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Hawaii’s World
THE Republican Party of Hawaii -- remarkably -- is within striking distance of recapturing control of one house of the state Legislature for the first time in 40 years. GOP gains may
signal big changesThe arithmetic goes like this:
When we became a state in 1959, Republicans won the Senate by 14-11, but lost the House 33-18 to the Democrats.The GOP this year increased its number of seats in the House of Representatives from 12 to 19, a gain of seven.
Beginning with the next legislative election in 1962, Democrats always have had control of both houses by comfortable margins and the governorship, too. We have been the most Democratic -- with a capital D -- state among the 50.
The beginning of a reversal now seems in reach.
Linda Lingle, since her narrow defeat for governor in 1998, has been chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party and led its Year 2000 beginning of a resurrection. She will run again for governor in 2002.
Before she gives up the chairmanship to run, she surely will try to lay the groundwork for recapturing control of the state House.
That means doing what was done this year -- persuading more credible candidates to run as Republicans in districts where they have a chance. It should be easier because of the now within-reach possibility of building to a majority.
Humbly I offer a GOP slogan for the Year 2002: "Tip their canoe and elect Lingle, too."
This derives from a euphonious 1840 winning Whig Party slogan when William Henry Harrison was the presidential candidate and John Tyler the candidate for vice president: "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too."
Harrison, the No. 1 person on the Whig ticket, established his nickname of Old Tippecanoe for leading an 1811 victory over the Seminole Indians in the Battle of Tippecanoe near the present Lafayette, Ind. He retired from the Army soon afterward to enter Congress from Ohio but the nickname stuck.
As it happened, Harrison, aged 68, contracted pneumonia after a cold, drizzly March 4, 1841, inaugural ceremony where he delivered his address without a hat or overcoat. He died a month later and Tyler served out his term.
Hawaii's weather is more clement and Lingle is much younger. Thus, no parallel can be drawn to that unhappy episode. I submit, however, that upsetting the Hawaii Democratic canoe by turning the House back to the Republicans has a nice sound to it.
Lingle likely will go up against the winner of a Democratic primary fight between Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris.
She had her political beginnings in Maui County where she served as council member and mayor before she ran for governor two years ago. She won the Maui mayor election with little union support. That may be a plus factor in 2002 with voters becoming more querulous about the dominant role of unions through the Democratic Party.
When we were a territory, Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature until 1954. Then they lost both to a Democratic Party coalition of ILWU union members and young Nisei who had served in World War II.
Both houses have stayed Democratic since, except for 1959-62 in the first state Senate. In those years, we also had our one and only Republican state governor, William F. Quinn.
The new GOP no longer has to bear the Big Five label that tabbed it as a big business captive. No such business cohesion exists any longer. The cohesiveness now is with the unions.
A.A. Smyser is the contributing editor
and former editor of the the Star-Bulletin
His column runs Tuesday and Thursday.