Hawaii GOP Sees ‘Hope,’ Opportunity in 2014 Elections
As Pat Saiki took the stage to address delegates at the Hawaii Republican Party‘s state convention Saturday, the public-address system blasted “Takin’ Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Saiki, the party’s new chairwoman, told delegates she would prefer the theme from “Rocky.”
Both songs are appropriate.
Not only is the GOP an underdog that faces big odds in trying to chip away at the dominant Democratic Party of Hawaii, which controls the top levers of power in the state.
It is also a party that has a lot of work to do, in particular, registering like-minded folks to vote and getting them to the polls.
“Enough is enough,” Saiki said. “This arrogance of power must be tempered with new ideas, new opinions, new hope.”
Candidates Cam Cavasso and Kimo Sutton.
Hundreds of party members turned out to the Koolau Ballrooms and Conference Center in Kaneohe. The building also serves as the at Koolau, and that was appropriate, too, as it will take some mighty big prayers to put more Republicans in power.
Democrats control all four congressional seats, the governorship and both houses of the Legislature. With only a few exceptions, they have done so for 60 years.
But Saiki, who turns 84 later this month, is one of those exceptions, having served with distinction in the Legislature and two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Though she later lost bids for U.S. Senate and governor, she has lost none of the vigor and authority she brought to her political career.
Saiki is especially banking on Charles Djou winning back the 1st Congressional District seat both held, and on Duke Aiona, the former lieutenant governor, winning the governorship.
Aiona and Djou were warmly received by delegates, and Djou in particular gave a powerful address.
Djou said it was not an easy decision for him to try for the CD1 seat again, one he has lost twice. But he was inspired to do so, he explained, by reading the memoirs of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
Elwin Ahu is running for lieutenant governor.
Djou said he was alarmed to learn, in Gates’s memoir, that President Barack Obama decided to send 30,000 troops into Afghanistan in 2009 primarily for “political optics,” so that the president did not appear weak.
Djou called it “a horrible tragedy” to send Americans into harm’s way for political reasons, and he should know, as Djou, a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, was one of the 30,000 who went to Central Asia.
“This is exactly what is wrong in our government and politics today at all levels, from Honolulu Hale to the State Capitol or the U.S. Congress,” he said. “Too much is based on political optics. We are not focused on what is really troubling the average resident and citizens.”
If returned to the House, Djou said his top three priorities would be “jobs, jobs, jobs.” The country needs to get its fiscal house in order, Obamacare is a disaster and Democrats are blocking free trade with Asia. And Djou, said Djou, is the only CD1 candidate of either party who would serve Hawaii best in a House likely to stay under GOP control.
For his part, Aiona, pointing a finger at the Capitol, cited Lord Acton’s dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely. He denounced Gov. Neil Abercrombie‘s agreement on a preservation deal at Turtle Bay without first securing funding, said the governor had bypassed the Legislature and the people by issuing 64 executive orders since 2012 and held “blustery press conferences filled with over-promises.”
Former House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan.
Aiona, who will formally announce his second try for governor on Monday, said he is “frightened” for the future of Hawaii’s next generation because of the lack of employment opportunities and the islands’ high cost of living. The blame, he suggested, goes to Democrats.
“This past session the majority party treated due process as a quaint exercise with a foregone conclusion,” he said, perhaps also referring to the special session in the fall that approved same-sex marriage despite strong opposition.
“Hawaii’s democracy, my friends, is all but broken,” said Aiona.
Aiona and Djou are the GOP’s best hopes to wrest power from Democrats. But the party is also fielding candidates for other offices, including some running against fellow Republicans.
The deadline to file candidacy paperwork is not until June 3, but of who’s running shows that Djou may have a primary opponent while Aiona may have three. New Hope pastor Elwin Ahu and party stalwart Kimo Sutton face each other in the primary for lieutenant governor.
Of the 13 state Senate seats up this year (there are 25 total), five so far have drawn the interest of GOP candidates. Former Rep. Colleen Meyer faces current Rep. Richard Fale in the District 23 race, a seat left open with Democrat Clayton Hee‘s run for lieutenant governor.
Supporters of Charles Djou prep for a rally.
Lynn Finnegan, the former House minority leader who ran for LG in 2010 with Aiona at the top of the ticket, is thinking about running for the District 16 seat being vacated by David Ige, who is running in the Democratic primary for governor. Honolulu City Councilman Breene Harimoto is running for the seat as a Democrat.
Of the 51 House seats, 28 now feature GOP candidates, six of those incumbents seeking another term.
Hawaii is described nationally as the bluest of states, the political map color of Democrats. But there are pockets of red here, too, and shades of purple.
The local GOP’s party platform — its core values — is based on liberty, limited government, individual responsibility, fiscal accountability and equality of opportunity. But, as with the Democrats, there are strong differences of opinion among Republicans about what that means.
Approved policy resolutions at this year’s convention included support for a simpler tax law and veterans’ “timely access” to health care. Another called for opposition to human trafficking, while another stated that taxpayer funding for “biased media outlets” such as NPR should be discontinued.
One resolution stated that the party supports a “strong energy policy,” but it is one that says complex scientific issues regarding global warming are not “settled.” Thus, local Republicans support nuclear power, U.S. coal and oil industries, fracking for natural gas and the Keystone Pipeline, and they reject a carbon tax.
GOP members of the Hawaii state House.
The party also seeks “comprehensive sex education standards,” which do not include the DOE curriculum called Pono Choices that “normalizes anal sex.” The primary purpose of the resolution is to call for the rejection of Common Core State Standards in public education, which are linked by the party to Pono Choices.
And, Republicans support “protecting religious liberty,” saying that the same-sex marriage “equality” bill (the quote marks around “equality” are in the resolution) requires individuals and organizations to provide services “contrary to strongly held religious beliefs and values.”
At the Democratic Party’s state convention next weekend, there will be resolutions introduced that may express near-opposite views on some of these polarizing issues.
What Hawaii voters will decide is important, of course, is up to them — if they even bother to vote. That’s why the primary message of the GOP state convention, one that all Republicans likely agree on, is the need to get out the vote.
Hence the “Back to Basics” theme that Saiki spoke about Saturday.
“I feel alive, and well, and hopeful, because I know that we are going to do it this time,” she said. “It’s been too long.”
Contact Chad Blair via email at cblair@civilbeat.com or follow him on Twitter at .
