Oahu Democrats Pick Up Dan Inouye’s Torch
The office of Honolulu mayor is nonpartisan, but such is the power of Oahu Democrats that Kirk Caldwell felt compelled to address the party’s convention Saturday.
Caldwell carried with him a framed autographed photograph of John F. Kennedy that was given to Daniel K. Inouye in 1960, one youthful leader to another.
“We are Democrats,” Caldwell told several hundred delegates packing the Aloha Stadium Hospitality Room. “Let’s pick up the torch carried by Sen. Inouye. We need to be keepers of that torch.”
Schatz vs. Hanabusa
Barely five months after Inouye’s passing, the torch burns brightly.
The Democratic Party of Hawaii thoroughly dominates elective office and government at the county, state and federal level. It looks to continue that dominance in 2014, despite contested races for the U.S. Senate and one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Hawaii Republican Party has, by its own omission, a light bench and may not be able to field credible candidates.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz was the only member of Hawaii’s congressional delegation to attend the Oahu convention in person.
Before he spoke, Francis Choe, the acting Oahu County chairman, read a short message from Mazie Hirono. The senator said she was fighting for “Hawaii’s values” in Washington — for the kupuna, the keiki, for immigrants like herself.
U.S. Reps. Colleen Hanabusa and Tulsi Gabbard sent short video presentations.
Hanabusa, who is challenging Schatz for Senate, said the party would not be hurt by a contested primary, because it has so many qualified candidates to choose from. She noted that a former Republican had just left the party to become a Democrat.
“One of their members come over to our side,” she said. “You don’t see that happening in the other direction.”
The politician in question, Gil Riviere, attended Saturday’s convention.
Party official Francis Choe.
Hanabusa also said she was proud to have worked closely with Inouye before his death. Hanabusa, as is her habit, referred to Inouye as “Senator,” as in “Senator was one of the most powerful men in Washington.” Not “the senator.”
As Hanabusa was linking her candidacy to Inouye’s — she said Democrats could be “a better party if we continued to hear his voice” — Schatz waited patiently by the convention stage.
In his remarks, Schatz stressed how important it is to build relationships in the Senate, something he said he had already begun to establish with top Democrats like Harry Reid, Dick Durbin and Patty Murray.
Generously, Schatz mentioned Hirono’s name several times and the “great bunch of committees” they both serve on. The senator then declared his commitment to island labor unions — “An injury to one is an injury to all,” he said, citing the ILWU motto — and to “shared values.” The federal budget, he said, would not be balanced on the backs of senior citizens.
“I got your back, and I hope you’ll have mine,” said Schatz.
Judging by the two standing ovations and enthusiastic applause he received, Schatz would seem to be able to count on a lot of support from his party.
New Oahu Chair
Ed Case and Mufi Hannemann were not in attendance, but there was talk amongst delegates about whether they would run for Senate or the Hawaii First Congressional District seat that Hanabusa will vacate. As several observed in conversation, one candidate could win with a modest plurality of the CD1 vote should there be a crowded primary.
Stanley Chang, the only declared candidate in the CD1 race, attended the convention and had a promotional table and wall poster set up. State Sen. Will Espero told Civil Beat that he was leaning toward a run, given that his state seat is not up until 2016, so he would keep his day job should he lose a bid for Congress.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
Word is that Senate President Donna Mercado Kim will not run, and Majority Leader Brickwood Galuteria may pass, too. But state Rep. Mark Takai remains a possibility, as does Abercrombie’s deputy chief of staff, Blake Oshiro. It’s an open contest, and a rare opportunity for a Democrat to “pull a Tulsi.”
Meanwhile, Oahu County Democrats have a new leader.
Joshua Wisch, an attorney who did a stint at the Attorney General’s Office before moving over to the state’s tax department, defeated Choe and Pohai Ryan to become party chairman.
Wisch said he will focus on bringing more people into the party, strengthening its fiscal structure and making better use of social media.
Wisch, who has ties to Hirono and Abercrombie, replaced Tony Gill, who resigned in April to lead a party lawsuit challenging the state’s primary system.
Oahu County Democrats.
Dante Carpenter, chairman of the state party, described Gill’s move as “a magnanimous gesture on the part of a real Democratic Party leader.” Carpenter said the current primary system, which allows voters to select the ballot of any party, infringes on the right of Democrats to nominate their own members.
Oahu County Democrats also adopted nearly a dozen resolutions, including ones encouraging the Hawaii Legislature to increase the minimum wage, pass same-sex marriage legislation, decriminalize marijuana, allow for publicly financed elections and extend the media shield law.
Bart Dame, a member of the party’s State Central Committee, authored four of the resolutions.
“It’s a way to mobilize the party, to plant seeds and popularize ideas in the hope that they will bear fruit in the future,” said Dame. “It’s also a way of expressing our disappointment.”
Delegate Michael Golojuch Jr., who spoke in favor of the marriage equality resolution, said: “If you put a ‘D’ after your name, you should mean it.”
Big Island Democrats will meet next weekend. So will Hawaii Republicans on Oahu.
