COURTESY OF HIRONO CAMPAIGN Mazie Hirono, flanked by her supporters, filed papers yesterday to run for governor as a Democratic candidate.

Hirono officially joins
the race for governor

She dropped out of the race last
year but rejoined after
Harris quit his campaign

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By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono formally joined the race for governor in the Democratic primary election yesterday, promising a grassroots campaign.

Hirono, 54, filed her campaign papers before about two dozen supporters in her state Capitol office.

Democrat Hirono had announced for governor last year, only to get out of the race to run for mayor, saying it was too difficult to raise enough money to wage a successful campaign.

But she hopped back into the race for governor after Mayor Jeremy Harris, the leading Democrat, left the gubernatorial race, saying he was 22 percentage points behind the Republican Linda Lingle.

Hirono promised an administration of inclusion and not confrontation, if elected governor. She said that unlike Gov. Ben Cayetano, she would try to bring all parties to the table and "not be a top-down manager."

"We clearly have a different leadership style; my leadership style is collaborative," Hirono said.

Hirono is a former private attorney and state legislator. She served 14 years in the state House, representing the McCully-Moiliili area before winning two terms as lieutenant governor with Cayetano.

Asked yesterday about setting up a state lottery with the proceeds going to education, a suggestion made by D.G. "Andy" Anderson, another Democratic candidate for governor, Hirono said she was generally opposed to it.

"I have been against it. I voted against the gambling bills when I was in the Legislature," she said.

But she stopped short of ruling it out completely.

"I will continue to be against, unless somebody comes over here and tells me that the social problems that I say will come with gambling should be set aside," Hirono said.

The leading GOP candidate for governor, Linda Lingle, has said she is completely opposed to a lottery.

"All it would do is pull large amounts of money out of the community and it sends the wrong message to the community," Lingle said. "I didn't get into government service to encourage people to gamble."

Lingle said the issue was being promoted by Anderson as "an obvious gimmick to grab attention for an obviously failing campaign."

Also opposing a lottery is Rep. Ed Case, who is also running for governor in the Democratic primary.