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On Politics Richard Borreca |
Lingle and Inouye
loosen their locked hornsAs much as U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye is Hawaii's Mr. Democrat, Governor Lingle is Ms. Republican -- and never shall the twain meet.
That would be the easy assumption, but the working reality is much more complex.
The two have some history together, but today they are rewriting it.
To Lingle's mind, Inouye fired the first shot back in 1998 when, during the closing days of the gubernatorial campaign, Inouye aired a commercial saying he wanted to vote for a "family man" he could trust, like Ben Cayetano.
Lingle figured Inouye was getting double duty out of the ad, both helping a Democrat and insinuating that the Republican was a single woman who had no family and was somehow not trustworthy.
STAR-BULLETIN
Hawaii's senior Democrat, Sen. Dan Inouye, and the state's top Republican, Gov. Linda Lingle, teamed up this week on education and military initiatives. They shared a joke last February after Lingle testified before Inouye's Indian Affairs committee in Washington.
Inouye denied all those implications, but Lingle continued to blast him.
Other Republicans also were capable of nasty attacks on the senior senator from Hawaii.
Inouye suffered his most bruising campaign in 1992, when his GOP opponent, Rick Reed, ran a commercial that included a surreptitiously taped interview with Inouye's hairdresser, who said Inouye had sexually harassed her. Inouye denied it, the hairdresser, Lenore Kwock, refused to press the case and no charges were ever filed, but Inouye was held to his lowest margin of victory at 57 percent.
After surviving 44 years in Congress, Inouye has mastered the art of bipartisan cooperation and operates with ease on both sides of the aisle. A nice piece of cooperation started last year when Inouye relinquished a hold on the confirmation of Hawaii Republican attorney Richard Clifton to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Later, Lingle gave a nod to Inouye's former candidate for the same post, local Democratic attorney James Duffy, whom she nominated for the state Supreme Court.
Now, however, Lingle and Inouye appear to be exploring a productive bipartisan relationship. This week they appeared together to support Inouye's 3R school repair program.
They are combining their efforts on something that will reshape a portion of Oahu if they can pull it off: Homeporting an aircraft carrier battle group at Pearl Harbor.
Right off the bat it would be an influx of at least 5,000 new residents in town, plus workers to service the ships, more teachers for the families' children, more homes for the sailors and more construction activity.
Inouye has tried before to get one of the Navy's 12 nuclear-powered carriers based here, but has been unable to persuade the Pentagon. Now, even though Inouye is a Democrat in a GOP-controlled Congress, his relationship with the Republicans on the military committee continues to shine.
The relationship can only be buttressed by having a new Republican governor loaning her own lobbying skills to the deal.
It is not a relationship that will last into the next election cycle, but today Hawaii is getting a remarkable return on its investment in a bipartisan marriage.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
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.
