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I rarely regret what I write and am even less frequently haunted by my words. You gotta love that
arrogant sonofa...gunBut I've been feeling lousy since I made fun of Frank Fasi's age in a column about the Honolulu mayor's race. I've done it before and can justify it. A younger Fasi attacked the age of the late Mayor Johnnie Wilson when he ran against him in the 1950s.
But I still feel lousy. I was being mean-spirited and age-related barbs are cheap shots.
The bad feeling started when Fasi appeared in a dream to tell me that my remarks about his age were hurtful. It got worse the next day when he appeared in person at my office door.
Fasi, 79, was in the building for an editorial board and stopped by to say hello. He didn't mention the column as we exchanged pleasantries. I told him he looks great, which is true. When he left, I shook his hand and he patted me on the shoulder. I had to admit I like the guy.
The City Hall beat was my first real job with the Star-Bulletin and my first taste of the exhilaration news reporting can bring. It was a year into Fasi's first term as mayor, when the former outsider had Honolulu Hale buzzing with energy and power.
Fasi's animosity for the Star-Bulletin is legend. He's banned us from his office, refused to let city officials speak to us, accused us of monopolistic practices and, in the cruelest blow, called us the afternoon edition of the Advertiser. He came to our building to gloat the day our owner announced he wanted to shut us down.
I've zinged Fasi with a few stories and he's called a few press conferences to denounce me. He and his associates have sued me a couple of times. The last time, Fasi wanted some $70 million from me and five colleagues and tried to take his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But I've never taken the attacks personally. When we did our end-of-the-century list of the most important people in Hawaii in the 20th century, I had no hesitation about putting Fasi high on the list.
A couple of years ago, Fasi asked one of our reporters to tell me that he forgave me and hoped I forgave him. I found it odd and started to write him to say he'd done nothing I needed to forgive. I wrote that in the end, it will matter a lot more that he was here than that I was here.
I never mailed the letter for fear that my testimonial would end up in one of his campaign ads.
FASI is a larger-than-life politician straight out of a script of the World Wrestling Federation. I've covered politics here for more than 30 years and he's the only one who has brought a true combination of color, flair, fun and substance to the game. He gave us a first-rate bus system, acres of parks around Oahu and satellite city halls that make it a pleasure to do business with the city.
Yeah, he's arrogant and has a chip on his shoulder the size of Diamond Head. But one theory of successful city governance is that you find the meanest SOB in town and make him mayor.
So if Fasi wants to keep running for office into his 100s, he'll get no further beef from me. That's not to say I'll vote for the SOB.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at editor@starbulletin.com.
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