Lingle readies for
Republican pushThe Hawaii GOP sees the governor
making party gains next year
Hawaii's Republicans open their convention tomorrow in Kohala, and for the first time in anyone's memory, the governor of Hawaii will be attending.
Thanks to the victory last year of Linda Lingle, the Hawaii GOP, long a political afterthought, has become a growing political party with 28,000 members. In comparison, the Democratic Party has 21,000 card-carrying members.
Even Democratic observers give Lingle, Hawaii's first GOP governor in 40 years, the credit for turning the party around.
"There is a change, and we would be fools not to recognize it," Sen. Colleen Hanabusa (D, Nanakuli-Makua) said.
Lingle, who lost the gubernatorial race in 1998, rebuilt the GOP in 2000 and came back to win Washington Place in 2002.
Supporters gathering this weekend at the Hilton Waikoloa Hotel will owe both a thank-you and their survival to Lingle.
"I would say she is the party," Hanabusa said.
"The strength of the Republican Party is that it is Linda Lingle's party," Hanabusa added.
Former U.S. Rep. Pat Saiki, Hawaii's first GOP member of the U.S. House, who also ran the local GOP and tried and failed to win the governorship, credits Lingle with rebuilding the party, which controlled only seven seats of the 76-member Legislature in 1993.
"It used to be that anyone who ran as a Republican, you said they lost their mind," Saiki said.
"Now Linda really has those Democrats bamboozled. She is straight and outspoken, and they are not used to that style.
"(Former Gov. Ben) Cayetano was outspoken, but he was negative. Lingle is positive," Saiki said.
Democrats, however, figure that if the local GOP is an embodiment of Lingle, then Lingle can also be linked with the national GOP, and that will hurt both Lingle and the Hawaii Republicans.
"It may be hard for her to overcome the national political issues. Hawaii is a very socially liberal state and very mindful of ethnic issues," says Paul Helfrich, Big Island Democratic Party chairman, said.
Brennon Morioka, the GOP chairman and executive director, says the local Republican Party is aware of its national image, but argues that it does not rub off on the Hawaii GOP.
"People will try to pigeonhole us as wealthy white people from the mainland, but here in Hawaii, with our diversity and ethnic mix, it is different," Morioka said.
The GOP's immediate major goal is to raise the money, find the candidates and then mount a statewide challenge to the Democrats in the state House next year, Morioka said.
To that end, the party expects Lingle to be out campaigning for GOP candidates next year.
"Our ultimate goal is to win the majority in the House and to make significant gains in the Senate," Morioka said.
"At a minimum, we need to get to 19 or 20," Morioka calculated, saying that anything more than 18 GOP votes would give Lingle protection against a legislative veto override.
Lingle herself sounds like she is ready to do battle with Democrats over the just-concluded 2003 Legislature. Such a debate would also serve as a warm-up for the 2004 election.
In a news conference earlier, Lingle said she would be drawing attention to the differences between the budget she recommended and what the Democrats finally passed.
"I think it will be very difficult for legislators to go out next year and explain why the school budget for repair and maintenance got cut by $100 million and in turn they are handing out millions in tax shelters.
"They will have to convince voters that this should continue," Lingle said.
Democratic legislative leaders have responded by focusing attention on Lingle's threats to cut out school budget items put in the budget by Democrats.
Republicans, however, are banking on Lingle having an impact in the 2004 elections.
Observers, such as Ira Roh-ter, University of Hawaii political scientist and co-chairman of the Green Party, called the last legislative session "the earliest sparrings for the 2004 election."
"You have an extraordinarily organized Republican Party; it is a juggernaut building," Roh-ter said.
He praised the House Democrats for passing a consumer protection plan -- a prescription drug plan and oil company regulation -- in 2002, but added that now it is Lingle who looks like "she is reinventing government."
"If she is viewed as an agent of change but not radical, if she looks like a dynamic leader, then she has a lot of good cards in her hand," Rohter said.
Big Island political scientist James Wang added that so far, "Lingle hasn't made any boo-boos, so it will be hard for the Democrats to make a dent."
But Wang added that although the governor's office is the most powerful position in Hawaii government, Lingle might not have a lot of success in helping GOP candidates next year.
"Does she have coattails? So far, I haven't seen that kind of influence. Other than just being in office, she isn't one of those to extend the umbrella to take in more people," Wang said.