COMMENTARY
Abrasive politics not our style

By David Polhemus
Advertiser Editorial Writer

Over the years, we've noticed two kinds of newcomers to Hawai'i from the Mainland:

• Those who have fallen in love with Hawai'i and want to learn more about its ways.
• Those who have fallen in love with Hawai'i and want to improve it by making it more like where they came from.

Falling into the latter category clearly are Chuck and Chris Quackenbush, a couple who, having vacationed here several times, moved here two years ago. They've already publicly condemned Hawai'i's "prevalent corruption, failed education system and poor business climate," and begun campaigns to replicate California's "three-strikes" law here and to end pet quarantine.

Make no mistake, these are all legitimate issues about which plenty of Hawai'i residents, kama'aina and malihini alike, are losing sleep. The difference is the respectful, collaborative approach most citizens of the Aloha State try to bring to the public forum, and the abrasive "take no prisoners" style so prevalent these days on the Mainland.

Thus it's reasonable for pet owners to chafe at quarantine requirements and try to change them. But it is not reasonable, nor is it "Island style," to imply that veterinarians who warn that a rabid animal could spread the disease in the wild, are idiots or criminals.

And it's equally disingenuous to advocate extreme "lock-'em-up" legislation without mentioning that Hawai'i already has more prisoners than it can afford.

As a rising star in California Republican politics, mentioned as gubernatorial material, Chuck Quackenbush co-wrote that state's "three-strikes" law, which led to an astonishing bonanza there for builders and operators of new prisons. The law recently passed U.S. Supreme Court muster, although it meant that ex-cons were sent away for life for nonviolent shoplifting.

But Quackenbush no longer is a rising star in California politics. He left that state "in a scandal that was huge even by California standards," as Advertiser reporter Dan Nakaso put it in an intriguing profile last week.

The charges against him involved sums of money simply unimagined in Hawai'i politics. Quackenbush says he was "completely exonerated of any allegation of wrongdoing," but it appears he resigned as state insurance commissioner rather than face impeachment.

Some local Republicans are still unsure about who Quackenbush is, or his history, but others are tempted to hitch their wagon to his hard-hitting political skills. As a rising force in Hawai'i politics, Republicans may find Quackenbush defining a crossroads for them.

Nakaso ended his profile with advice Quackenbush says he gave to the tank troops he once commanded:

"Try to stay 5 yards ahead of your own dust cloud," he said.

Some are wondering, wrote Nakaso, "if Chuck Quackenbush is trying to revive his derailed political career in a place where Mainland political scandals go largely unnoticed."

Now it appears Quackenbush's cloud is catching up with him.

Reach David Polhemus through letters@honoluluadvertiser.com.