Hawaii News Now broadcast a story last night comparing the “executive experience” of the major candidates for governor (“Hannemann says his time as mayor trumps rivals’ experience“).
Each candidate took a stab at justifying why their own experience made them up to the task of governing the state.
But Hannemann, who served six years as Honolulu mayor before running unsuccessfully for governor in 2010, said, “There’s no substitute for real executive experience. Overseeing 40 employees is not the same as overseeing 10,000 employees and a $1 billion operating budget.”
Hannemann said he offers hands-on government CEO leadership his two major opponents lack.
It’s exactly the same argument he made in 2010 when he was trounced by Neil Abercrombie in the Democratic primary.
On closer examination, though, “executive experience” argument falls short.
First, there’s history, which hasn’t been kind to those mayors who, like Frank Fasi, touted their years of county executive experience as reasons they should be elected governor.
Of Hawaii’s governors since statehood, only Linda Lingle came with experience as a county mayor.
Of the rest:
Bill Quinn was a lawyer who was elected to the territorial senate in 1956, then was elected governor in 1959. No executive experience.
John Burns started as a police officer before turning to politics.
George Ariyoshi earned a law degree in and jumped into politics. He was elected to the Territorial House in 1954, moved to the Senate, then was elected Lt. Governor in 1970. No executive experience.
John Waihee, also an attorney was elected to the State House in 1980, and served just one term before being elected Lt. Governor following LG Jean King’s run against Ariyoshi in 1982. No executive experience.
Ben Cayetano, armed with a law degree, served in both the House and Senate before being on the winning ticket as Waihee’s Lt. Governor.
Linda Lingle served five terms on the Maui County Council before being elected mayor in 1990. She’s the only example over the 50+ years since statehood of a governor who won office after serving as mayor.
Neil Abercrombie, with a Ph.D. in American Studies, served in the State House and Senate, Honolulu City Council, and Congress before being elected governor.
I don’t think this is an accident. While mayor’s can brag about their executive experience, they are also burdened by the reality that the public largely discounts that experience or views it negatively.
And both Honolulu and the state have top executive officers responsible for the hands-on administration. Honolulu has a managing director whose duties include “supervising the heads of all executive departments and agencies” and evaluating “the management and performance” of the executive agencies. And the State Constitution provides for an administrative director to be appointed by the governor, now at a salary of $140,000 a year.
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Taken to its logical conclusion, your argument would suggest that even a smart monkey could be a good governor.
Come to think of it, that doesn’t sound too bad.
Yes, but one could just as easily argue that most of those you mention were terrible governors and you don’t have any real experience examples to compare to. Maybe we should try electing someone with CEO type experience and see how they stack up?? I know….crazy talk.
Whoa! Bill Quinn did not go from the Territorial Senate to being the governor in 1959. He was appointed territorial governor in ’57 by Pres. Eisenhower, which means that by the time the first statehood elections were held, Quinn had two years of executive experience. Voters must have been satisfied with his performance up to that point, since they kept him on as the state’s first elected governor.
As well, then Lt. Gov. George Ariyoshi had largely taken on the day-to-day responsibilities of governor during the final year of Jack Burns’ last term, as the latter was battling the effects of cancer. Serving as the state’s acting governor was a major theme for Ariyoshi’s campaign against Fasi in ’74.
Neil Abercrombie had no executive experience. How did that work out. And Ian, you know as well as I do, that Mufi was as hands on as mayor as he could be. He gave the orders to the MD. The MD didn’t hold cabinet or staff meetings.
Obama never was a governor.
GW Bush was.
Wow, that reaalllllllllllllllllllllly made a big difference…………….. night and day.
— Tsar Chasm
Whatever. Experience sure counts for something.
Did anyone even notice that the Star-Advertiser blew off the whole debate? What’s up with that?
The Star-Advertiser posted a debate story about an hour after the debate ended on Tuesday night and on the Political Radar blog early Wednesday.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20140930_Gubernatorial_candidates_spar_in_televised_debate.html?id=277708401
http://politicalradar.staradvertiserblogs.com/2014/10/01/kitv-civil-beat-debate/
Did Barack OBAMA have any executive experience before becoming PRESIDENT? He had only ONE good speech: “not a black American or white America but United States of America.” He asked if he should have more experience before running for president but was told no, they’ll just have more to use against you. With no experience, he’s a good puppet for the real power behind the throne. Goldman Sachs.
Isn’t community organizing akin to executive experience? (Also he had journalist-industry analytic experience with Business International so he did have “business experience.”)
Well, doesn’t anyone see the obvious? Look at the political history of our land here and in America. Why isn’t anyone asking, “Gee, why is it that in the majority of cases, every time we elect a highly educated person or lawyer they continue to take what they can get and leave us with a squalid, incompetent government that uses its power against its own people, most of the time.” Come to think of it, haven’t lawyers done just a fine job all around? Ha.
In a big bureaucracy, by far the most important thing is the ability to attract good, competent department heads. Nothing else is even a close second.