Unhappy voters
organize for change
The Windward Coalition for
Better Government seeks the
defeat of state Sens.
Anderson and IgeMargery Bronster ponders politics
By Mike Yuen
Star-BulletinThey came in cars sporting bumper stickers with diverse political declarations: "Save Mount Olomana," "Save traditional marriage" and "There's no excuse for domestic violence."
But whatever the differences, the 50 men and women who assembled in Kailua on a recent Tuesday night were willing to unite behind a common goal: ousting their state senators.
Their lawmakers, Senate Republican leader Whitney Anderson of Kailua and Marshall Ige (D, Kaneohe), were part of the Senate majority that dumped Margery Bronster as attorney general. And now seven of the 14, including Anderson and Ige, are up for re-election next year, likely facing a hostile electorate.
As the targeting of the two illustrates, embers of disenchantment are still burning 3 months after the 25-member Senate ignited criticism by denying Bronster a second four-year term as the state's chief legal officer.
The Windward Coalition for Better Government, now about 115 strong, is devising a game plan. And there is a determination "to be in this for the long haul," as Joseph Kiefer, one of the coalition's three organizers, puts it.
Larry Lanning, a Kailua businessman with a background in statistics and polling, has been drafted to devise questions for a public opinion survey. Others have volunteered to examine Anderson's and Ige's records to find other weak spots that could be used to broaden the coalition's appeal and negate criticism that the group is a single-issue force.
Bob Popp, a political science instructor at Hawaii Pacific University, says he is willing to be part of the speakers bureau to explain what the coalition is doing. The outreach also is seen as a way to attract new recruits.
Other goals include voter registration drives, analyzing Anderson's and Ige's previous races and mapping their districts.
"I know you can't galvanize a group like this and keep it busy for 18 months," Kiefer says. "There's pacing. There's keeping you guys in the media interested for 18 months. There's keeping the issue alive for 18 months. You've got to have a strategy that doesn't blow everything in the first 30 days."
As executive vice president and general counsel for one of the state's leading banks, Kiefer, who has helped open two Westin hotels, says, "We do stuff like this -- product campaigns -- all the time, but not in the political context."
Kiefer says his only previous political activity has been voting and occasionally contributing to a political campaign "when I couldn't avoid it."
Ultimately, the group will have to endorse a challenger, Kiefer says. Such a move would signal that the coalition is for someone and not simply against anti-Bronster incumbents, he explains.
Popp says if the coalition proves to be effective, it could serve as a model for voters in other districts who also want to remove their senators for voting against Bronster.
Senators stand by vote
But while neighborhood boards in Ewa and Manoa have criticized their senators -- Brian Kanno (D, Ewa Beach) and Carol Fukunaga (D, Makiki) -- for voting to oust Bronster, groups similar to the Windward Coalition for Better Government have not surfaced, say several community leaders on Oahu.Walter Heen, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said: "The Bronster vote was disappointing to the party infrastructure, but it is only one vote that senators have made throughout their careers. Their worthiness for office has to be based on all of their actions and votes."
So while the party's central committee has condemned the 13 Democratic senators who voted against Bronster, the party could still end up supporting the six Democrats up for re-election, Heen says.
Anderson says he doesn't feel threatened by the coalition. "Hell, no! I felt I've done my job," he says.
In a letter to constituents, Anderson says his vote against Bronster was based on years of disagreement. Anderson asserts that among Bronster's shortcomings were her failure to assign a sufficient number of attorneys to educational concerns, laxity in addressing his questions over the state's $10 million purchase of the Waiahole water system, a failure to adequately respond to questions regarding problems with last year's elections and tardiness in processing Hawaiian Home Lands individual claims.
Ige, who anticipates a challenger "coming out of the woodwork," said, "There's no question that my race is totally uphill all the way."
But he hasn't had much time to be concerned about the coalition's efforts against him, Ige adds. That's because he is "so embroiled" in fighting charges that he violated campaign finance laws in an alleged scheme linked to the Bishop Estate, which continues to be under investigation by the attorney general's office even after Bronster's departure.
Ige says he has no regrets for voting against Bronster. He believes the public will eventually see that he and the Senate majority acted correctly.
If there is a weakness with the coalition, it was exhibited at its recent meeting at Kainalu Elementary School. The crowd was close to being entirely white.
"We're going to be attacked," Kiefer acknowledges. "One point of attack is that it is just a bunch of rich haoles in Kailua. I want to take away that attack on us by having far more people involved. It's the same reason why I said I don't want to be the only spokesman. I want to make it clear that this is a broad-based effort."
It was over breakfast a few weeks after the Senate voted to reject Bronster that the Windward Coalition for Better Government took shape. Kiefer, bank president Daniel Colin and attorney Gary Grimmer were criticizing the Senate's vote. "We agreed somewhat spontaneously to do something about this," says Colin, 60.
Estate's value stressed
For the 59-year-old Kiefer, the Senate's rejection of Bronster led him to conclude that the Senate "was out of touch," as the Senate's majority did not realize the significance of Bronster's investigation of the Bishop Estate."It's a huge economic force in our state. Its decisions affect every one of us. Talk to the people who are buying their fee interest now and what it has done for their lives," Kiefer says.
"But more importantly, I think the Bishop Estate is the single most important asset to the Hawaiian community. It is the way to educate their kids -- to a high level of education, which I think is critical for anyone who wants to survive as part of a community."
But Kiefer says it is critical that the estate get away from being a source of political patronage and spoils and get back to doing what is best for its beneficiaries.
"That was what Bronster was breaking down. It wasn't just Bronster; it was the governor, too. But she was the point person."
Spurred to action
Nearly all of the participants in the Windward Coalition interviewed by the Star-Bulletin describe themselves as basically apolitical and having had little or no previous contact with Bronster. But to a person, they say they were upset by the Senate's decision to reject her."This is the first time I'm involved in politics other than complaining about it," says Don Neill, 69, a retired Navy aviator and commercial pilot who voted for unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial hopeful Linda Lingle last year. "I abhor the politics here."
Colin said, "I do not want people to forget (the Bronster vote) and go back to the old status quo."
"I look at these two people (Anderson and Ige), and I want to see better-quality representation," says Shannon Wood, who lives in the district of Sen. Bob Nakata (D, Kaneohe), who also voted against Bronster.
Bishop Estate Archive
