything to get this fraud (Mayor Jeremy Harris) out of politics once and for all."
Fasi wants to beat Harris because Fasi thinks he was betrayed by Harris, when Harris didn't actively support him when he ran for governor two years ago.
Harris managed to get the worst of that deal two years ago, as he also irritated Gov. Ben Cayetano by running as a Democrat in the special mayor's election, but also declining to endorse Cayetano in the general election.
Now, however, it is Morgado who should consider his options.
By ushering Fasi into the tent, what will Morgado do with Fasi's baggage?
There is quite a load waiting.
First, the former City Council chairman has to deal with the former mayor's ideas.
Fasi built his campaign platform with bile, and festooned it with odd ideas left over from past campaigns. For instance, he insists he can convince the state to sell Aloha Stadium, with the profits to be divvied up between the city and the state.
The state would erect a new stadium and the city would launch a bizarre building spree, featuring a "San Diego-type zoo" in Central Oahu, plus a Disney-type attraction and an underwater restaurant off Magic Island.
The folks who built the restaurant would then take another deep breath and build an underwater tunnel through Pearl Harbor to speed up traffic flow.
The state's response to all this was "Huh?"
THAT roughly tracked the public's response as Fasi came in third in last month's special mayoral election.
By offering to help and by winning a place inside Morgado's tent, Fasi is still a player in this race. But his position has changed.
Now his ideas are transferred to Morgado, who has the difficult position of trying to woo Fasi supporters while edging away from Fasi's quirky ideas.
Morgado also has to explain why people who like Fasi, who passionately believes in rail transit, should vote for Morgado, an equally passionate foe of Fasi's transit plans.
By the November election, however, Morgado may find that vengeance and vendetta aren't the likely ingredients to victory.
