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Changing Hawaii
THE governor has a lot to learn about dealing with the media. But because I have a genuine fondness for the feisty and often fulminating fellow, I offer a bit of advice on how to outwit the daily press. Cover-ups pique
interest of pressUse reverse psychology by giving journalists too much information. Honest, it really works.
For example, take the controversy on Cayetano's trip to the Bahamas last month. It all started when Star-Bulletin reporter Richard Borreca asked Kim Murakawa, the governor's press secretary, for an interview with the big guy.
She said he would be unavailable for several days.
Is he out of town, Borreca asked?
Yes, Murakawa responded.
Oh? So where did he go, our tenacious and ever-nosy reporter inquired.
Here the stories markedly diverge. Murakawa says she answered, "I'll call you back," then scurried to confer with the governor's chief of staff and communications director.
Borreca, on the other hand, clearly remembers Murakawa stating, "They didn't tell me where he went."
Whatever the case, it was all much too secretive -- which naturally piqued Borreca's curiosity. When answers aren't forthcoming from a news source, the antennas of an investigative journalist go up like "My Favorite Martian."
Later, our Capitol bureau learned that Cayetano had gone to Sun International's Atlantis Resort and Casino at Paradise Island in the Bahamas, presumably to see the world's biggest salt-water aquarium.
He didn't go alone, though. Cayetano was accompanied by two local businessmen whom the governor's staff refused to identify because they had requested anonymity.
Very hush-hush, but why? The answers came soon enough.
At a press conference yesterday in the governor's ceremonial office, reporters peppered Cayetano with queries about the Bahamas caper. They were polite but obviously perturbed.
Why weren't they given more details about the trip last month, when they had originally asked about it?
Was it mere coincidence or a nefarious plan that his two unidentified travel mates turned out to be employed by Sun International, which now wants to bring legalized gambling to a site in West Oahu?
THE governor's mistake, you see, was that he wasn't totally forthcoming and overly generous with information from the start. He should have readily volunteered details, which would have then removed any patina of a cover-up.
Now imagine if Cayetano had called a press conference before catching his plane and said: "OK, everybody, listen up. I'm going to the Bahamas with my best friend and former campaign coordinator Charles Toguchi, and PR guy Jim Boersma, who both work for Sun International. We're going to stay at Sun's Atlantis resort, but the company's not paying my air fare or room, so I'll remain totally objective.
"Look. We're going over to see the resort, especially its whopping big aquarium, since I want to build a whopping big aquarium in Honolulu, too. But I'm also going to eyeball its casino operations since Sun wants to build an $800 million resort and casino in West Oahu.
"A tax on the gambling revenues would fund high-school scholarships to UH, and you know how hot I am on that. But this isn't a done deal, folks. In fact, I still don't like the premise of widespread legalized gambling in Hawaii. That's it. Gotta run. Any questions?"
There wouldn't have been many.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.