On Politics
BY RICHARD BORRECA
New kids on
the Capitol blockWho are those guys?" Robert Redford and Paul Newman keep asking as they are relentlessly tracked by a posse in the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Tentatively, but just as firmly as the Redford-Newman posse, a new bunch is moving into the state Capitol, and the Democrats who have always had the halls to themselves are wondering, "Who are those guys?"
That same question is asked by seasoned politicians puzzling through the appointments made by Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.
It was most clear when Bob Bunda, the Senate president and a 20-year legislative veteran, confessed he hadn't ever met Lingle's cabinet nominees. For politicians who operate with a handshake, never having any history with a person is actually worse than facing someone you know is against you.
Lingle herself appreciates that high-touch nature of politics and says she thinks she has some good relations in the Legislature already.
"I know Donna Kim (Senate Tourism Committee chairwoman) because I was on the Maui County Council when she was on the Honolulu council, and I think Brian Taniguchi's (Senate Ways and Means chairman) parents grew up on Maui," she said.
But for her appointees, there is little they have in common with many of the Capitol deni-zens. Her chief of staff, Bob Awana, is something of a known figure because he was at city hall with former Mayor Eileen Anderson, but that was 20 years ago.
Lingle's other key adviser, Randy Roth, a smart, detail-oriented, nationally known law professor, can grasp the issues readily, but no legislators can say what he is like over a beer.
That may not be much of a failing. Legislators today can say they deal from the top of their own deck, but soon they will find that as governor, Lingle will be shuffling.
The administration being assembled bears no obvious relationship to any that came before it. Previous administrations could track their lineage through the powerful labor unions such as the ILWU and the Hawaii Government Employees Association. Other Democratic governors would pay some homage to their predecessors by leaving at least part of the past political machine intact.
The Lingle administration, however, doesn't need to worry about protecting past governors. In fact, as Lingle said last week, the new directors will have an easier time because they don't have to defend past administration practices.
What they will have to defend, of course, is a Republican, pro-business agenda in a Democratic state, and that is still going to be Lingle's biggest challenge.
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.
