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Talk Story

BY JOHN FLANAGAN


Republicans take their
candidate show
on the road


COMING soon to a school cafeteria near you: the Hawaii GOP Road Show and Stump-Speech-a-Thon. Since the sun rises in the east, the emcee suggested, Honolulu's new political day appropriately begins in Hawaii Kai, site of Tuesday evening's first "Meet the Candidates" rally.

Not so appropriate, perhaps, was the catchy music to which 600-odd curious voters tapped their toes while photos of grinning Republicans were projected behind the podium to open the show.

The song was Whitney Houston's "Step by Step." Yes, the Whitney Houston who left her purse and 15.2 grams of marijuana with security guards at Kona's Keahole Airport in January 2000 while she beat it out of Hawaii before the cops arrived.

Whoops.

To move things along, organizers limited most candidates to three or five minutes. People with questions were encouraged to ask them one-on-one at candidate-staffed booths at the back of the Kaiser High cafeteria.

Bentos and prize drawings between speeches kept the crowd engaged, if bemused. The grand door-prize winner -- a white-haired, over-60 gentleman -- got a skateboard.

EXCEPT FOR John Carroll, candidate for governor, the candidates were cheerfully upbeat. Carroll, in white shirtsleeves and tie, seemed out of place among the aloha shirts.

He reminded folks that there will be a GOP gubernatorial primary and challenged front-runner Linda Lingle to debate: "Come on, Linda, where's the beef? I have nothing to fear. Why should you?"

The crowd listened politely, but when Carroll declared, "We don't need four more years of slick politicians," there was silence. Puzzled, he looked up from his text and said, "There's supposed to be a lot of applause right there."

Voters heard from local GOP candidates for House and City Council -- Bud Stonebraker and Charles Djou -- and from state Sens. Sam Slom and Fred Hemmings, whose districts now split the region.

Council candidate Djou delighted the crowd by quipping, "My No. 1 top priority is to avoid jail time." He cited a Governing magazine article that noted Hawaii now has the nation's highest percentage of elected officials under investigation. "We deserve a better government," he said.

THE LIVELIEST GOP primary race is that for lieutenant governor between three "formers": former judge Duke Aiona, former legislator Cam Cavasso and former TV newscaster Dalton Tanonaka.

Taking the stage after his opponents had made their remarks from the podium -- sounding familiar themes, thanking organizers and supporters and belaboring their resumes -- Tanonaka seized the mike and stepped front and center.

"What the heck does the lieutenant governor do?" he demanded. "Do you know what she's done for the last eight years? I have no idea. She has a staff of 16 people and we don't know what they do, either.

"I say, abolish the job!"

The shocked crowd was rapt. Tanonaka paused, then let the coin drop: "Unless, you have a candidate who can raise the value of the job and earn the taxpayers' money."

NOT TO BE outdone, Linda Lingle also took the mike from the podium and strode downstage to a partial standing ovation. Her theme was Hawaii's meeting its potential as a great American state with a strong economy, quality schools and "a government we can trust and respect."

As to the uproar over Gov. Ben Cayetano's critique of her "Agenda for a New Beginning," Lingle said she wanted to put her ideas down in writing despite warnings that Democrats could pick them apart.

"It's not taking a chance," she said. "It's taking responsibility."

She originally sent out a hundred or so copies, but after Cayetano picked her tax proposals apart, she said she got thousands of requests and smiled.

"I didn't know the governor would make it a national best-seller."





John Flanagan is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
He can be reached at: jflanagan@starbulletin.com
.



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