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YOU'VE got to wonder how long Hawaii's Democrats can continue to thrive in their twisted world where misdeeds go unpunished and courageous efforts to bring reform go unrewarded. Democrats need to
clean their own nests
Example No. 1: Democratic leaders are giving a virtual free ride to Sen. Marshall Ige, a lackey for the corrupt former trustees of the Bishop Estate who is now mired in campaign finance problems, in his run for the party's nomination to hold his Windward Oahu seat.
Ige enraged voters when he led the campaign to oust former Attorney General Margery Bronster at the behest of the Bishop trustees while Bronster was investigating him for campaign funding violations related to the estate.
In the past, when Democratic legislators started to give off an odor like that, established Democratic challengers stepped up to run against them and preserve the party's integrity -- often with the support of party leaders. Milton Holt, Terrance Tom and James Aki come to mind as tarnished Democrats who were dispatched in the party's primary.
It showed Democratic voters who are picky about honest government that they could comfortably stay in a party that takes out its own rubbish. Republicans are dealing with their own Bronster/Bishop Estate problem in another Windward district by offering the veteran Fred Hemmings as an alternative to Sen. Whitney Anderson.
But Democrats have apparently stopped cleaning up after themselves. While Windward Democrats waited for an alternative to Ige, nobody of weight and experience stepped forward. The untested and presumably under-funded Solomon Nalua'i finally put in papers just before this week's filing deadline.
If Nalua'i can't defeat Ige in the primary, Democrats with a conscience will have no choice but to vote for the equally untested Republican Bob Hogue, a well-known sportscaster.
If we assume that Democratic leaders aren't eager to give up the seat to the GOP, it's also fair to assume they don't mind being in league with the ethically challenged Ige, who consistently has put private and special interests ahead of the public interest.
If Ige wants to run that's his right and if district voters want to re-elect him, that's their right. But under the circumstances -- and under the cloud shadowing Ige -- Democratic leaders owed the party faithful a clear option they could vote for without holding their noses.
He vigilantly goes after errant Democrats and Republicans alike and was a key force in drawing attention to alleged campaign law violations by Ige, Holt and others.
Watada also has been a champion of legislation to end the cozy arrangement where contractors who receive lucrative state business reciprocate by making generous campaign contributions to incumbent politicians. He figures honest policing can only strengthen the party and state government.
So what does Watada get for his trouble? Lectures from party leaders about loyalty. Not a single House Democrat supported his amendment to reform campaign contributions by state contractors.
A look at the numbers shows why: Democratic legislative candidates raised nearly four times as much campaign money as GOP candidates in 1998. Rotten or not, the system works just fine for the party in power.
The more they become the party of Marshall Ige and the less they become the party of Robert Watada, the more surely the Democrats are paving the road to their own oblivion.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at dshapiro@starbulletin.com.
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