Frank F. Fasi, a feisty, populist visionary with a flair for drama, shaped Honolulu as its longest-serving mayor and leaves local politics a shade less colorful with his death. He was 89.

His slogan was “;Fasi gets it done,”; and while some questioned his tactics, the impact he left on this city was extraordinary, from creating TheBus to the municipal greenbelt to neighborhood boards across the island.

“;Frank Fasi was one of a kind,”; said U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye. “;Frank always fought passionately for what he believed was right. ... Whether you were for or against Frank Fasi, one thing you could not do was ignore him.”;

Fasi served as mayor for 22 years from his election in 1968 to 1994, a stretch broken only by what he called a “;forced sabbatical”; after voters turned him out for a term from 1980-84. He relished running the city, but the combative former Marine always wanted more.

He mounted five unsuccessful quests for governor from 1974 to 1998. After one gubernatorial loss, Fasi was asked what he would run for next, and the ever-colorful politician reminded reporters, “;The pope is an elected office.”;

  Remembering Fasi's Contributions

 

Perhaps he's most remembered for breaking a bus strike in 1970 by buying new buses and setting up “;the Bus”; as a contracted service.

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The tireless campaigner's last political bid came in 2004, when he tried unsuccessfully to regain the mayor's seat.

Fasi died peacefully at his Makiki home Wednesday night with Joyce, his wife of 51 years, and children by his side.

“;The man affectionately known by many in Hawaii simply as 'the Mayor' truly loved this city of Honolulu and devoted much of his life in trying to improve it,”; the Fasi family said in a statement. “;A tireless champion for the 'little guy,' he was particularly interested in helping those who could not help themselves.”;

Fasi was bold, brash and mischievous. As Frank Sinatra would say, he did it his way.

When he did not like how the political parties treated him, he made up his own. He ran as a Democrat, then as a Republican, then formed the Best Party.

Politics was always a spectacle with Fasi. “;Hizzoner”; cast himself as the sole force battling the establishment on behalf of the everyday person. He sparred with Honolulu's two daily newspapers to further his political aims, at one point banning their reporters from his press conferences until a federal judge stepped in and made him stop.

Helen G. Chapin in her “;Shaping History: The Role of Newspapers in Hawaii”; wrote of Fasi's “;masterful use of the press to gain and solidify his influence with the public.”;

In a half-century of campaigning, Fasi lost more often than he won, but he emphasized the successes and his lasting impact on Honolulu's civic, cultural and political life is undeniable.

“;He always knew where he wanted to go and what he wanted to do,”; said Walter Heen, City Council chairman when Fasi was first elected mayor and now an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee. “;Even when you disagreed with him, you had to admit he had a certain panache.”;

Asked why he thought Fasi kept on running, Heen said, “;Frank had an ego as big as Diamond Head, and he had to feed it. ... He was convinced he knew what was best.”;

That independent streak helped Fasi create the city bus system in 1971 to replace the private Honolulu Rapid Transit when it was stalled by striking drivers. He and Corporation Counsel Paul Devens hopped an afternoon flight to Dallas to buy buses.

“;I remember drafting the legal contract on the flight and handing the contract on a yellow legal pad to the Dallas corporation counsel,”; Devens recalled. “;We managed to find 60 more buses, and when they arrived he drove one on the street off the pier and we fought the HRT all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won.

“;Whether it was the farmers market, public transportation, satellite city halls—underneath it all was that boldness and toughness, his idea of making it work with new ideas,”; Devens said.

When City Council members refused to give up their parking lot in favor of landscaping, Fasi jumped on a bulldozer and tore up the asphalt early one morning. He took great pleasure at the greening of the City Hall complex.

His administration wiped out blocks of Hotel Street parking for a civic green, later building an underground garage and topping it off with a child-care center.

In a Star-Bulletin interview years ago, Fasi listed his political heroes as Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy.

During his long career, Fasi was called ambitious, crafty, ruthless and an opportunist given to self-promotion. At the same time, he was lauded as a dedicated public servant, a tough and fearless fighter for “;the little guy.”;

Although he entered politics as a Democrat, he was not part of the local political establishment and championed projects with broad appeal. Fasi created satellite city halls and elected neighborhood boards. He gave children summer fun programs in city parks. Senior citizens got free bus passes courtesy of the city.

Fasi started the People's Open Markets to help farmers and others sell produce directly to consumers. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he focused on building affordable rental apartments. When it came time for re-election, the theme for his campaign was, “;Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”;

Fasi also perfected a political fundraising machine that pulled wads of cash from the construction industry and developers. A lightning rod for controversy, he was no stranger to scandal.

