Iraqi vote will embarrass
Hawaii turnout

Critics of a January democratic election in Iraq say it would be a farce because terrorist activities and attacks by armed insurgents would keep a lot of Iraqis from voting. Hah.

Even under those harsh conditions, Iraq would have a better voter turnout than Hawaii, where only 40 percent of eligible voters bother to get off their rumps and take part in elections. Considering the relative scarcity of car bombs, mortar attacks and beheadings in Hawaii, it's surprising that more residents don't avail themselves of the democratic process. At least most Iraqis WANT to vote, despite the fact they might get killed in the process.

Part of the reason Hawaii residents might not be keen on voting is that they feel their vote doesn't make any difference. That's probably because one political party has been in control so long they feel their individual vote has no value.

That's not true. We are currently undergoing a sea change in Hawaii politics where not only has the Republican Party come out of its election-year suicidal psychoses, but Democrats have about had it with entrenched political operatives who consider their constituents a nuisance to be appeased during the campaign season and then forgotten.

QUITE instructive on this point were state Sen. Cal Kawamoto's remarks about his primary election loss to the Star-Bulletin's Richard Borreca.

"Traffic Cam Cal" had the audacity to blame his loss on "constant badgering by the newspapers" and "negative campaigning" by his opponent. He suffers from apparent self-induced amnesia concerning his attempt to bring back the much-hated Tali-van traffic enforcement program, his efforts to ban the long cultural tradition of fireworks, violating campaign spending laws and, oh yeah, trying to use his position as state senator to kill the very Campaign Spending Commission investigating him.

Dr. Phil could have a long, though I suspect ultimately futile, session on mental derangement with this guy.

The fact is, Kawamoto's haughty (some would say slimy) disregard for his constituents -- and Hawaii voters in general -- was an insult bordering on abuse, heightened by his whining about being a victim of unfair news coverage.

That he considered his primary election loss "a surprise" could be viewed as an indictment of Hawaii politics. But the optimist in me (it's a small, fragile creature) views it as proof that residents, at least the ones willing to go to the trouble of dragging their butts to the election booths, are beginning to see corrupt, puffed up, out-of-touch megalomaniacs for what they are.

I say that even though Maui Rep. Joe Souki -- a "Cal Clone" whose deaf ear to voters' wishes is more refined than Kawamoto's -- managed to run unopposed in the primary. Perhaps by the general election residents will realize that here, unlike in Iraq, you don't need a division of infantry to help you to the polls.