The website Real Clear Politics has called the appointment of an interim replacement for U.S. Senator Dan Inouye “among the most consequential in the state’s political history.”
And what is this about? When all is said and done, it’s about power.
The power of appointment is held by Governor Abercrombie, but constrained by the Democratic Party’s State Central Committee, which by statute draws up a short list of three nominees for the governor to choose from. After years of being more or less irrelevant to actual political power, the central committee suddenly is in a commanding position.
Keep in mind that Neil was never among the cadre of Inouye acolytes. Neil built his own power base, and initially won election to Congress despite, or perhaps because, he was at odds with the senior senator. Over the years, as Neil continued to establish his own base, the two seem to have come to some accommodation, yielding to a sometimes testy coexistence.
So when a letter from Inouye calling for Colleen Hanabusa’s appointment was delivered by two longtime members of the senator’s inner circle of power brokers, it must have been an interesting moment.
According to the Star-Advertiser:
The letter was hand-delivered to Abercrombie by Walter Dods, former First Hawaiian Bank chairman and chief executive, and Jeffrey Watanabe, a retired attorney and chairman of Hawaiian Electric Industries, two of Inouye’s closest confidants, who are among the state’s most politically powerful business leaders.
I wonder if they came to deal and not simply deliver the message.
After all, some have been talking up the possibility of Hanabusa returning home in 2014 to challenge Abercrombie in his bid for reelection. That doesn’t sound like it would leave him feeling warm & fuzzy towards Hanabusa, unless perhaps the emissaries from the Inouye faction of the party offered up something significant in return. What would that be? A free ride in 2014 perhaps? I’m just speculating, of course, but it would have to be something worthwhile.
I’m sure Neil would prefer appointing someone who would strengthen his more liberal wing of the party, and enhance (or at least not undermine) his own place in the constellation of local power. Having someone he trusts in the Senate would be a big help to his personal political interests and those of those his backers.
In any case, you can be sure there’s lots of wheeling and dealing going behind the scenes this weekend.
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Talk about feast or famine. Anyone who serves on the SCC toiled in obscurity. And now they are being courted with a fervor akin to American Idol.
And once this is over, back into the shadows they go.
Whoever gets the app’t, rest assured, the press release will not resemble the real reasons for the app’t.
I’m concerned that we continue to talk in negative terms about people being in politics “for the power”. Why is that necessarily a bad thing? We have only to consider Dan Inouye’s career in politics as an example of someone who may have been in it for the power — And he sure as hell had a mega-portion of it! — but who used that power for the good of us all.
Jim, I respect Inouye.
But believing that “power” bears no risk is political salesmanship and obvious PR. Ask Nixon.
This saying is famous for a good reason:
“Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”
This saying stands, regardless if the party is precious democrat, republican, republocrat, tea party bagger, communist, racist, fascist, tight-wad-ist, Eric Cartman-ist ………
There it is! It’s all about how power is used. Certainly Dan Inouye used his considerable power for the good of Hawaii. One only has to read his heroic exploits in WWII to know he was no ordinary man. I’m just not so sure about some of these other politicians. For all her connections, Hanabusa is no Inouye.
I have read about Inouye’s impressive exploits in WWII.
But 660, 000 American soldiers died in that war doing much the same. 7 million Germans, 3 million Japanese and 20 million Russians died. What we take for ‘heroism’ was pretty much commonplace for many people in many countries. What we know about Inouye’s ‘heroism’ is heavily publicized by the local Democratic Party for its own purposes. But it is a warped view of reality insofar as it elevates the commonplace to the exceptional. Real heroes hide their heroism, and its a huge number of men in the United States who endured what Inouye did.
I remember when I was a kid I made friends with a really friendly haole boy down the street. Finally, one day he told me that he wanted to introduce me to his father. I did not know he had a father. He took me into the back room of his house where there was a man in a wheelchair, with both hands melted into flipper-like blobs. He had a permanently bitter scowl on his face. He was a Vietnam vet, and he said nothing to me. I was so shocked I did not say anything, just nod.
It occurred to me years later that if one lost an arm in combat in WWII the way Bob Dole did, then one can become a Senator. But if that same person had lost both arms and both legs in Vietnam or Korea in the same kind of combat situation, they would instead become a pariah.
Now, people keep saying that Dan Inouye amassed power in the Senate and used it for good. But, as Ian has highlighted earlier, in all those many years in the Senate, Inouye never really sponsored any significant legislation. We call him a statesman, but he was really a master politician focused almost purely on pork. Moreover, how many of those federally sponsored projects that he brought into Hawaii really make sense for either Hawaii or the country as a whole? Is that ethical? Is that wise? And now that he is gone, how much of that will remain in Hawaii? Are we going to watch it all slowly drain away….
Worst of all is the corrupting attitude that Inouye’s ‘success’ at patronage inculcated. We see that attitude here in these comments, when we talk of the “necessity” of getting someone young in that position so more bounty in the future can be secured (and these commentators are supposedly from the progressive wing of the party!). A Senator is not supposed to be a collective lottery ticket. And Inouye’s ascent was a fluke of history never to be repeated.
Perhaps Inouye pushed for Hanabusa precisely to avoid the bad blood within the Party that would be generated by such a scramble for power. Of course, this is a charitable explanation. It’s also not mutually exclusive of other reasons.
