Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Monday, November 11, 1996

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Looking for direction
after the elections

WHILE stopped at a red light on Kapiolani Boulevard, mulling the results of the just-completed elections, I notice The Great Debate raging in the convertible next to me. The wife/navigator is holding a foldout map of Honolulu and is pointing makai, while the husband/driver is yelling and gesturing mauka.

I roll down my window to offer assistance. After telling them how to get to Wai-kee-kee, the light turns green and they veer off in the right direction. The grateful-looking couple smile and wave.

Those tourists were lucky. Usually I might have been too tired or grumpy or preoccupied to notice the quandary of other motorists. Or even if I had taken note, maybe I wouldn't want to get involved. But because I did, those lost souls literally found their way.

Coincidentally, that's what happened on a wet and wild Nov. 5, General Election Day.

It rained like Akaka Falls on this island, flooding out homes and farmlands, scattering sign-waving contingents and, in general, dampening the faux holiday celebration. However, the storm did NOT deter an intrepid 68 percent of Oahu's 386,546 voters from trudging to the polls, and picking their national and local leaders for the next two to four years.

Because they did, Hawaii regained part of its own formerly lost soul.

It was a therapeutic exercise in democracy, and the message was clear: It was humbug to go out and vote in this crummy weather but we did - because we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore.

Ousted were three Office of Hawaiian Affairs incumbents, four Democratic House members, and two prominent state senators. Funny how the best way to be heard is in the solitude and pin-drop quiet of a curtained booth.

The powers-that-be heard as well, although the message was slightly garbled:

Governor Cayetano backed mayoral challenger Arnold Morgado and city prosecutor hopeful David Arakawa. Since both of them lost, was Big Ben slipping in power and influence? Maybe, maybe not. My own unscientific interpretation was that since Cayetano does his own thing and doesn't listen to a lot of people, a lot of people decided to do their own thing and not listen to him. All's fair in love and politics.

Powerful state Sen. Donna Ikeda was thoroughly trounced in her district. OK, she may have been heavy-handed as Ways and Means chief, and perhaps the Senate didn't get much accomplished in the last session. But Speaker Joe Souki, who rules with an iron fist over a just-as-unresponsive House, and who wrote an official letter of recommendation on behalf of a convicted child molester on Maui, still retained his seat! Why the double standard?

Neil Abercrombie only narrowly defeated congressional challenger Orson Swindle in the most contentious race of the season, which means 1) Swindle is getting more adept at disseminating his message or 2) more islanders are becoming disillusioned with the chameleon-like Clinton and this country's Democratic liberals. Maybe it doesn't matter, because the third time could be a charm for Orson.

Don't bet any serious money on it, though, because Hawaii voters are an enigmatic, unpredictable lot. Remember, they're the same ones who will slog through a driving rainstorm to find parking, stand in lines and punch square holes in ballots. We may not always know where we're going, but we sure know where we don't want to be.