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My 4-year-old grandson Corwin has a talking Buzz Lightyear action figure that he forever flies around the house doing battle with the evil Dark-a-Man. Hirono is shooting
at wrong targetI didn't remember seeing any Dark-a-Man in the "Toy Story" movies or the "Buzz Lightyear" film that followed. I started to wonder where this bad guy came from.
I finally figured it out. The talking Buzz toy is constantly jabbering into his space ranger radio calling "Star Command," the space station from which he operates in protection of the Galactic Alliance. Corwin heard it as "Dark-a-Man" and a villain was born.
I've tried to explain it to Corwin, but he has it stuck in his head and just doesn't get it. He's still running around the house waging intergalactic war against Dark-a-Man.
I'm starting to think Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono has a similar problem distinguishing who she's battling as she tries to invent herself as a credible candidate for governor.
She has said little to this point about her likely opponents in 2002, Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris and former Maui Mayor Linda Lingle. Instead, her few forays into the public eye have mostly consisted of pot shots at her running mate and supporter, Gov. Ben Cayetano.
The governor is growing irritated at being cast as Hirono's Dark-a-Man and is starting to shoot back.
In the latest spat, Hirono issued a press release urging Cayetano to approve arbitrated pay raises for the Hawaii Government Employees Association. The governor believes the $200 million raises are void because the Legislature didn't fund them last year.
He wants to renegotiate and sharply criticized Hirono for giving the appearance of a divided administration, saying she didn't tell him of her concerns before issuing the press release.
"She mentions she talked to people across the state, cafeteria managers, cooks and teachers -- the only person she didn't talk to is me," Cayetano complained. "If someone wants to be governor, they have to look at the whole picture."
Cayetano had a fair point. Hirono blindsided and embarrassed him by undermining the state's negotiating position in public without first trying to work out her differences with him privately. Imagine if a top official of the HGEA surprised fellow union leaders with a press release urging the union to cave in on the governor's demands. He or she would be strung up.
Collective bargaining is an adversarial process that can get nasty. The governor must stand up for taxpayers as vigorously as the HGEA fights for its members. If Hirono has no stomach for it, we should worry about how ably the public would be represented at the bargaining table in a Hirono administration.
Campaigning against the governor instead of her real opponents is a curious strategy for Hirono. She has done little to separate herself from Cayetano administration policies for the past six years and it's too late to start now. Her opponents will skewer her if she tries.
Hirono's biggest problem in 2002 is that she has little distinct record to run on from her years as a legislator and lieutenant governor. She's running against two mayors with far more tangible accomplishments.
She badly needs to be showcased in the last two years of the Cayetano administration as doing important things -- much as Bill Clinton showcased Al Gore. This becomes less likely if she keeps annoying the governor with blindside attacks on Star Command that transparently pander to special-interest voting blocs.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at dshapiro@starbulletin.com.
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