Democrats elect
moderate Heen to be
new party chairman

Democratic 'debugger'
seen at convention

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

Moderates regained control of the splintered isle Democratic Party, as former state appellate Judge Walter Heen has been elected party chairman.

Heen, 70, vowed to mend internal divisions and put the long-dominant party, whose elected officials have been criticized in recent years for being aloof, arrogant and myopic, back in touch with Hawaii's common men and women.

Otherwise, Democrats from Gov. Ben Cayetano on down will be in trouble in November's general election, Heen said yesterday as the party faithful concluded their biennial state convention.

"The Democratic Party was the mainstream of Hawaii. We need to discover where the mainstream is," said Heen, who begins a two-year term after defeating former Lt. Gov. Tom Gill, the candidate from the party's liberal wing.

Nearly two years ago, Heen was rejected as the party's helmsman.

In a special election, the party's key statewide Central Committee selected former City Council Chairwoman Marilyn Bornhorst to fill the unexpired term of Richard Port, who resigned. The vote was 31-28.

Party election officials refused to disclose yesterday's vote tally for Heen and Gill.

During the four years the liberal Rainbow Coalition controlled the party apparatus, vote counts in key elections were made public.

The convention also ended with moderates now the majority on the Central Committee and with some resemblance of party unity.

For example, while party Executive Director Chuck Huxel, a liberal, was honored at the convention as the outstanding Oahu Democrat, he was not able to win a seat on the Central Committee.

Unity a necessary theme

Four years ago, the convention ended with the party split in its choice for governor -- then-Lt. Gov. Cayetano and then-state Health Director Jack Lewin, who announced his candidacy the day before the convention. This year's gathering saw Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, a Cayetano rival, announce that for the sake of party unity he will remain at City Hall and not challenge Cayetano in the Democratic primary.

Some delegates, such as Councilman Duke Bainum, felt that along with the convention theme of unity should have been more talk of change.

Perhaps there should have been more emphasis on how the values of the Democratic revolution of 1954 -- when the party took control of the territorial Legislature -- relates to today's issues, Bainum said.

"We have to make clear that special interests and narrow issues do not sway the party," added Bainum, who declined to disclose whom he wanted as party chairman.

Bart Dame of the Rainbow Coalition blamed Senate dissident leader Randy Iwase (D, Mililani), lobbyist Linda Rosehill and "much of the elected leadership for clamping down on an independent party and putting it under their control."

Touching the mainstream

No bloody floor fights emerged on the party platform, resolutions and rules because the now-controlling faction wanted to go into the campaign appearing united, he added.

Without opposition, convention delegates approved resolutions that opposed the convening of a Constitutional Convention and a proposed constitutional amendment that allow lawmakers to ban same-sex marriages.

Iwase branded Dame's remarks as "unfortunate," saying delegates came behind Heen because he is independent, a unifier and "is able to touch the broad cross-section that is the middle."

Unless Democrats demonstrate that they have a message and program that touches mainstream Hawaii, the Republicans have a chance to make electoral gains, Iwase said. "We got to demonstrate to the public that we don't live in 'Fantasy Land,' " he added.

Repairing 'a disconnect'

Heen, a former territorial and state legislator who was a key figure in the Democrats' rise to power in the 1950s, said the party must unite because there is clearly "a disconnect" between party factions, the party and its elected officials, and the party and the people.

"I believe the function of the Democratic party chair is to establish programs to overcome that disconnect," he said.

"You find people, solid Democrats, who say legislators don't listen to us. They're disconnected," Heen said.

"Connection is a two-way street. You cannot expect that they are only going to listen to what they're told. We must expect that we will engage them in dialogue."

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‘Debugging’ figure a
delegate at Democratic
convention

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

An Oahu woman who was indicted but not convicted in an alleged attempt to defraud the Democratic-controlled state government of nearly $4,000 was a delegate at the Democratic state convention this weekend.

In 1993, Nora Feuerstein was accused of billing the state government after she falsely claimed to have uncovered electronic listening devices in the offices of then-Gov. John Waihee and four powerful Democratic legislators.

This year, Feuerstein, 36, intended to be a candidate for the state party's Central Committee, a key panel. She withdrew her application papers a few days before the convention began, said party Executive Director Chuck Huxel. She did not give a reason, Huxel said.

Central Committee members were elected by convention delegates yesterday.

Feuerstein and an associate, Jay Hayase, were indicted by an Oahu grand jury on felony attempted theft and conspiracy charges in 1993, but the indictment was dismissed a year later.

The attorney general's office decided not to seek a reindictment, saying that since Feuerstein confessed that she did not find any listening devices at the State Office Tower -- then the temporary home of the governor, lieutenant governor and the Legislature while the Capitol was being renovated -- that satisfied the state's investigation.

Feuerstein, who admitted that she had no experience in debugging work, also falsely claimed to have found clandestine listening devices in the offices of House Speaker Joe Souki of Wailuku, House Finance Chairman Calvin Say of Palolo, then-Ways and Means Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi of Manoa and then-Senate Consumer Protection Chairwoman Donna Ikeda of Hawaii Kai, who was defeated in 1996.

Since the case did not go to trial, it has never been established who supposedly believed Feuerstein's claim and authorized that she be paid almost $4,000. The check, however, was never sent.

Last year, Feuerstein unsuccessfully lobbied the Democratic-controlled Legislature to pass a bill that would allow her to get the records pertaining to her case.