Republican gubernatorial nominee Linda Lingle has received help from a well-connected Democrat. She's a New Yorker, who, well, can't vote for Lingle. Lingle obtains notable
help in fund-raisingBut Suri Kasirer, who was an aide to former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, did the next best thing: She coordinated the $1,000-per-person fund-raiser that New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, recently hosted in the Big Apple for Lingle.
Kasirer, who is well known for her Democratic fund-raisers, is married to Giuliani's chief of staff, Bruce Teitelbaum.
Hawaii's Republican national committeewoman, Miriam Hellreich, said Kasirer "was suggested by a number of people, actually." But New York magazine reports that its sources indicated that a Teitelbaum ally, Deputy Mayor Randy Levine, pushed for Kasirer.
The magazine also quoted an anonymous Big Apple political insider who said Lingle's staff didn't know anyone in New York and that Kasirer got the job only because she's "very, very good."
OSHIRO IS TOLL FELLOW: House Majority Floor Leader Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa) was one of 40 "emerging state leaders" selected as Toll fellows who were recently in Lexington, Ky., for a six-day seminar sponsored by the Council of State Governments.
Oshiro will be using his own money -- not state funds -- to cover the cost of the Toll Fellowship program. Named after Henry Toll, a Colorado senator who founded the council in 1933, the program focuses on policy analysis.
Previous Toll fellows from Hawaii include state Labor Director Lorraine Akiba and state Senate dissident leader Randy Iwase (D, Mililani).
By Star-Bulletin staff