Former GOP leader joins Hannemann campaign

Posted September 4, 2010 by David Shapiro
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(Note: This was originally posted yesterday, but I somehow managed to delete it.)

Word is that veteran local pol D.G. “Andy” Anderson has joined the upper echelon of Mufi Hannemann’s campaign for governor for the stretch run.

Anderson, 80, is a former Hawai‘i Republican chief who was credited with engineering Frank Fasi’s comeback run for Honolulu mayor in the 1980s, but he hasn’t had success with other campaigns since.

A restaurant owner, developer and former legislator, Anderson has twice lost runs  for governor himself — in 1986 as a Republican and in 2002 as a Democrat. He also led Republican Pat Saiki’s unsuccessful run for governor in 1994.

Hannemann was slightly trailing Neil Abercrombie in a recent Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now poll and has been embroiled in a controversy over negative campaigning. It’ll be interesting to see if Anderson’s involvement brings strategic changes in the final two weeks before the Sept. 18 primary.

Update: I sent Anderson a note asking about his involvement and received this response:

While I have worked shoulder to shoulder for years in the Senate with Neil, even in the coalition, and respect him very much, at this time and in this economy I have to personally go with the person with the most administrative experience.

Neil’s legislative experience, while long and admirable, I just don’t think it is what we need to get things moving at this time.

Voters are going to have a hard choice for sure.

Comments: 3 Comments

flASHback alert

Posted September 4, 2010 by David Shapiro
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Today’s “flASHback” column in the Star-Advertiser: “Bottomfishing season’s here, so bring on the primary ballots.”

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Dueling Christians

Posted September 3, 2010 by David Shapiro
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After GOP Chairman Jonah Ka‘auwai sharply criticized the Mufi Hannemann campaign for urging Christian Republicans to pull Democratic ballots in the gubernatorial primary to vote for Hannemann over Neil Abercrombie, another prominent Christian is encouraging just that.

Dennis Arakaki, formerly of the Hawai‘i Family Forum, recorded a spot for a group called Island Values saying that Hannemann and Republican James “Duke” Aiona are both acceptable because of their opposition to civil unions but that Abercrombie, who supports gay unions, is not.

Island Values is not officially associated with any campaign, but its deputy treasurer Kenneth Wong was also on the Hannemann campaign committee. (Note: His name was removed from the Hannemann website after this story broke.) Ka‘auwai singled out Wong as the Hannemann representative who was soliciting support from conservative Christian churches, accusing him of having “no righteous intent.”

“In the battle over HB 444, we learned the importance of electing people with our traditional Christian values,” Arakaki said. “In every election, there are acceptable and unacceptable candidates. Neil Abercrombie is unacceptable.”

Arakaki praised Hannemann, saying, “Mufi strongly supports traditional Christian values.”

“The other acceptable candidate is Duke Aiona, who will easily win the Republican primary,” Arakaki said. “Christians can make a difference now by voting in the Democratic primary and stopping the unacceptable candidate Neil Abercrombie. Please pull a Democratic ballot and vote for the acceptable candidate Mufi Hannemann.”

The group also put out a flyer claiming that Abercrombie “mocks the faith-based community and voted against practically everything we believe in.”

Hannemann issued a statement on the flyer:

It has come to my attention that there is a flyer circulating in the community which takes issue with Neil Abercrombie. The piece paints a harsh picture of his congressional voting record on issues of faith and religion.

Legitimate issues deserve full and thorough discussion and evaluation, and the tenor and tone of this flyer do not encourage that.

I have asked that any and all supporters of our campaign who receive this material do not distribute it.

A recent Island Values campaign flyer

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I’m ready to pick a mayor, are you?

Posted September 2, 2010 by David Shapiro
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City Council members have taken criticism for scheduling the special election for Honolulu mayor along with the primary election, with one of my colleagues calling them “ninnies” for not waiting until the general election so we could get to know the candidates better.

But I’m totally down with the Sept. 18 date, which follows the precedent of the 1994 special mayoral election to replace Frank Fasi, which was also held with the primary and worked fine.

Mufi Hannemann resigned July 20 to run for governor, giving mayoral candidates two months to make their case.

The four major candidates — Kirk Caldwell, Peter Carlisle, Panos Prevedouros and Rod Tam — have all been in the public eye for a long time and are known quantities who started campaigning even before Hannemann stepped down.

The Star-Advertiser did excellent profiles (links here), as did several TV newscasts. The candidates who could afford it have run their ad campaigns and numerous debates and community forums have been held.

What more do we need to know? Nothing would be accomplished by extending the contest another six weeks except to suck hundreds of thousands more out of the economy to hammer the same advertising themes and unnecessarily extend the limbo of interim city leadership.

We’re ready to settle this one.

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GOP’s Ka‘auwai raises national eyebrows

Posted September 2, 2010 by David Shapiro
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Republican Chairman Jonah Ka‘auwai’s Bible-laced message to local churches attacking Mufi Hannemann and calling James “Duke” Aiona the only “righteous” candidate for governor is getting play in mainland publications, including the Huffington Post, thanks to an excellent report by AP’s Herbert Sample that smoked anything appearing locally on the story.

