On Politics
BY RICHARD BORRECA
After years of surviving as a Republican in the nation's most Democratic state, D.G. "Andy" Anderson is using his skills to stay alive as a dark horse Democratic candidate for governor. Anderson’s political alchemy
attracts old friends, foesIf there is a certain art to the deal, Anderson is putting on a first-rate show of how it is done.
The more unlikely the pairing, the more likely it is that Anderson had a hand in putting it together.
Few folks at the Capitol today were around when Anderson was a Republican state senator in the early 1980s. He managed to rescue his political buddy Democratic Sen. Dickie Wong, who was losing his grip on the Senate presidency. Anderson helped engineer a Democrat-Republican coalition that allowed Wong to keep his presidency and gave minority Republicans the chairmanship of several committees.
That ability to grab a win-win outcome when the Democrats are happily trampling all over the Republicans is an Anderson specialty that started when he ran for mayor against Frank Fasi in the 1970s.
Always a maverick Democrat, Fasi was opposed by Democratic leader Gov. John A. Burns. The Democrats seized on Anderson's GOP campaign for mayor and the "Democrats for Anderson" was born.
That first coalition didn't get Anderson the keys to city hall, but it did make him some friends that 30 years later are proving beneficial.
For instance, Walter Heen, former Democratic Party chairman and former state and federal judge, was on the Honolulu City Council when Fasi was running against Anderson.
Heen is now helping with Anderson's campaign and so is Anderson's old Senate pal, Dickie Wong.
Heen and Wong? That's another odd couple, with Heen, one of the co-authors of "Broken Trust," the 1997 ground-breaking essay published in the Star-Bulletin that triggered the eventual break-up of the Bishop Estate Board of Trustees that had been headed by Wong.
"They are not the best of friends, but we are finding common ground -- that kind of consensus building," Anderson says of the pair.
"Walter was on the blue-ribbon committee and Dickie was the victim, but they put aside their own political issues because they are concerned about this state.
"I think it is healthy," Anderson said.
For his part, Heen recalls a mural in a long-gone Fort Street coffee shop inscribed with the phrase:
"As you travel on through life, brother, whatever be your goal, keep your eye on the donut, and not upon the hole."
"The donut, in this case, is the governorship," says Heen, who calls Wong "very helpful."
Anderson also has started an e-mail correspondence with Gov. Ben Cayetano, with whom he served in the Senate. Then, Cayetano always grumbled about the Democrat-GOP coalition. Now, Cayetano says if Anderson can convince voters he is a true Democrat and wins the nomination, he will campaign hard for him.
Republicans today look at their former party chairman and wonder if his ability to survive in the margins of both parties will be enough to upset Republican Linda Lingle's quest for the governorship.
"It is interesting that the old-boy Democratic network is supporting him," Sen. Sam Slom, GOP Senate leader, says of Anderson.
Slom says today's Republican Party members will view Anderson as a turncoat and not vote for him.
For Anderson, the ultimate coalition will be stitching together enough Democrats' votes to win the primary election in September.
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.
