Capitol View
A FEW WEEKS ago two boxes arrived on my desk. They were the product of about four years of subtle negotiations between Bud Smyser and me. Smyser always did
his best for Hawaii"You know, I have a lot of files, you can borrow them if you want," he once said many years ago.
He would mention the files periodically over the years, but when I actually asked about them, the answers grew vague.
Much of a political reporter's work is bearing witness, knowing what is important and even historic and then being there to record it.
Those files were Bud's own tally sheet, the stories he knew were part of Hawaii's history, the flashes that illuminate our past.
Bud Smyser, who died on Monday morning, was always the consummate journalist. Norman Mailer once said the sign of a true reporter is someone who can sit down at a bar and tell you five good stories.
Bud could do that with ease. He would tell you a mildly risqué tale from his service in the Navy during World War II; he would weave the huge eruption of Kilauea and the 1959 victory for statehood into a story worthy of James Michener; and he could toss off a series of illuminating anecdotes about politicians from the late Gov. John A. Burns to U.S. Representative Patsy T. Mink with asides on Anna Kahanamoku and former U.S. Senator Hiram L. Fong thrown into the mix.
For 55 years, Bud worked at the Star-Bulletin as reporter, city editor, managing editor, editor in chief and editorial page editor, all the while weaving himself into the texture of Hawaii.
Along with Wallace Rider Farrington, publisher, and Riley Allen, editor, Smyser formed a public opinion triumvirate ready to crusade for statehood for Hawaii.
Bud called the vote for statehood the first great civil rights victory of the modern U.S. Congress. In his files, Bud kept the report from former Star-Bulletin reporter Cornelius Downs describing the celebration at Democratic Party headquarters after Hawaii voted for statehood.
"The real intense, deep, holy joy was Statehood. After 50 years! And the crowd lingered on and on and on, into the wee hours, savoring the victory...after the great and glorious battle," Downs wrote.
Hawaii's people would not be equal until we could vote and share equally as a state.
Bud's determination was matched by his patience and perseverance. More than once, I heard politicians grumble that only Bud Smyser cared about an issue.
But, when the young Democrats led by John Waihee and David Hagino started thinking about the 1978 Constitutional Convention, one of the principal organizing reasons for their politically defining "Palaka Power" paper, was to object to Smyser's call for a unicameral legislature.
Today I look at Bud Smyser's files as signposts from Hawaii's last 55 years, but the real guide I use is the one Bud left when he described how he wrote editorials for this newspaper.
"Do what is right for Hawaii, do the best for Hawaii."
Richard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics.
He can be reached by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com