On Politics
By Richard Borreca
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Now we can get down to business. Hirono’s mayoral bid signals
a complex raceWith Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono's anticipated announcement that she was bailing out of the governor's race in favor of the race for mayor of Honolulu, most of the major "who runs for what" questions have been answered.
The big campaign is still for governor of Hawaii. Hirono's reluctance will not temper the Democratic primary election, if D.G. "Andy" Anderson follows through and runs.
With public opinion polls indicating Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris is the governor's race front-runner, Anderson and Rep. Ed Case will have to step up the attack.
Anderson, former Republican state senator, candidate for governor and party chairman, has done this all before. He hasn't won, but he has spent years going up against Democratic ticket-leaders, so he knows the issues and all the moves.
He also worked as Harris' boss when he was Honolulu managing director and Harris had just been hired after losing the race for mayor of Kauai.
Case is the Democratic maverick in the group, who has gotten attention for his calls for government and public union reform.
Anderson and Case will clearly be running against Harris and in Hawaii's hothouse political environment, it will be difficult for Harris to ignore the attacks.
So far, the mayor has relied on a steady barrage of media events to keep his profile both high and noncontroversial. If Harris adopts a front-runner strategy, he will try to shift the race forward to a campaign against the probable Republican candidate, Linda Lingle.
Harris today enjoys the twin strengths of incumbency, with its ability to command hundreds of city hall appointees to show up to help with Waikiki brunches and Aloha stadium tailgate canvassing, and the power to raise big bucks.
This week, Harris is planning a major fund-raiser that pegs tables at $15,000 and $20,000 apiece.
The problem for the Democrats is not money, but troops. They lack the grassroots support that Govs. Cayetano and Waihee say is essential to a statewide campaign.
While all three candidates have some popular appeal, none have the broad grassroots support that has been able to unify the Democrats after a bruising primary.
Lingle has been keeping a steady round of small meetings and building relationships as she encourages new Republicans to either run for the Legislature or join a campaign to help a Republican.
Democrats in the race for governor, however, are a block of solid granite compared to the sliding factions, split fissures and swaying alliances in the race for mayor.
The Hirono mayoral bid adds another layer of twisted loyalties to the race. Last year Mufi Hannemann won the support of the Hawaii Government Employees Association in the race for mayor. But the HGEA has supported Hirono and she has been the first to stand up for the public employee unions. So who should the HGEA back in this race for mayor?
If the union abandons Hannemann for Hirono, what will that do to the union's credibility and the rank and file inclination to follow?
Another undercurrent to the race for mayor is the silent backing of big-time Democrats. Councilman Duke Bainum has enjoyed a lot of support from Harris' supporters while Hirono received a congratulation from U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye as soon as she moved her sights from governor to mayor. While stopping short of an outright endorsement, the reaction compares interestingly to the other candidates.
Inouye didn't move a fax within minutes of Hannemann, Bainum or Keith Kaneshiro's announcements.
The final bit of uncertainty in this election season is the next legislative session. The state is in serious economic trouble and there will be a call for action by the Legislature.
Given the inability of the Legislature to capture the public's imagination with any bold new programs to spur the economy during the special session, there is a good chance they will remain stalled during the regular session in 2002.
Inaction on the part of the Legislature, however, will hand the Republicans an easy issue to capitalize on during the next election.
Fasten your seat belts, we are in for a wild ride.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com.
