GOP leaders focus on message
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Hawai'i Republicans kicked off their annual three-day convention yesterday with GOP leaders stressing the need to get educated and get involved at the grass-roots level in their fight to unseat majority Democrats in the Legislature this fall.
"We want to get our members really in tune with some of the campaigns in their own districts, as well as some of those happening in neighboring districts as well as those on other islands," party chairman Brennon Morioka said.
The GOP convention is being held in the same second-floor facilities of the Sheraton Waikiki where Democrats had their gathering last weekend, but the two events have been markedly different.
While the Democrats focused much of their time formulating position platforms, Republicans, on the first day at least, concentrated on a series of "self-help" workshops.
Entrepreneur and political power-broker Eddie Flores Jr., in one seminar, outlined how candidate campaigns can take their message to ethnic voters. Flores made it clear to the candidates and their supporters that winning a healthy share of ethnic votes could hold the key to victory for many of their efforts.
The objective may prove crucial for the Republican Party, which for decades has been fighting its historical stereotype as a political enclave for older, patrician Caucasian men.
Even a candidate campaigning in a district made up largely of voters who are of a different ethnicity can garner a majority of votes, Flores said. He pointed to Filipino-American Ben Cayetano's early success in the heavily Japanese-American Pearl City district as an example.
Flores, a key campaigner for both Gov. Linda Lingle and Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, advised candidates to enlist the help of leaders in ethnic communities and convene focus groups to learn the issues that are important to them.
"You've got to talk about what affects them, what are the issues that affect a particular community ... what appeals to a community," said Flores, who is Filipino and Chinese. "You have to understand them before you get their votes."
There was no shortage of state House candidates yesterday eager to put a more modern face on a party that they feel is today more in tune with the ethnic communities.
Karen Awana, a 38-year-old payroll clerk running for a Wai'anae House seat, said she comes from a family that historically has supported Democrats but realized that the Republican view on issues are more similar to her own and that of her contemporaries.
Republicans are more interested in "giving people the tools to fish" rather than the "giving fish" philosophy espoused by Democrats, she said.
Rep. Lynn Finnegan, D-32nd (Aliamanu, Airport, Mapunapuna), a 33-year-old Filipino American who is married to a Hawaiian Caucasian, said it's not simply that Republican values and philosophies have evolved over the years. "Some people think we're trying to win over the other ethnicities, but I just feel like the other ethnicities are now more relating to the Republican Party," she said.
Another well-attended seminar featured Lingle giving pointers to candidates and their supporters on how to speak in public more effectively by focusing on key points.
Republicans today will hear from various party leaders, adopt a party platform and listen to keynote speaker Rich Galen, a national GOP strategist, former news commentator and one-time press secretary to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
