Public unions In a year when the state Democratic Party needs all the help it can get, its natural allies, the public employee unions, appear uninterested at best and antagonistic at worst.
waffle on Dems
Government labor organizations
adopt a hands-off approach
in some key state racesBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com"Our members are very unhappy," says Russell Okata, the veteran leader of the state's biggest union, the Hawaii Government Employees Association.
Already, the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly have decided to take a hands-off approach in the primary election and withhold their support for any gubernatorial candidate until the general election.
The HGEA has told members to vote for either Democrats Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono or D.G. "Andy" Anderson and to stay away from Democratic Rep. Ed Case, whom they consider to be unfriendly to labor.
The United Public Workers have given an early endorsement to Anderson, but with little public support.
The only other clear endorsement from a public employee union is the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers' endorsement of Republican Linda Lingle, which is already being used in a television commercial by the candidate.
Labor's distance from Democrats is not confined to just the gubernatorial candidates, it extends to the legislative races as well.
For instance, the HGEA, which also usually endorses incumbent Democrats, stayed out of a number of races, most notably the state senators grouped with Waianae Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, who has emerged as one of the more independent, high-profile Democrats in the Legislature.
Hanabusa led the fight against the administration photo van traffic enforcement program and for a comprehensive campaign spending reform package, but infuriated unions with her support of civil service and health fund reforms.
The HGEA also opposed two of Hanabusa's allies.
HGEA picked Sen. Lorraine Inouye over David Matsuura in a heated Democratic primary battle in Hilo. Matsuura is a Hanabusa ally. The union also picked Kauai County Councilman Gary Hooser over incumbent Democratic Sen. Jonathan Chun.
"It came out as expected," Hanabusa said, adding that the HGEA did not endorse her or her group four years ago. "Maybe they feel they can control those members (that were endorsed by the HGEA)."
Okata, HGEA executive director, responded that the endorsements show the union was "very unhappy with her leadership."
Okata, a veteran of two decades of governor's races, says the HGEA is at a crossroads. "We have 46,695 members, and we are part of the community and community issues are our issue, and we want to see the Legislature working with labor."
Okata said health fund changes, championed by Hanabusa as a government cost-cutting measure, would jeopardize union and retirees' health care benefits.
Fellow union leader John Radcliffe, associate director of UHPA, the only union to endorse Lingle four years ago, says both labor and politicians need to "look at some better communications."
Radcliffe warns legislators not to become too independent of union support. For instance, Hanabusa, who is a labor lawyer and is not getting HGEA support in the primary, might be "vulnerable to reasonable argument from organizations that have an interest in the Legislature."
Groups that traditionally have a interest in the Legislature, such as unions and businesses, Radcliffe says, feel alienated from the Democrat-controlled Legislature this year after it sponsored laws to regulate the price of gasoline and control medical insurance and prescription drug costs.
"We have a Legislature that managed to have business and labor object to it," Radcliffe said.