Case starts new job
with trip to Washington

He is optimistic after meeting
with U.S. House leadership

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By Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com

If you happened to call the 2nd Congressional District office in Honolulu yesterday, the person on the other end picking up the phone may have been the district's representative himself, Ed Case.

Case spent some time at that office yesterday after returning from Washington, D.C., where he met with U.S. House leadership, made arrangements to reopen both his Honolulu and Washington offices and prepared things for whomever is elected Jan. 4 to serve in the 108th Congress for the next two years.

"It was a first-class trip, excellent. I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish and more. It was very productive," Case said.

Case was elected last weekend to serve the remaining weeks of the late U.S. Patsy Mink's current term. Mink died Sept. 28.

The day before the November election, the House rules called for Mink's staff to be terminated and her offices closed.

Case made a campaign promise to retain any member of Mink's staff who wanted to stay on until the Jan. 4 election.

Out of the 14 members of Mink's staff, 10 have decided to stay on to work for him until a successor is picked. "We have sufficient staff between Honolulu and D.C. to handle what needs to be handled in the next four weeks."

He said it was with "tremendous awe" that he was back in the halls of Congress where he served as an aide in the 1970s.

Case said Mink was well known and respected in the House, and "I think there was a real sense still of loss and a sense of curiosity perhaps as to who had replaced her, who had taken her place."

He said he met with the incoming House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who attended Mink's memorial service in October, and incoming House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). After the morning in Honolulu, Case was back campaigning, flying to Kauai.

Case said he plans to continue telling voters about the advantages of winning the special election even though some have questioned whether being elected now will give him any seniority advantage.

"First of all, there is some advantage from having served in the 107th Congress. Exactly how that is going to translate under the rules of the House is not yet certain, and the reason is because this is such a unique situation," Case said.

Forty-four candidates are running in the Jan. 4 election.