Ka‘auwai also got himself and Hawai‘i unflattering national attention when MSNBC’s Keith Olberman named him the day’s “worst person.”

Olberman took particular aim at Ka‘auwai’s contention that Aiona would be Hawai‘i’s first “righteous leader” since Lili‘uokalani, calling it an anti-Semitic slap at our current Jewish governor, Linda Lingle.

I thought the charge of anti-Semitism was a stretch. Ka‘auwai wasn’t just putting down Lingle, but every previous Democratic and Republican governor in Hawai‘i, most of whom were Christian.

It’s getting difficult to pin down whether the local GOP is standing behind Ka‘auwai’s statement or not.

Aiona has criticized it as divisive, and when I asked Ka‘auwai a couple of days ago about the “righteous leader” assertion, he said, “This letter was sent out as a private email to Christian Pastors not intended for publication. Upon reflection, I can see that some of my words carry implications which I did not intend. I did not intend to make a broad-brush judgment about all of Hawaii’s Governors, Republican or Democrat.”

But in a subsequent interview with KITV, he defended it as effective in reaching the conservative Christian audience it was aimed at.

And GOP executive director Dylan Nonaka told KITV that despite Aiona’s attempt to distance himself,  “Obviously, it would not have been done if there wasn’t some benefit.”

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BOE shows its (in)breeding

Posted September 1, 2010 by David Shapiro
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Part of the reason for the furlough Fridays fiasco in Hawai’i public schools was that the Board of Education acted less like the employer and more like the bargaining agent for the teachers’ union.

That apparently wasn’t good enough for the Hawaii State Teachers Association, which has former union president Roger Takabayashi running for the school board himself in the upcoming election.

If he wins, the HSTA could be able to conveniently negotiate with itself and cut out any middle men.

HSTA just signed off on a $75 million federal Race to the Top grant in which Hawai’i promised significantly tougher performance standards for teachers and students to raise our schools from the cellar of national rankings in reading and math.

But at a recent candidate forum, Takabayashi warned against raising the bar too high.

“Some of the standards I feel are very unrealistic,” he said. “I believe we have a good public school system. We are offering quality education. How come your child did not take advantage of it?”

That’s typical of the adults who feed off of our public school system — set a low bar for themselves and blame the kids for the system’s failure.

We need to break up this incestuous little arrangement by passing the constitutional amendment in November to abolish this elected Board of Education that refuses to represent the electorate.

Comments: 37 Comments

Mufi and Neil make their case

Posted August 30, 2010 by David Shapiro
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Some quick impressions of the Mufi Hannemann/Neil Abercrombie debate:

  • The “showdown” hype, razzmatazz and cheering that Hawaii News Now favors in its debates is distracting and creates an annoying WWE atmosphere. Allowing booing and jeering by partisans in the audience without trying to control it until it was too late was unconscionable.
  • Hannemann’s delivery was smoother in constantly coming back to his themes of Hawai‘i values, collaboration and managerial experience. His gigs delivering extemporaneous patter on the radio clearly paid off. Abercrombie started off stiff, choppy and at times fumbling for notes in depicting himself as an agent of change and a fighter for the little guy, but he seemed to find more of a groove after the break.
  • The furor over Hannemann’s negative “Compare & Decide” ad is having a clear impact on the campaign. Both brought their indoor voices and a determination to play nice. The questions they asked each other and some of the answers were pointed, but they actually threw some compliments each others’ way and the seething hostility we’ve seen in the past wasn’t as evident.
  • Hannemann’s measured tone had some success in defanging himself after Ed Case’s description of him as a bully and “the most dangerous politician in a generation,” but it was partly undone by his supporters’ rude heckling of Abercrombie. Hannemann could have scored points by telling them to cool it when the moderators didn’t. Hannemann’s careful modulation gave Abercrombie an opening to outdo him on passion.
  • I’m always struck by how poorly candidates do when given a chance to directly question opponents. The question is usually more of a speech that often leaves the other guy an easy out or even a chance to turn the tables. With all the lawyers and ex-journalists these candidates have on staff, you’d think somebody could instruct them on how to build a Mike Wallace-style “gotcha” that nails the opposition.

Bottom line: Both candidates succeeded in underscoring their campaign themes for undecided voters, but there was little new ground broken, no defining moments and certainly no knockout punches.

Comments: 28 Comments

Governor’s race goes to church

Posted August 29, 2010 by David Shapiro
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Republican Chairman Jonah Ka’auwai has launched an aggressive push to counter Mufi Hannemann’s courtship of Christian conservatives who support Republican James “Duke” Aiona.

In a lengthy message to the Hawai’i Christian Coalition, endorsed by coalition state chairman Garret Hashimoto, Ka’auwai accused the Hannemann campaign of acting “unethically, immorally, and far below reproach” in its efforts to get church-goers to pull Democratic ballots in the primary and support Hannemann over Neil Abercrombie.

The message is full of biblical references and exposes the strong religious undercurrent of the governor’s race that has received little public attention as Aiona and Hannemann battle for the Christian vote. The Ka’auwai message is being well-circulated online and could spotlight the issue for a broader audience. (You can read the full message here.)

