Candidate calls for details on health of Mink
By Lynda Arakawa and Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
After weeks of treading gently around the politically sensitive issue of U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink's health, Republican congressional candidate Bob McDermott yesterday said the public has a right to know her medical condition and whether she can campaign and serve in office.
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"When you're running for Congress, this is a high federal office," McDermott said yesterday at a news conference in front of the Hawai'i Republican Party headquarters. "I can tell you as a public figure ... you don't have that much privacy. We have limited privacy. So I am asking that they be forthcoming with her medical condition. Is she unconscious? She hasn't released a statement. Is she able to speak? Can she walk on her own? I think these are all valid questions that the voters before the primary election have a right to know."
Rep. Patsy Mink has been in intensive care since Sept. 1.
Mink, 74, a Democrat, has viral pneumonia brought on by a case of chicken pox and has been hospitalized in the Straub Hospital & Clinic intensive care unit since Sept. 1. Her family has requested that the hospital withhold information on her condition.
In a statement released yesterday by Mink's office, her family asked for the public's continued patience as Mink fights the pneumonia. The statement acknowledged that Mink remained in the intensive care unit, but it gave no information on her condition.
"This is an illness from which one can recover," the statement said, "and we expect Mrs. Mink to be back on her feet representing the 2nd District."
Gov. Ben Cayetano said yesterday he believes that more information should be released about Mink's condition. But he added that it should be a decision made by the family. He said he has not been given any specific information about Mink's condition.
"I think the people want to know what is her state because I know there are many people who are pulling for her or praying for her, and I think from that standpoint, more information is important," Cayetano said.
"Those of us who are in the (public) sector, we have some expectation of privacy, but not much, so we need to let people know.
"If the family wishes that no information be given at this particular time, then there's nothing anyone can do, and I think the voters should judge accordingly. I would hope that the opponents don't make anything more of it, and try not to capitalize on what is clearly a physical illness."
Mink is seeking re-election in the 2nd congressional district, representing the Neighbor Islands and rural O'ahu. She faces Steve Tataii, a self-described "independent conflict resolution consultant" in the primary. McDermott, a state representative from Central O'ahu, and James Donovan of the Big Island are in the Republican primary.
Mink's spokeswoman, Joan Manke, has not returned repeated phone messages left by The Advertiser this week. Calls to Mink's home and to her brother, Eugene Takemoto, have also not been returned.
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The family released a statement a week ago, when they said Mink has "a hard-hitting pneumonia that takes time to overcome and heal from."
Bob McDermott said voters have a right to know details of Rep. Patsy Mink's condition.
McDermott has been a blunt critic of Mink's policies as well as her personal conduct, describing her as aloof and unresponsive to constituents. Her hospitalization forced him to tone down his rhetoric, and last week he pulled a radio ad critical of Mink because he said he thought it was inappropriate to run while she was ill.
But McDermott was annoyed by statements this week by U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie that Mink was slowly recovering and would be able to campaign and to serve in office.
McDermott said Abercrombie's statement, along with re-election ads Mink has been running, is disingenuous because Mink's family has not been forthcoming about her condition.
"The primary election is in three days and we don't even know if she is unconscious, we don't know if she can breathe on her own, we don't even know if she's awake," McDermott said. "And they've been stonewalling. And I hate to be the guy to do it because I'm going to be the big bad bully, but somebody's gotta do it. And the bottom line is the public deserves a right to know."
By raising the issue of her health, McDermott runs the risk of alienating voters who are sympathetic to Mink or who believe her health is a private issue. And by raising questions just before Saturday's election, McDermott could also be seen as trying to tip the election toward Mink's Democratic primary opponent, Tataii.
"You don't want to be seen as taking advantage of someone's misfortune," said former Democratic state legislator Jim Shon, a veteran observer of state politics. "He doesn't need to do this before the primary."
McDermott compared Mink's situation to that of the late U.S. Sen. Spark Matsunaga. The veteran Democratic lawmaker faced questions about his health during his 1988 re-election bid after a chronic bad back, laryngitis and a bout with the flu kept him from three key Senate votes and other public functions. He died in April 1990 of complications relating to prostate cancer.
"We don't want to see what happened with Spark Matsunaga 10 years ago where someone is propped up through the election and it's a real shibai," McDermott said.
Meanwhile, Mink's primary election opponent, Tataii, said Mink should withdraw from the election. He said Abercrombie's statements are "hogwash."
"The way that the news is coming out, she's obviously incapacitated so far," he said. "Someone has to take a step. I know this is a very hard step to take. I know people may not like me and will say, oh, you have to feel sorry for her and all that. ... I have been wishing her well, and I have wanted her to come back. But we cannot wait too much longer because this is an election. This is the future of our people."
