Talk Story
Leadership by collaboration,
that’s Mazie Hirono’s styleSHE IS different from the current governor, Mazie Hirono says: "The governor has pretty much a top-down leadership style. There's not a lot of give and take." Meanwhile, she says, primary opponent Ed Case is described as "dictatorial, autocratic, hard headed, my way or no way."
Hirono, on the other hand, says she is a collaborator. "Anybody can come up with a plan," she says, but success is in the implementation. "It's about relationships and getting the right people and groups together."
She responds to questions about other issues with "I would support that" or "I would push for that," but her campaign for governor is focused on two main issues: the economy and education. She proposes an economic expansion council and an audit of the $1.4 billion the state spends on education.
UNLIKE opponents Case and Linda Lingle, Hirono doesn't support breaking up the statewide single school system into seven new bureaucracies. Like Andy Anderson, she does favor an appointed Board of Education "so the line of accountability to the governor is there."
If necessary, she would cut programs not directly aimed at helping students to learn. She'd concentrate on recruiting, training and retaining qualified teachers and she's proud of the $5 million Pre-Plus program she championed as lieutenant governor and of a package of education bills she worked with a group to develop, all of which passed.
Pre-Plus is a Hirono-style partnership involving the state, the Good Beginnings Alliance, Kamehameha Schools, Head Start and other organizations to prepare needy 3- and 4-year-olds for kindergarten.
Her Economic Expansion Council would involve "aloha teams" of "decision makers who know how to implement things." Members would include "business people and government people who would then target specific companies for growth in Hawaii or to encourage them to come to Hawaii.
"That's the kind of focus, implementation, that I want ... but everyone has to leave their self-interest outside the door."
If that sounds idealistic in a state where many public-private "collaborations" are the subject of recent grand jury investigations and criminal trials, Hirono disagrees.
"Other places can have a business community make this kind of commitment, and I don't see why we can't. I believe that we can, because to think otherwise ... we're just going to sit here being victimized and we're just going to cut things. That's not where I'm going," she says.
ARE REGULATIONS strangling new businesses? "Of course," Hirono says. "There the business community actually has to step up to the plate. I've had bit of experience in that area with my Slice Waste And Tape (program).
"It's a lot easier to criticize than to actually step forward and say we're going to work with you and identify actual regulations that we think don't make sense. The real-estate industry stepped forward and worked with me. They got rid of regulations. They changed some statutes. They are happy with the changes," she said.
Hirono says that in many cases businesses now complain about regulations that they actually originated. "It's clear that regulatory review has to be an ongoing thing and we now have a small-business regulatory review group that reviews all new regulations. I support that."
SHE IS a labor backer who is "not interested in hurting the businesses." There is "no question that I support the working people of the state," she says. At the same time, "I happen to be independent. My reputation is to be fair."
"Mine is a results-oriented style," she says, "where I use collaboration as a tool. I'm not suddenly being collaborative because I'm running for governor."
She hopes you'll support that.
John Flanagan is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
He can be reached at: jflanagan@starbulletin.com.