Ethnicity a factor in election

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

When George Ariyoshi looked over the field of possible lieutenant governor candidates in 1974 to consider who might be his best running mate, he fixed on a man who had been a welder, school teacher and state bureaucrat: Daniel Akaka.

Ariyoshi and Akaka. A Japanese American and a Native Hawaiian.

Ariyoshi says now that while Akaka's ethnicity was not an overriding factor — he thought they would work well together and was impressed with Akaka's education credentials — he acknowledges that ethnic balancing of gubernatorial tickets has played a role in Hawai'i politics.

Ariyoshi did not get his wish. Nelson Doi beat Akaka in the '74 Democratic primary, and the Ariyoshi-Doi ticket went on to beat Republicans Randolph Crossley and Ben Dillingham.

It was the last time a Hawai'i gubernatorial ticket with both candidates of the same ethnic background won.

Ethnicity is one of the factors coming into play as the 2002 gubernatorial hopefuls scan the horizon for prospective running mates who would balance the ticket and help attract a broad spectrum of voters.

Republican Linda Lingle is clearly interested in a Native Hawaiian running mate, and some Democrats are urging state Sen. Matt Matsunaga to run for lieutenant governor to team up with gubernator-ial candidate and Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris.

Stephen Wong, a 53-year-old artist from Honolulu, said ethnic diversity on a gubernatorial ticket matters.

"I think it covers a lot of needs of individuals, and being in Hawai'i with all these different backgrounds you would think that we need to kind of try to balance things out for everyone," said Wong, who is of Hawaiian, Chinese and Japanese ancestry. "More groups should be represented."

Others interviewed in downtown Honolulu said ethnicity doesn't matter at all.

"If I'm answering for my parents' generation, yes, but I think in our generation, no, because I think we're looking more at the issues now," said Pam Ito, a thirty-something office worker from Pearl City. "Hawai'i is a melting pot so I don't think we look at color so much versus, say, the other generations. I'm looking more at the candidates' issues, and the integrity of the politician."

Kourosh Keshavarzi, a 29-year-old computer programmer from Makiki, said he can understand how a diverse ticket would attract voters from different groups. But it doesn't matter to him.

"I can see how other people would consider diversity to be a good thing," he said. "To me it wouldn't make any difference."

Whether by happenstance or design, ethnically diverse gubernatorial teams from the Democratic and Republican parties have been the norm since statehood, although observers cannot explain why.

Of the 11 gubernatorial elections since 1959, nine of them resulted in a governor reflecting one ethnic group and a lieutenant governor of another. The exceptions were Gov. John Burns and Lt. Gov. Tom Gill in 1966 and Ariyoshi and Doi in 1974.

Some political observers say potential lieutenant governor candidates — state Sens. Matsunaga and Ron Menor, City Councilman Jon Yoshimura and Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Clayton Hee — would, for ethnicity and other reasons, complement any of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates: Jeremy Harris, Andy Anderson and Ed Case.

Matsunaga has said he is reassessing an earlier decision to postpone a bid for lieutenant governor. Menor has said he is considering entering the race. Hee and Yoshimura both have said they plan to run.

On the Republican side, a Lingle gubernatorial ticket would also find an ethnic balance with retired Circuit Court Judge James Aiona and former CNN journalist Dalton Tanonaka, both of whom are announced candidates for lieutenant governor.

Board of Education member and former state Sen. Donna Ikeda is running for lieutenant governor as a Democrat. John Carroll is running for governor as a Republican.

Political observers and politicians say such factors as gender, personal and professional background and popularity among Neighbor Island voters are also folded into the package.

Former Gov. John Waihee said lieutenant governor hopefuls keep all those factors in mind as they try to sell themselves — usually to the party faithful — before the primary election.

He said when he ran for lieutenant governor in 1982, he highlighted his Hawaiian background, support from Neighbor Island voters and other attributes.

"It's a pretty picture," Waihee said. "Everybody wants a picture. So ethnicity plays a part in which picture looks the best for the team that's running in November. Every single candidate that is running for lieutenant governor has got this worked out."

The first question lieutenant governor candidates are asked, he said, is how would they contribute to the party's victory in the gubernatorial election.

"My argument was I could bring in people that the Democratic party was losing to Frank Fasi and I had tremendous connections to the Neighbor Islands," Waihee said. "At that time, the majority of Hawaiians were voting for Frank Fasi."

Ethnicity has been a traditional element in balancing gubernatorial tickets, said Jim Wang, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo.

"We're made up of a variety of ethnic backgrounds, so candidates have to be a little bit reflective of the population makeup," he said. "If you have a slate of candidates who are made up of different ethnicities, you can attract the voters from different ethnic backgrounds."

Don Clegg, a political consultant who has polled for Harris, Gov. Ben Cayetano and former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi, agreed.

"It's never really been tested," he said. "But everybody just has a gut feel that says, 'Yeah, I gotta balance this off.' "

But ethnicity appears to be less of an issue now, Clegg said.

"Issues of race are becoming less important than they would have been pre-World War II, particularly when the races seemed to stick together more," he said. "It's important and it's something to be considered, but it's not as important as it used to be."

Waihee said balancing the gubernatorial ticket is overplayed, largely by lieutenant governor candidates.

Races are ultimately won or lost, he said, by the person running for governor.

"From experience, I'll tell you that when it's all said and done, after the primary, every single lieutenant governor candidate that prevails will quickly discover that more people are more interested in the governor than they are in them," he said. "After the primary, nobody even asked about balancing tickets and I never, ever in my whole political career ... heard anybody talk about the fact that you are not to vote for somebody because the ticket was unbalanced."

In any case, it's difficult to say how much gubernatorial candidates or parties can influence the matter anyway because it's the voters who choose the lieutenant governor candidates.

Political parties typically avoid getting involved in lieutenant governor campaigns when there's a contested primary, although they can encourage people to run.

And while many gubernatorial candidates may privately prefer a particular person as a running mate, they do not risk ruffling feathers by publicly endorsing a running mate before the primary election.

Ariyoshi's 1974 race illustrates the lack of control gubernatorial candidates have over who becomes their running mate.

While he didn't officially announce an endorsement of Akaka before the primary, it was assumed in political circles that they were running as a team. In fact, Ariyoshi and Akaka appeared at fund-raisers together and Ariyoshi volunteers at one point distributed Ariyoshi and Akaka campaign literature in one package during a house-to-house drive.

In the end, Akaka's opponent won.

Like Waihee, Ariyoshi said that while balancing the ticket may help, voters ultimately pay more attention to who is running for governor.

"I think the ethnic balance does play a factor but it is not overriding," Ariyoshi said. "I think the more important factor is not who is lieutenant governor but who becomes governor. "

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.

Correction: Board of Education member and former state Sen. Donna Ikeda is running for lieutenant governor as a Democrat. John Carroll is running for governor as a Republican. They were not included in a previous version of this story.