Political contracts Politicians give government contracts to their friends, not their enemies, and nobody has been able to stop it, says Frank Fasi, who is running for mayor of Honolulu.
often go to friends,
Fasi says
Mayoral candidates at a forum
debate ways to solve the problemBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comSpeaking before the annual Small Business Hawaii conference, Fasi said that is the way he did business when he was mayor and how he thinks every other politician does business.
Fasi served as mayor of Honolulu for 22 years. He is seeking the office again if Mayor Jeremy Harris resigns from office to run for governor.
"The fact of the matter is, if you have two contractors both eligible to do the job and do it right, and one contractor is my friend and supporter and the other contractor who supports my opponent, now who in hell do you think I am going to give my job to?" Fasi said, responding to a question on campaign donations.
"From the president on down, anybody who does business with government (does it). If you don't think so, you are naive," he said.
Fasi, who provoked controversy more than 20 years ago when he said it was common knowledge that politicians "reward their friends and punish their enemies," said yesterday that he could not think of a realistic way to reform the system.
"I would like to see the magic answer where contracts are given to people who can do the job properly with no consideration of who they support," Fasi said.
Keith Kaneshiro, former city prosecutor, who is running for mayor, said the solution was to elect people who are honest.
"You elect someone who has integrity and follows the law, you won't have this problem. If the practice is illegal, I don't intend to continue the practice," Kaneshiro said.
Former City Councilman Mufi Hannemann said he agreed with Kaneshiro.
Although all the major candidates for mayor were invited to attend, potential candidates Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and City Councilman Duke Bainum did not show up.