Posted on: Friday, August 6, 2004
HAWAIIAN STYLE
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Francis S. Leong is a local boy who made good. Got himself elected mayor of Haslet, Texas.
Now the Honolulu native has taken to attacking some "Good 'Ol Boy" problems with some "local boy" solutions.
To some of his constituents, though, it's a surprise that the 69-year-old, cowboy-boots-shuffling mayor's surname is Chinese. "Who knows from Chinese in Texas?" he joked, noting that many who see his Chinese-Hawaiian face begin speaking Spanish to him. Having been declared "Asian For The Day" in a recent newspaper promotion helped some.
The '54 grad of Saint Louis has been a go-getter from the start. The mayor's job, like his 36-year career at Hawaiian Telephone Co., came looking for him. In 1986, with his heart set on retirement in a few years, HawTel's parent company, GTE, dangled an executive job at company headquarters in Texas.
"This wasn't to be a 'forever deal,' " he told himself. "For five years, we (could) put up with anything."
When he and his wife arrived in their new home, Leong took one look at the freeways and "ai ka pressure!" realized he'd never know where he was.
"It's flat, there's no mauka and makai ..." and the convoluting loops of highway overpasses threw him for a loop. "The first thing I did was buy a compass!" he said.
Then the unimaginable happened: "We got to like living in Texas," he said. The weather was good, and with the central location the family "learned to travel," said Leong, taking the RV to Florida, Vegas, Chicago. "Driving 14 hours straight to go skiing is routine now," he said.
Not only were there a lot of lakes in Texas, he soon hooked up with a regular weekend fishing buddy. And, from past Texas business trips, the rest of the family already had friends. Life was good.
Soon folks began to notice Leong's Island affability and local-style ease with people and encouraged him to run for public office. Several successful terms on the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board had prepared the budding politician. Hawai'i Kai was to Honolulu, size- and location-wise, as Haslet, Texas, population 13,000, was to nearby Fort Worth.
He was elected to the Haslet council in 1999 and was chosen by his peers to be mayor pro tem, "like a vice mayor," he said.
During his first term, the mayor quit, partly under pressure. Leong again had a job he hadn't applied for. He was mayor of the Texas town. He served out the remaining year of the term and ran again. And won.
"Being from Hawai'i," he said, "you get along with others easily. You're there to help — not get the credit." Everyone was impressed with Leong's propensity to "talk story." "I do this all the time — in fact, I get carried away," he said.
Leong also became the town's "unofficial caterer" of sorts, turning out his signature kalua pig, Portuguese pickled onions and Chinese salad with won bok. "Now they're all eating Spam musubi," he jokes.
His Island upbringing also influences his policy-making. When big property owners began reaping all the profits from recently discovered underground gas fields, Leong organized the smaller property owners into "Texas-style huis" who could compete. "Now 90 percent of the residents are getting a monthly check in their mailbox," he said.
Now in almost a bittersweet mood, Leong wonders occasionally if life will ever bring him back home to his beloved Hawai'i. "Running a small town is like running your own home. And, it is like home now. It's just a larger family."
In any case, he knows there will be one time guaranteed he will return to Hawai'i soil — and that might be for burial.
Wade Kilohana Shirkey is kumu of Na Hoaloha O Ka Roselani No'eau hula halau. He writes on Island life.