Ka’auwai’s message, addressed to “Pastors and Brothers/Sisters in Jesus Christ,” accused Hannemann and his surrogates of making appearances in churches to persuade worshippers “that Christians should vote in September 18th’s primary election on the Democrat ballot for Mufi Hannemann to retard the chances of a Neil Abercrombie win rather than supporting Duke Aiona through both the primary and general elections.”

“For the Body of Christ to think Duke Aiona will lose to either Neil Abercrombie or Mufi Hannemann in the general election is not a church operating in FAITH but operating in FEAR,” Ka’auwai wrote. “The Hannemann campaign’s strategy is a trap of lies and baited deception and is being fueled by that very FEAR! DO NOT BE DECEIVED!!!”

Other excerpts:

When Ken Wong (of the Hannemann campaign committee) or Mufi approach or call you, you must probe, uncover their plans of conquest that have no righteous intent and rebuke them for trying to use your church as a platform for their deception and your personal influence to further unrighteousness.

Duke will win because the Church has been behind him the entire time operating in the POWER and the AUTHORITY of the NAME OF JESUS! We are the HEAD and not the tail; we are the VICTORS not the victims! If Duke Aiona does not win it will be the burden of the Body of Christ to bear so rather than preparing to have to deal with either Mufi or Neil winning the Church, we should be preparing for Duke to WIN. Neither Mufi Hannemann nor Neil Abercrombie is righteous and a vote for either in the primary or general election is succumbing to fear and advancing unrighteousness!

***

Galatians 5:22 tells us the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Has anyone seen that kind of fruit through Mufi Hannemann? Ask Ken why he endorses a man whose fruit shows no signs of righteousness or being controlled by the Holy Spirit. At many levels, Mufi is worse than Neil.

***

Duke Aiona’s Campaign for Governor is the Body of Christ’s opportunity to operate in the AUTHORITY and to be proactive. The Primary Election is the first step to bringing back a righteous leader to the highest office in this State which has not been seen since Queen Lili’uokalani. Over 100 years ago! With more than 400,000 Christians in the State of Hawaii, WE are responsible no matter what the outcome of Duke’s race because we have been given the POWER and the AUTHORITY in the NAME OF JESUS!!!!

Ka’auwai makes an exception to his warnings against crossovers in House District 33, where he urges Christian Republicans to take Democratic ballots and vote for civil unions opponent Gary Okino against Rep. Blake Oshiro, the author of HB 444.

UPDATE: Duke Aiona issued the following statement:

“While faith is a central part of my life, I’m running for Governor to serve all the people of Hawai‘i – regardless of their religion.

“The goal of our grassroots campaign is to connect with every citizen in every community of this great state, and Chairman Ka‘auwai’s personal comments are seen by many as divisive.

“Our campaign is focused on families, friends and neighbors of all backgrounds, and we’re going to continue to reach out to all the citizens of Hawai‘i.”

I also asked Jonah Ka’auwai for clarification of what he meant when he said Aiona would be Hawai’i's first “righteous leader” since Lili’uokalani. He sent this response:

“This letter was sent out as a private email to Christian Pastors not intended for publication. Upon reflection, I can see that some of my words carry implications which I did not intend. I did not intend to make a broad-brush judgment about all of Hawaii’s Governors, Republican or Democrat.”

Comments: 31 Comments

flASHback alert

Posted August 28, 2010 by David Shapiro
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My flASHback column in today’s Star-Advertiser: “2010 campaign’s characters spice up political potpourri.”

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Carlisle and GOP agree: He’s not a Republican

Posted August 27, 2010 by David Shapiro
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There’s a strange feud going on between the Hawaii Republican Party and mayoral candidate Peter Carlisle, a former Republican who quit the party when he began looking at the nonpartisan race for mayor.

After Carlisle made passing reference in a Midweek interview to a supposed GOP poll that showed him well ahead of Kirk Caldwell and Panos Prevedouros, Republican executive director Dylan Nonaka issued a harsh statement that there was no such poll, that Carlisle could have made up the numbers and that Prevedouros was the only Republican candidate.

(A subsequent Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now poll showed Carlisle with an even bigger lead than he claimed in Midweek.)

When Carlisle diminished his previous ties to the Republicans in a TV interview, it was party chairman Jonah Ka’auwai’s turn to fulminate, noting that the former prosecutor chaired two GOP conventions and emceed a major fundraiser.

Ka’auwai griped that Carlisle “never believed in the principals of our party, especially the principal of fiscal accountability.”

There’s no question that Carlisle was involved with the GOP for a couple of years and flirted with running for Congress under the party’s banner, and that there were sore feelings when he ditched the party after deciding to run for the nonpartisan office of mayor.

But you have to question the GOP’s judgment in working so hard to turn a race voters have said they want to be nonpartisan into a partisan contest — especially when its candidate is running a distant third in the polls.

You’d think the Republicans would have more important priorities, like trying to keep the governorship and congressional seat they hold or improving their pathetic numbers in the Legislature.

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