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On Politics Richard Borreca |
Better check those
political connectionsCorky Trinidad, the Star-Bulletin's brilliant cartoonist, drew my favorite political cartoon years ago. It depicts five defeated politicians sitting along a bar commiserating after losing their elections.
"I'll tell you why I lost -- it was the @*#!! machine, that's why! The machine called out its vote," one fellow says.
"There's no way you can change the machine vote," another adds.
"I lost 'cause the machine did not come through with the votes," a third pol complains.
"True, true. I lost because of the rumor that I was the machine candidate," says another.
"@#$%!! machine! So why can't I be the machine candidate?" the last hapless candidate says dejectedly.
Hawaii's political equation used to be easy to calculate -- all you had to do was measure the distance between the candidate or politician and the local political machine to figure out your candidate's possible success. The shortest distance between a candidate and the machine equaled the largest number of votes.
Before last year's election, the political machine was a mix of Democratic politicians, union leaders, developers, contractors and one or two bankers.
But, as the 2002 edition of the Almanac of American Politics points out, " Hawaii (is) no longer able to afford the expensive and intrusive governmental apparatus constructed by the Democrats who have controlled state government since 1962."
The almanac, published by the National Journal, adds that "the culture created by one-party control and a large state apparatus seems to be characterized in a phrase of (former Gov.) Cayetano's, 'You've got to support your friends and you have to punish your enemies.'"
So where is the machine today?
Linda Lingle, the GOP governor, answers that question for the Senate's Republican leader, Fred Hemmings, who says, "We aren't talking about a machine anymore because the head of the machine has been chopped off." With a Republican running the state, Democrats find it difficult to get the same edge they once enjoyed.
Just as football coaches will describe an upcoming season with few likely wins, local Democrats now candidly acknowledge they are in "a rebuilding period." Hawaii's political machine operated in a Democratic garden, so it is not likely that public-employee unions, developers and bankers will find it easy or comfortable under Lingle's GOP umbrella.
At the same time, Lingle says she is excited about the idea of competition between the political parties. At last week's state GOP convention, Lingle and other party leaders repeatedly stressed that the GOP goal was a two-party system.
If Lingle raises the Republican Party to a level that actually makes Hawaii a two-party state, then the "check engine" light just came on for Hawaii's political machine.
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.