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Waihee IV JOHN David Waihee IV was 8 years old when his father won a delegate seat at the 1978 State Constitutional Convention that created the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
In the shadow of his father,
John Waihee IV is out to prove
he's not just a carbon copyBy Pat Omandam
Star-BulletinWaihee, now 30, vaguely remembers that first political campaign, but knows he hated the wooden political signs his father used .
"In those days, the signs were really big, solid wood and real heavy," he said. "If the wind caught it, especially when I was so young, you could get blown away while you were holding it."
These days, the signs with the Waihee name are lighter and it is the father who campaigns for the son.
After a surprise win of an OHA at-large seat earlier this month, the Keo's Restaurant bar manager and artist finds himself as one of the key swing votes on how the new board will organize.
WAIHEE PROFILE
Name: John David Waihee IV
Waihee, Oswald Stender and Linda Dela Cruz are the newcomers to the highly visible board, while the other six elected Nov. 7 -- Haunani Apoliona, Clayton Hee, Charles Ota, Colette Machado, Donald Cataluna and Rowena Akana -- have served before as either an elected or appointed OHA trustee.
As the youngest trustee, Waihee hopes for changes. He believes the board must work for Hawaiians as if the agency may not be around forever.
"Hopefully, the board will be unified," he said. "I met with a lot of the trustees and there's a lot of talent. Some of them just don't like each other. If we can get past that, we could do great things."
Moreover, Waihee's win is notable in Hawaii politics: He is the first son of a former Hawaii governor ever elected to state public office.
"Give him time, and he'll be really good, especially with his father helping him," said his friend and co-worker Kaulana Mossman.
Interviewed at the family home in Nuuanu, Waihee said he knows his political career will always be compared to that of his father, John D. Waihee III, a two-term Democratic governor and former lieutenant governor who was the first elected governor of Hawaiian ancestry.
He fondly points to his father's 1986 Democratic primary election as probably "the most memorable day of my life."
"So the printout comes out, and as I'm watching it I'm assuming the highest number is Cecil Heftel's. Looking at it, the discrepancy is pretty large," he said.
"And then I hear my dad's voice, 'Oh, my God, I'm winning.' Actually, he was the one ahead."That win propelled the senior Waihee past gubernatorial Republican candidate Andy Anderson in the general election for the start of the Waihee administration.
For the younger Waihee, the win meant the 16-year-old wouldn't have to share a bedroom with his younger sister, Jennifer, once the family moved from its small two-bedroom apartment in Kalihi to Washington Place.
Waihee, who is single, earned an associate degree in commercial arts from Honolulu Community College in 1993. As an artist, he favors the neatness of graphite pens over charcoal to draw and acrylics over oils for paintings. He hasn't shown his work publicly or sold any of it, but may display some at his OHA office.
Waihee spent most of the 1990s employed at Keo's in Waikiki. He worked his way up from busboy, host and food runner to bar manager, where he earns $16,000 a year. His salary doubles as a trustee.
Although he considered an earlier run for OHA, Waihee didn't join the political fray until he learned non-Hawaiians had filed as OHA candidates after a U.S. District Court ruling opened the contest to people of any ethnicity.
"This last election, there's all this kind of stuff that was happening in the courts, Rice vs. Cayetano -- all of those things made me feel strong about running," he said.
"Then, when they had it on the news that Ken Conklin ran, I was like, 'Oh man,' that was like the last straw already. 'I'm going to go down and file.' "
On election night, Waihee won the third and final seat for the special at-large OHA race, upsetting A. Frenchy DeSoto and Mililani Trask, whose resignations last September along with the rest of the board created this year's unprecedented OHA election.
Waihee said name recognition helped because people wanted to vote for new, young candidates, and he was the most recognizable. He believes most knew they were voting for him and not his father.
Mossman, who has known Waihee for 10 years, said his friend will be a good trustee because he strikes a balance on the factious board as one who will listen, but not be afraid to challenge views. He praised his friend's low-key personality and non-confrontational style.
Len Yoshihara, a Keo's waiter and Waihee's campaign manager, said he wasn't interested in politics and never voted until Waihee became a candidate. His friend will bring positive, youthful energy to a board set in its ways, he said.
"John is a very personable, humble, outgoing person," Yoshihara said. "When you first look at him and talk to him, he seems like the shy kind of guy. But if you get him going on a subject -- it doesn't really have to be politics, but with anything -- you'll totally see a different person, somebody that you didn't expect at first by looks and appearance."
Waihee knows there's a conflict of interest with his father's law firm, Verner Liipfert, because it is under contract by OHA to represent the agency in the Rice case. The senior Waihee has offered not to keep the contract, his son said.
Meanwhile, Waihee already has his sights on the 2002 election. During the next two years, he hopes to attract more young people into local politics and wants to meet with young Democrats like state Rep. Brian Schatz (D, Makiki) to see how they can get their generation involved.
"When my dad was my age, there was a whole bunch of guys like him and they all got into politics and they made a difference," Waihee said.
"That was 20 years ago. And only until recently has there been anybody from my age ... but it's not a big thing like it was when it happened in 1978."
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
State Office of Elections