He and his former campaign treasurer Harry C.C. Chung were indicted on bribery charges in 1976 in connected with Kukui Plaza, a $50 million urban renewal project. But the case was dropped after the star witness, the developer, refused to testify.

BORN in HARTFORD, Conn., on Aug. 27, 1920, Frank Francis Fasi spent his childhood in poverty. As the son of Sicilian immigrants, he helped his father deliver ice. His childhood left him determined to fight injustice and prejudice, Fasi told the Star-Bulletin.

“;I haven't forgotten my roots,”; he said.

Young Fasi excelled in school, both as an athlete and a scholar. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford on a scholarship, majoring in history.

He came to Hawaii in 1944 as a Marine lieutenant, then resigned his commission after World War II. He said later he was disillusioned by racial prejudice he saw in the military, describing the officer corps as “;mainly white.”;

He married a Kauai woman—Florence Ohama, his first wife—and worked as a civilian with the Army Engineers before going into business for himself as a surplus materials dealer. The Frank F. Fasi Supply Co., which also offered general contracting and held valuable Kalihi land, was the foundation of Fasi's personal finances.

He joined the Democratic Party of Hawaii in 1948 and began his long and tumultuous career in Hawaii politics two years later. He lost as a candidate for the Constitutional Convention and, also in 1950, in a bid for the territorial House of Representatives.

After a run-in with the city over permit violations, he decided to take his battle directly into Honolulu Hale. By then a Democratic national committeeman, he launched a campaign against Democratic Mayor John Wilson. He lost in the 1952 primary, but in the 1954 mayoral primary, Fasi beat Wilson—only to be beaten by Republican Neal Blaisdell.

Fasi's challenge to Wilson alienated him from Gov. John Burns, a close friend of Wilson's, and left the Connecticut native on the outside of the Democratic Party establishment. Burns passed that tightly knit political organization to his successor, George Ariyoshi, and Fasi was destined to remain an outsider.

The young politician made a third bid for mayor in 1956 but withdrew from the race due to his wife's illness. He and the mother of five of his children were divorced in 1957.

Fasi married the former Joyce Kono in 1958, the same year he won a seat in the territorial Senate. There were three more defeats—in tries for the U.S. Senate, mayoralty and U.S. House—before 1964, when Fasi won the City Council seat that provided the springboard for his successful leap into the third-floor mayor's office in 1968.

He dominated city politics from 1968 to 1996 with the exception of Eileen Anderson's term from 1980 to 1984. Fasi was incensed when the Democratic Party powers fielded Anderson, a close Ariyoshi ally, against him after he had held the reins for three terms. It was the final straw in a long series of rebuffs.

The longtime Democrat switched parties to become a Republican in 1984, allowing him to skip a costly primary race. Fasi later bolted from the GOP to launch a third-party bid for governor in 1994 after Republican leaders favored former U.S. Rep. Patricia Saiki as their nominee. For a 1998 primary run against Linda Lingle for governor, he was again a Republican.

“;It's all black and white with Frank,”; recalled his former managing director D.G. “;Andy”; Anderson in 2000. “;If you are supporting him, then you are his friend. If you aren't supporting him, then you are his enemy.”;

“;You either love Frank or you hate Frank. I still like Frank. It's just we don't speak to each other anymore,”; Anderson said.

Fasi was a master of symbolism, adorning official city signs with his trademark yellow “;shaka”; until the Council put a stop to it. At one point he affected a white cowboy hat and gave out “;good guy”; awards. His most loyal companion at City Hall was his springer spaniel Gino, the “;first dog.”;

Fasi's flamboyant and combative style mellowed in his later years. In 2006 he attended the official renaming of Honolulu's municipal building as the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building and Civic Center. A special exemption was passed to allow it to be named in honor of a living person.

In remarks to the crowd, the white-haired Fasi summed up his efforts as mayor: “;He served you, he saved you money and he did the job the way it was supposed to be done.”;

As for how he was faring in retirement, he declared, “;I'm sharp upstairs, but the extremities are a little weaker.”;

Fasi recently fell at his home, and as his health began to fail, his family gathered with him. Along with wife Joyce, he is survived by their children—Charles, Frank Jr., Gina, David, Gioia Fasi Arrillaga and Salvador—as well as his children from his first marriage: Toni, Kathleen, Carl, Paul and Francesca Brittain. Funeral arrangements are pending.