COMMENTARY
Inouye, Democrats looking for new leadership

By Bob Dye
Kailua-based writer and historian

If the 2002 election were held today, a Republican woman would be governor of Hawai'i. A couple of months ago, polls showed front-runners Democrat Jeremy Harris and Republican Linda Lingle were nose to nose. Now Lingle says her poll shows her defeating Harris handily. Polls put out by individual campaigns must be taken with a grain of salt, but Lingle's numbers appear to roughly conform with other polls taken recently.

Mayor Jeremy Harris collected more than $100,000 for the losing Al Gore campaign, circumventing the state party to do so. Advertiser library photo • Jan. 18, 2002

For a long time, it appeared that Honolulu Mayor Harris was the man to lead the party and the state. Politically astute, he masterfully used his municipal office to great advantage. Compared to other potential Hawai'i Democratic leaders, he had everything going for him:

• Former titular state Democratic chiefs George Ariyoshi and John Waihe'e are politically out to pasture.

• Harris is upwardly mobile, having moved from Kaua'i councilman to Honolulu mayor to gubernatorial contender. The U.S. Senate is in his stars, supporters say.

• Lame-duck Cayetano is perceived to have had no vision for the Islands, let alone the party, while Harris has teams of visionaries dreaming dreams that he makes real. He'll do the same for the party, it's assumed.

• Both of Hawai'i's U.S. senators are elderly, as is one of our two House delegates, Patsy Mink. A youthful-looking fiftysomething, Harris has physical presence, towering over every member of our congressional delegation. While those legislators are far away in Washington, Harris seems to be everywhere. It seems he attends every event in town except weddings held by Councilman John Henry Felix at his controversial manse/chapel on the beach.

• Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, a wannabe titular party head, is a hard-working member of the Democratic National Committee. So? Harris is a big-time fund-raiser for the group. He collected more than $100,000 for the losing Al Gore campaign. Harris's circumvention of the state party irritated Hirono and Hawai'i's then-party chairman, Judge Walter Heen.

So what? The title of "Hawai'i's Mr. Democrat" was for sale, and Harris bought it. But somehow, the image of him as leader of the state's ruling political party lacked something at home. But what?

Last year, pollster Don Clegg, a psychologist who works for the Harris campaign, described the leader his polls said people wanted — "an activist; a hands-on, take-charge, can-do type of leader who has a handle on economic issues."

Lowell Kalapa, head of the Tax Foundation of Hawai'i, agreed: "Good leadership! We need a person who does the homework, makes the decisions and gives the direction. A person who knows when to take risks based on the best possible information. We need builders, not caretakers. Most of all, we need someone who believes in this great country."

Not surprisingly for a political pragmatist like Harris, his public image fit the description of both the supporter and the sometime adversary.

So what happened to Harris on his way to titular leadership?

The journey began well for him. Hirono, the heir-apparent, was tentative in accepting the mantle of party leadership. In an administration that often cut but seldom pasted, she had little playing time.

Without strong support from the governor, her statewide campaign faltered. So she announced for mayor of Honolulu, believing that Harris will indeed resign as mayor to run for the gubernatorial nomination of his party.

While Hirono was weighing options, a former all-Hawai'i Mr. Republican, D.G. "Andy" Anderson, who earlier had resigned from the GOP, was persuaded to run for the Democratic nomination for governor by a number of leading (albeit old) Democrats and some aged Republicans. If he wins the nomination, will he be able to lead the party?

That task, the state's other U.S. representative, Neil Abercrombie, once told me, "is like herding cats."

State Rep. Ed Case, with a sterling record of public service but untested statewide political stamina, joined the fray. An admirer of Cayetano's politics, Case may have too narrow appeal. Four more years of Ben-like titular leadership?

The eyes of all Democrats are on Inouye. When will he name his own successor? Or even hint? Ever?

A few years ago, the senior senator told me he was surprised that aspiring successors were not vying to be first in the line to replace him when he retires.

There is Abercrombie, of course, ponytail gone and standing at attention. But anyone else?

With Cayetano saying he is pau with politics, and Hirono voluntarily heading south in the batting order, Harris thought he was destiny's child.

Enter the state Campaign Spending Commission charges, and Harris drops in the polls.

If Inouye sours on Harris' chances of beating Lingle, will he throw his considerable influence to Democratic contender Anderson, or to Case?

Or will he decide Waihe'e could return victoriously? Hana hou! Or maybe he will convince state Senate Vice President Colleen Hanabusa, the rising bright star of the state Democratic Party, to make a bid?

If later polls show Harris can't beat Lingle, Inouye surely will do what he must to keep his party in power. He brought it to eminence in 1954. He won't let it fail in his lifetime.