A story yesterday by Star-Advertiser writer Nanea Kalani reported recently-resigned Lt. Governor Shan Tsutsui “is said to be gearing up to run the Maui operations for the gubernatorial campaign of U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa as she mounts a challenge to Tsutsui’s old boss, Gov. David Ige.”
While in the Senate, Tsutsui represented the Waihee-Wailuku-Kahului area of Maui, and was succeeded in the by Sen. Gil Keith-Agaran.
So I decided to see what the Maui News has reported on Tsutsui’s plans.
Well, the short answer seems to be “nothing.”
At least relying on the Maui News “search” function, I didn’t find anything about Tsutsui’s reported role in Hanabusa’s primary election challenge to Ige.
But an informal reader poll on the Maui News website caught my eye.
It asks a simple question: Who is the most powerful politician in Hawaii today?
The unscientific results (as of early this morning) are striking. Senator Mazie Hirono and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard combined to garner almost 70% of the votes, each with just over 2,300 votes.
Colleen Hanabusa, who is ditching her seat in Congress to challenge Ige head on, and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, lagged far behind, each taking just over 9% of the votes.
Ige, with just 6%, and Senator Brian Schatz with 5.6%, trailed.
It’s obvious that Hirono and Gabbard had their troops, or their campaign consultants, working hard to generate responses. Beyond that, I’m not sure what it tells us.
But by asking the question, it reveals there are no easy answers. And that says something about the state of politics in the islands today.
Maui News Online Poll
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retired UH-Maui College professor and longtime political observer Dick Mayer:
“Hanabusa’s standing is quite different. I’ve never heard anybody say anything particularly nice about her on Maui,” he said. “I don’t know the degree to which he’s doing this because of his reaction to Ige, being pissed off or angry with him, or because he really believes Hanabusa is a super candidate and would do a great job as governor.”
–SA
Not surprising the Maui News has nothing going on with regard to fresh news on the local political scene. This paper is a shell of itself when the Cameron family owned it. The paper is just awful. No other way to say it……..
The most powerful politicians would be the heads of the public employee unions, especially the HGEA. They are so entrenched that even the likely anti-public-employee-union decision expected from the U.S. Supreme Court won’t affect their ability to influence elections.
He bailed to work for a lobbying firm.
She plays footsy with special interests.
His old boss is very vulnerable.
Connect the dots.
The leadership vacuum is Hawaii’s biggest problem. Our Pols act as gate keepers rather than moving solutions and innovative forward thinking policies. Squeezing in ever more tourist and development is pushing out all the local families.
The play by play of political name recognition replaces the total lack of ideas all these candidates