Mufi: I Lost Teachers Union Endorsement By One Vote
Hawaii State Teachers Association president Wil Okabe wrote a letter to the union’s 13,000 members on Aug. 26 to respond to “a misstatement being perpetuated in the community that Mufi Hannemann lost the by only one vote.”
The letter politely avoids pointing out that the misstatement was voiced by the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hannemann himself in an with Democrat Neil Abercrombie.
To a question about school furloughs, Abercrombie responded:
“… I will make it my personal responsibility to see to it that public confidence is restored in the public education system. I think that’s the reason that the teacher’s union has endorsed our campaign. Not because they think I can do it by myself, but because our plan puts the teacher in the classroom in the forefront of support. …”
Mufi followed with: “That was a very close vote with the teachers. In fact we lost that endorsement by one vote.”
Six days later, Okabe issued his letter saying that Hannemann’s claim is false.
It is unclear what information Hannemann was basing his statement on, because his campaign did not respond to repeated phone calls and e-mails from Civil Beat. But the letter from Okabe indicates the teachers union vote to endorse Abercrombie wasn’t at all close.
The union’s process of selecting political candidates for endorsement involves track record reviews, interviews and examination of a questionnaire completed by each candidate. (Read more about the candidate selection process .)
“The Government Relations Committee overwhelmingly recommended Neil Abercrombie for governor to the Board of Directors,” Okabe’s letter states. “During the final phase of our recommendation process on August 7, 2010, the HSTA Board of Directors cast a strong vote to recommend Neil Abercrombie for governor.”
Read the full letter:
Might Hannemann have access to some information about the vote that the union’s own president isn’t privy to? Doubtful.
