On Politics
BY RICHARD BORRECA
Both parties covet vote
of Filipino undecidedsJack Suwa, the Yoda-like former Big Island Democratic powerbroker, allowed a satisfied grin to spread across his face as he explained to me how the Demo-crats would keep control of the governorship this year.
It was back in May, that Suwa, who was a master of state and legislative politics for many of the Democratic Party's best years, easily dismissed the new Democratic candidates for governor. The way to win was by carefully balancing the ticket, Suwa said.
Mazie Hirono, the low-profile lieutenant governor, should run for governor and Sen. Ron Menor should move forward with his campaign for lieutenant governor, Suwa figured.
Forget about Rep. Ed Case or the former front-runner, Mayor Jeremy Harris, and don't be distracted by former Gov. John Waihee or banker Walter Dods, Suwa counseled. The Democrats needed to go with what has served them well in the past -- a coalition.
"Mazie wins with the AJA (voters of Japanese-American ancestry) and Menor brings the Filipinos along," Suwa said.
Suwa was not alone in thinking that Filipino-American voters would be crucial in this fall's election. Former gubernatorial candidate Harris was considered to have the strongest hold on the Filipino voting group, but after he left the race, saying he couldn't win, the estimated 67, 000 Filipino voters were up for grabs.
Republican candidate Linda Lingle says that while she didn't concede the Filipino vote in her unsuccessful bid for governor four years ago, it wasn't likely to go to her because Ben Cayetano, the first Filipino-American elected governor in any state was running for re-election.
"Four years ago, we weren't able to compete effectively because my opponent was Filipino and there is tremendous pride in the Filipino community," Lingle said last week.
Like Suwa, Lingle knew that with a reason to stay in the Democratic fold, Filipinos would remain with Hirono and Menor.
"It would have been easy, we would have been set," Suwa says. Menor, a private attorney and the son of former state Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Menor, would have been ample reason for Filipino voters to feel pride in the Democratic ticket. But Menor decided at the last minute to run for his Senate district seat again.
With Menor and Harris out, the Filipino vote is accessible again. A Star-Bulletin-KITV poll shows the undecided vote among Filipino voters as high as 41 percent, so clearly this is a group that can be won over.
Already Lingle has wooed Eddie Flores Jr., the president of L & L Drive Inn and the guiding force behind the construction of the Filipino Community Center. A joke is making the rounds that if Lingle wins, she will be the first governor with a chain of fast-food diners named after her.
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.
