VOLCANIC ASH
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By David Shapiro
You'd think Gov. Linda Lingle had earned enough brownie points in national Republican politics by now that she'dÊbe spared public embarrassment by her GOP mates.
But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., new chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, blindsided the Hawai'i governor with news that he's inclined to block the Akaka bill to extend "nation-within-a-nation" status to Native Hawaiians, similar to what's accorded American Indians and Alaskan natives.
The surprised Lingle said she'd try to meet with McCain next month when she attends a governors' meeting in Washington, D.C.
Curiously, McCain's reservations on the bill Lingle has described as her top federal legislative priority didn't come up when the two lunched together in November during McCain's visit to Pearl Harbor.
Lingle, Hawai'i's first GOP governor in 40 years, has worked hard to ingratiate herself to the national party.
She traveled to Iraq for President Bush and became a vocal supporter of the war. She's embraced the GOP agenda at national governors' meetings and campaigned hard for Bush's reelection locally and on the Mainland — some say to the neglect of Hawai'i legislative races where Republicans lost five seats.
But she's gained little capital in lobbying for the Akaka bill, a vital step in settling Hawaiian sovereignty issues and protecting programs and institutions that benefit Hawaiians from legal challenges centered on race.
The measure is opposed by conservatives who see it as a race-based preference and GOP senators from states with large Indian populations, who fear loss of Indian funding to Hawaiians.
Lingle has persuaded the Bush administration not to oppose the measure — yet — but she's struck out in budging Republican senators who have used procedural maneuvers to block a vote.
The only progress on moving Republican senators has been made not by Lingle, but by Hawai'i's Democratic Sens. Dan Inouye and Daniel Akaka, who have used vote trading to advance the measure.
Late last year, in exchange for dropping objections to a Republican energy bill that would have eased environmental controls on oil and gas exploration, they secured a written promise from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., for a floor vote on the Akaka bill by Aug. 7.
Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., agreed to release his longstanding hold on the measure.
If McCain, the other Republican senator from Arizona and its large Indian population, breaks the deal and blocks the bill, it will amount to a major political double-cross by the Republicans.
McCain claims there was an agreement when Hawai'i became a state in 1959 that Hawaiians would never gain the status of American Indians.
No evidence of any such agreement has emerged; Hawaiian native claims have been under discussion for nearly 30 years, and it has never seriously come up before.
Since statehood, Congress passed and President Clinton signed a resolution apologizing for the American role in 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
It's puzzling that Republicans have been so deaf to Lingle's pleadings.
The bill has been amended endlessly to satisfy Indian concerns and sets no precedents on affirmative action, since Hawaiians are an indigenous people rather than a racial minority. Any cost would be a drop in the national bucket.
The measure is supported by most Hawaiians, our Republican governor, our Democratic congressional delegation and state legislators from both parties.
If Lingle's infatuation with national politics has earned her any chits in Washington, this would be a good time to call them in.
Otherwise, she'll face tough questions about GOP claims that Hawai'i needs a Republican in high office to get anything done with Republicans in Washington.
David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.
