Kaua'i Mayor Kusaka mulls run for U.S. House seat

By Bob Dye
Kailua-based historian and writer

Never in the history of Hawai‘i politics has an incumbent U.S. representative or senator been ousted by a challenger. Not once, not ever.

"There is always a first time," says Maryanne Kusaka, the nonpartisan mayor of Kaua‘i. She smiles with the confidence of a champ. "No one thought I had a chance of being elected mayor in 1994. But I was." Her margin of victory was 1,333 votes. And she was re-elected to a second and final term in 1998 by a margin of 4,551 votes. She is a winner and on a roll.

Dressed in a teal-blue pants suit, her outfit was as magnetic as her personality. A handsome woman of 65, her gray hair is an attractive and honest physical attribute. We have lunch at Gaylord’s in Kilohana. Walking to our table on the lanai, she greets most everyone by name. Some women hug and kiss her. She has presence.

Preferring to talk politics over eating, her sweet-potato soup cools. When the waiter removes the half-full bowl, she explains that the soup was delicious.

This sensitivity to other folks’ feelings causes her to speak carefully and kindly. Her manners are as proper as her dress.

She is other-directed, and wonders why labor leader Gary Rodrigues, from Kaua‘i, doesn’t like her. "His parents are so nice, and I like his daughters." She wants to be friends with Gary, too. "But for some reason, he doesn’t want to be."

Although she is keeping her options open, the popular mayor, a Republican, is seriously considering a run for the U.S. House of Representatives. If successful in the GOP primary, she would challenge Congresswoman Patsy Mink in next year’s general election. That is, if Mink, who says she will run for re-election, wins her primary race as expected.

Patsy Takemoto Mink is also has her share of "firsts." She was the first Asian woman to run for the state Legislature (1956), and the first woman from Hawai‘i to be elected to the U.S. Congress (1962). But she has been beaten in some important races.

She lost to Dan Inouye for the U.S. House in 1960, made an unsuccessful bid for a presidential nomination in the Oregon primary in 1970, and lost to Spark Matsunaga for the U.S. Senate in 1976. She also lost a race for mayor of Honolulu and for governor of Hawai‘i. But she did serve on the Honolulu city council, and was elected its chairwoman.

A race between Kusaka and Mink will be spirited and hard-fought. Both women champion education. Kusaka has a degree in elementary education and taught in Hawai‘i schools for 30 years. Former students and colleagues are her core supporters. Mink also has strong support from the state’s educators.

"The second congressional district favors a Republican," says GOP state chairwoman Linda Lingle. "Maryanne Kusaka would be a great candidate. I am encouraging her to run. Tireless, she is a tough campaigner."

Lingle, then Maui mayor, campaigned for Kusaka in 1994.

Born at Kamuela on the Big Island, Kusaka was raised in Hana, Maui. Her folks ran a B&B. Adman Jim Loomis once checked in, back before he could afford to stay at the hotel. "It got to be 7 in the evening and there was nothing to do in Hana. I stared at the ceiling, the floor, each wall. A rap at the door broke the monotony. It was Maryanne’s dad. He said he had a couple of cold six-packs, and I was welcome to join him. I did, and it was one of the best nights I ever spent in Hana."

Years later, Loomis was to handle both of Kusaka’s campaigns. "She is as nice and gracious as her folks," he says.

Car dealer Mike McKenna, until recently a part-time resident of Hana, remembers the mayor’s folks as "everybody’s grandma and grandpa."

Kusaka wasn’t always a Republican. In 1992, she ran Dan Inouye’s U.S. Senate campaign on Kaua‘i. The senior Democratic senator got 82 percent of the vote. She continues to admire him greatly. In fact, she still sounds like his campaign manager.

"Dan Inouye is Kaua‘i’s savior," she says. "He has always helped us in Washington, and that federal money has kept us moving forward. I can’t say enough good things about him. They can call him the king of pork if they want to. But as long as the bacon comes to Kaua‘i, I’m for it. And Sen. Dan Akaka helps us, too. He is so loved on Capitol Hill. He brought the spirit of aloha to that place."

Aloha is an important word to Maryanne Kusaka. And her actions reflect it. The mayor was among the first to donate money to the families of victims in the sinking of the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru. The people of Japan were generous to Kaua’i after Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992, and she wanted to "return the kindness in this time of tragedy," she said.

Upon taking office, she revitalized the sister city relationship with Oshima Island.

And it paid off. During her tenure, Japanese tourism has quadrupled, from around 5 percent to about 20 percent. For the past three years, the total number of visitors has grown. And 2001 looks like it, too, will surpass the year before. She personally plans to lure Canadians to Kaua‘i next winter.

"I really love the PR part of my job." She bubbles with enthusiasm. When United Airlines began direct flights from L.A. and San Francisco to Kaua‘i, the mayor accompanied passengers, working the cabin to make sure they felt welcome to her island.

A good communicator, she meets with the Chamber of Commerce once a month, appears on a weekly radio program to answer questions from citizens, and televises "Mayor’s Chats." Lingle says, "She relates so well because she is in touch with people."

Her prospects of winning the nomination appear to be good to excellent. But a possible bump on the road is state Rep. Bob McDermott, who is reportedly more than a little interested in the race. Mink, too, may be opposed in her primary run.

Rumored to be gearing up to run for Kaua‘i mayor are two county councilmen: Ron Kouchi, with about $4,000 in his war chest; and Bryan Baptiste, with more than $3,000 in his. Former mayor Jo Ann Yukimura is also mentioned as a possible candidate. She has closed out her campaign account, however, and has no financing at hand.

"Whoever succeeds me," Kusaka says, "will have to contend with a serious waste disposal problem." She shakes her head at the hard work ahead.

If she goes to Washington, you can bet she’ll get help from Dan Inouye in finding federal money to help solve the problem.

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