I can clearly remember the feeling, shared by many in the journalism community back then, that the Gannett monolith was wreaking havoc with the reporting of news with its cookie cutter, top-down orders about how stories should be written and packaged, and its cut-throat corporate business practices aimed at demolishing competition.
Remember “The Chain Gang“?
Then Gannett hit hard times, its stock plummeted, it unloaded the Honolulu Advertiser…and now the company has taken another big step towards getting out of the newspaper business altogether by splitting into two companies, one made up of its newspaper and publishing group, the other broadcast and digital properties.
As Forbes notes, “the divorce between Gannett’s two core businesses will spur greater investment in both arms and could lead to a merger or acquisition a year from now.”
In plain language, either or both parts of Gannett could be gobbled up by new owners as a result of this split.
At one time, most people would have said this was unthinkable. Now its probable.
Who would have thunk it?
For more on how Gannett got into this spot, check this post from the now defunct Gannett Blog.
And who would have predicted that Governor Neil Abercrombie’s $5 million campaign would be in danger of being swamped by David Ige’s underfunded challenge?
I should say that I’ll be voting for Neil. But I can understand the perspective of friends who won’t be making that choice.
But many of the criticisms he faces are contradictory. I’ve seen online comments referring to the governor as a “Communist,” while from the progressive side he’s seen as pushing corporate-based development-oriented policies. I’ve seen others who go refer to old grievances against Neil dating from actions he took in the 1980s. Not really fair, but this is politics.
To tell the truth, Neil’s campaigns have had to deal with “high negatives” among potential voters throughout his career. There was always a chunk of voters–maybe a third, maybe more–who were rabidly anti-Abercrombie and would never vote for him. But he has always been able to cobble together a majority, winning election after election.
Now, it’s possible that, over time, that experience led him to just write off those who expressed disagreement with his policy directions, assuming that the next election will be like all the rest, and he would again be able to win without their support.
But this time, pre-election polls are suggesting that the alienated-from-Abercrombie voting block may have crossed an important threshold. There are those who will never forgive Neil for once having long hair and a full beard. But now they’re on the same side as a bunch of progressive environmentalists who look back at the battle over the Public Land Development Corporation as a breaking point. And progressives supporting open government have gotten used to having the governor as a roadblock. And then there are longtime supporters who reported hitting a “closed door” after the 2010 election and feeling they were left outside after putting “their candidate” in office.
The anti-Neil folks have always been there. But now there are more of them. A majority? There’s always a first time.
The governor’s campaign seems to be focusing on turning out his supporters. I’m one of them, and I’ll cast my vote, but I don’t know that it will be enough.
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This reminds me of Bernard Akana vs. Dante Carpenter for Big Island Mayor in 1988. But that was a general election. In the three-way gubernatorial general this year I have my doubts about Ige’s ability to prevail. Where will that leave the anti-Abercrombie progressives then? Weeping in their herbal tea.
My vote offset your vote today. 🙂
The Governor’s major problem is overdevelopment in Kakaako and he reinforced that in his message in the cab, the units being built are not affordable.
Howard Hughes Corp $250 million penthouse, that is scary. A massive complete wall of concrete from Waikiki to Iwilei!
After Mufi, Neal is the most viscerally disliked politician in Hawaii. I find his administration more bearable than those of his predecessors, but there is no question that he has never mastered local authenticity. But locals jam locals even worse than haole do, so the veneer of “us guys together” is vastly overrated as a protection of whatever it is that you like about local culture.
I already cast my absentee ballot vote for Abercrombie. What horrifies me is the thought that Aiona could win in the general.
“I already cast my absentee ballot vote for Abercrombie. What horrifies me is the thought that Aiona could win in the general.”
Why does that horrify you?
Who would have thunk Mr. Black would wind up the winner locally? Suspect that Gannett’s financing strategy for acquiring newspapers caught up with them, a twist on the old saw about chopping up the stern to feed the boiler.
I supported/voted for Neal last time but like a lot of folks, was disappointed in his first term. So I voted for Ige this time. I hemed and hawed about this because I do not want to see Aiona or Mufi win. But I decided that Demos have had many heated primaries in the past and come together in the general. I’m old enough to remember the Tom Gill, Jean King, John Waihee, Ben Cayetano races.