The main reason anyone went along with Inouye generally was the fear of Inouye himself. But on the issue of succession, Inouye would not be around to enforce his own desires. That would explain the need for Inouye’s faction to make Abercrombie a deal/threat, if they have. But there might not be any deal or threat that could be made that would as powerful as the fear of Inouye. In fact, Inouye’s faction is diminished with his passing, perhaps significantly. Perhaps dramatically.
Let’s look at the threat to Abercrombie that you mentioned, that Hanabusa would leave Congress to run for governor. It is true that Abercrombie himself left the House to run for governor against his arch rival, but that was an anomaly by any standard. That someone would sacrifice a near-guaranteed permanent seat in Congress for a risky run against an incumbent is unlikely. Moreover, Hanabusa is a very typical smart-but-bland political machine insider (indeed, she seems a caricature of that). She is not charismatic. (In public she is constantly referring to Obama, as if the President’s aura will rub off on her.) She is not the formidable opponent that Hannemann was. In fact, as a Senator, Hanabusa might be much more vulnerable than Hirono to an opponent like Case or Lingle, because while Hirono has a certain obvious idealism, Hanabusa has the reputation of being just another pragmatic ambitious insider.
Abercrombie needs to know that any deal being offered to him now by these people might be like accepting Confederate money as payment just after the Battle of Gettysburg. Likewise, the threats might be paper tigers.
I agree about Hirono. Despite her shortcomings, she’s been, as near as I can tell, consistently true to her principles.
I still remember Hanabusa torpedoing civil unions.
Ian,
Thank you for offering us a very interesting analysis of the dynamics underlying the selection of Inouye’s replacement.
Yeah, well … Inouye was the de-facto Kamehameha VI. He was King of Hawaii because of his power, which is to say, because of his Senate seniority and his political acumen. His replacement won’t be any such thing. Hawaii is full of Democratic ward-heelers, spear carriers and failed politicians … no need to identify them here, everybody knows who they are … who have for years been eagerly awaiting their shot at the U.S. Senate. It’s the Big Enchilada … big salary, big expense account, lots of (always first-class) world travel, big celebrity, lifetime tenure, fancy office and a vast retinue of flunkies. To say nothing of an endless line of supplicants waiting to kiss your ring like you’re the freaking pope. This is the island version of American Idol we’re looking at. Should be hilarious.
Sad, but true. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to appoint someone from a different mold? And by that I mean different political mold. We certainly need someone with same fierceness and loyalty to Hawaii and this nation. Who does that sound like?
Wouldn’t be surprised at all if the choice is someone very few people are mentioning.
I question the Inouye factions ability to offer a serious threat to the Gov, even with his sub-50% approval rating. And certainly not Hanabusa…she’s no “happy warrior”. Grumpy shield-maiden maybe.
Occams Razor suggests the method of delivery was more about the content of the letter, and perhaps a concern by the deliverers that it would not be taken as seriously if it was presented to Neil otherwise.
For the “Central Committee”(how ominous is that)enjoy your moment, but get the 3 in quickly. Here, are start it for you:
Inouyes faction….Hanabusa
Abercrombies….Schatz
A Hawaiian……?????
Hey, when First Hawaiian Bank and HEI deliver a message, local politicians sit up straight and listen.
I was thinking of the two emissaries in the context of the FHB connection but with the Star-Advertiser connection more than the HEI. In the context of Orwell (1984), thereby becoming the de facto Minister of Plenty and the Minister of Truth.
The logical choice would be Shinseki. He knows Washington, wounded veteran, can handle the military, has gravitas, has handled major social service. Oh and local.
Shinseki is 70 and, assuming he’s not a caretaker would have to run for office for the first time in 2 years.
Not a good scenario.
If Hawaii is to break the mold of Sen Inouye and 3 others, which we obviously have to, then an appointee under 60, preferably under 50, is the key criteria.
Tulsi made a good start of this, let’s keep it going with a strategic appointment rather than just a tactical one. And please, never ever a technical one ( placeholder or caretaker ).
I agree we should go with someone young – Tulsi’s actually the best strategic choice, because she has national firepower and military experience like Inouye. Also, CD2 is a safe dem seat, so we could get behind a solid dem like Josh Green or Matsunaga for the CD2 seat.
Everyone knows it takes years to build credibility and power in the US Senate. Dan Inouye had half a century to amass his power. Not to be callous, but electing a septuagenarian doesn’t sound like a good plan for Hawaii’s future.
Hint-Hint, right, Sir Charles?
Thousands have been killed during the last decade in our continuing war. Yet we don’t have war heroes anymore. On the political side, there is a great deal of hate towards anyone that isn’t part of the political club called being democrat. Most local democrats haven’t earned anything. They have their status because they have learned to keep their mouths shut and get along. Very sad times if history is used as a reference point. Very few have sacrificed anything.
hipoli, I have no idea of what you’re implying. 🙂
This is a boon for the political spectator.
No coincidence Hanabusa is going back DC Tuesday nite. No surprise about Dods being one of the messengers; his daughter works for Hanabusa.
And what are Will Espero and Donna Kim thinking? In Will’s case, it’s either a delusion or just a chance to be in the news. In Donna’s case it’s for the purpose of keeping her name in the news and punishing anyone on the Central Committee she can get her hands on if they don’t put her on the list.
Ed Case has been admirably silent, ’til last nite’s email about the Capitol service, which he did in tasteful fashion (probably to gauge support for him putting his name in).
And so it goes.
Absent term limits let’s be sure and appoint old people.