VOLCANIC ASH
Candidates worth listening to
By David Shapiro
State Rep. Cynthia Thielen was all smiles after hearing candidates for governor and Honolulu mayor exchange views last week in their first joint appearances of the year at a forum sponsored by Small Business Hawai'i.
"This is going to be a great election," Thielen said.
She had reason for enthusiasm. The candidates were well-informed, thoughtful and high-minded. It was easy to see a pretty good governor and mayor coming from this group.
The kicker was that the two nominal front-runners — Mayor Jeremy Harris in the Democratic primary for governor and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono in the special election for mayor — weren't even there.
The year is young and the campaign won't hit full stride until summer. But you get the feeling that if Harris and Hirono don't come out to play soon, voters may find plenty of attractive candidates to choose from without them.
Savvy candidates come to these forums looking to plant one or two key ideas with voters, knowing news reporters will take away only a few headlines.
Except for Republican John Carroll, who said he's writing position papers on key issues, the candidates for governor succeeded in focusing their messages.
Though she was speaking to a business audience, Republican Linda Lingle's clear goal was to defang herself to labor union members — whose support is up for grabs given the disarray among Democrats.
While arguing for more efficient government and tax cuts, Lingle pledged that she "will not support any government layoffs of people in existing government jobs."
Democratic state Rep. Ed Case called this "an avoidance." His central issue is to slash government costs by any means necessary — including job cuts — to pay for education, infrastructure, tax reduction and economic stimulation.
"Our government is taking too much out of our economy," Case said.
Democrat D.G. "Andy" Anderson's pivotal promise is to expand Hawai'i's tax base and boost the economy by bringing in significant new money — primarily from the Far East.
"If any of you think we're going to build the schools and pay the teachers and get a university of excellence and take care of our social programs ... if you think you're going to do all of that by trimming and reforms, you're fooling yourselves," Anderson said.
Harris, mired in problems with the Campaign Spending Commission, has been laying low except for appearances at feel-good city functions. A career county official, he needs to show he can speak to state issues with the authority of the others.
His absence gives his supporters nervous feet by fueling speculation that the campaign finance difficulties may drive him from the race.
Councilman Duke Bainum skipped the mayoral forum along with Hirono, but he had the excuse of a conflicting Council meeting. Hirono also didn't show at a similar function last month.
In her absence, former Councilman Mufi Hannemann, former Mayor Frank Fasi and former Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro showed off extensive knowledge of city government and law enforcement.
That's exactly Hirono's problem. She has zero experience at the city level and is running for mayor because it presented a better political opportunity than a race for governor — not because of affinity for municipal affairs.
Voters need to see that Hirono can hold her own face-to-face with candidates who have broad city experience. She gets only so long to cram for the exam.
It boils down to showing what she's made of after her indecisive flirtation with the governor's race and seven years of low visibility as lieutenant governor, which has strangely persisted since Hirono announced for mayor.
David Shapiro can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.