I disagree Ige is a weaker candidate against Aiona and Mufi than Neil. I do worry the Dems may be painting themselves into a corner if all their top-tier candidates are AJA, however. Ige-Tsutsui-Hanabusa-Takai?
The “optics” of that have not yet hit us. And hopefully, we won’t have to face that outcome. Under those conditions, the chances for an Ige victory in the general would drop.
“Optics”? wow… who would have thunk that but a mainland haole uncomfortable about being a minority. Abercrombie = Kakaako sacrificed for economic development of the rich.
I don’t think so Ian. It wasn’t “environmentalists” in the PLDC debacle. It was more vast than that. And NA added to it by insulting everyone involved as “the usual suspects” and the “I’m not your pal” quote. I’ve been a supporter for years and now can’t stand him. And there are a lot like me who all have large constituencies that used to be part of his base.
Although this issue has been largely avoided in this election, traffic is still a huge problem for some of us. Neil may be able to more than double the traffic benefits of rail by using the influence of the governor’s office to shift enough transit-oriented development away from the western half of the rail line to accomplish this goal.
He could explain to the public that, in spite of the name, most TOD residents on the mainland drive. Because more TOD means more cars, it would help west side residents if those TOD generated cars were moved to, as one example, Kalihi, so that they will not be present on roadways between the west side and Kalihi. TODs in town will likely generate greater ridership than TODs far out to the west because trips originating from town will often be much shorter in duration, which will mean less time standing crowded up body to body with strangers during rush hour. Public transportation is much easier to endure in 10 minute doses than in 40 minute ones.
Or he could announce his intention to set in motion the construction of a 6-lane Pearl Harbor Tunnel that would do much more for traffic than rail will.
Yes, this would come across as a desperate last minute ploy to many, but one should not underestimate how desperate residents of West and Central Oahu are to spend less time in traffic. He would get a bump if he rolled one of these ideas out the right way.
Couple of comments:
1) for all you Neil supporters who keep warning everyone that a vote for Ige paves the way for an Aiona governorship, give up this scare tactic already.
The latest HNN poll shows that in a hypothetical general election matchup, Aiona leads Neil by 15 points, while Ige would trail by 7. I’m no paid political analyst, but that data tells me that Dems would have a smaller hill to climb if Ige is the party’s standard bearer, would it not?
Combine that with the fact that Ige’s favorable numbers are much higher than Neil’s, and once again, it doesn’t take a PhD in poly-sci to deduce that Abercrombie would have a much harder time getting voters currently leaning towards Aiona and Mufi to switch than Ige would.
2) Are there actually still a significant bloc of voters today that oppose Neil due to reasons like personal grooming and labels of communism/Marxism? Is it still 1968???
Frankly speaking, the idea that stereotypical voters with Archie Bunker-type of prejudices and narrow-mindedness are coming out in force to bring down Neil this year,… c’mon! If Hawaii had a large enough segment of those kind of voters to make a difference, then how did Neil triumph over the likes of Mufi and Aiona in 2010?
I guess if this is Neil’s swan song, then it doesn’t matter for him to face up to the reality of why the electorate turned against him. If it makes him feel better to believe that a bunch of anti-hippie bigots have suddenly come out of the woodwork to unseat him, then whatever.
As to your point #2. Hawaii News Now ran a story on Aug. 5 about the primary. They had one anti-Abercrombie voter on camera.
Here’s what he said:
Terry Matsumoto was worried the storms would prevent him from casting his ballot. He told Hawaii News Now, “There’s one particular race. I think back to one person in the 1960’s. I didn’t like him then and I don’t like him now.”
recent poll numbers will be meaningless once Aiona actually has an opponent. for the billionth time, polls only reveal a moment in time. (for the record, i think Aiona is Palin Lite)
*IF* Aiona wins, many people on this blog are going to need Valium. dealing with reality often requires a 12-step program.
once Neil is out of office, he really should start a major marijuana distribution center. (nonprofit and federally funded of course)
Due to the impending storm’s Govenor Ambercrombie should extend the number of voting day’s until he can regain dry ground.