Kevin Dayton’s story in today’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser touched on an important point. The story reports on the very public attacks on Governor David Ige by House Speaker Scott Saiki and other legislators which focus on Ige’s position on Honolulu’s controversial rail project (“House speaker challenges Ige’s rail tax position“).

Dayton reports that Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has thrown his political support to Ige, who in turn has said he is “open” to extending the current 1/2 percent GET tax to fund an extension of the rail to the University of Hawaii in Manoa Valley.

Ige dismissed any suggestion that Caldwell’s political support this year has or could influence him to support another excise tax extension for rail, saying the two have never discussed the matter.

“There is no quid pro quo,” Ige said. “Everybody knows that that’s who I am. I don’t exchange favors like they do, and there is no conversation about that. We’ve never, (the) mayor and I have never had a conversation about how to fund to Manoa or what that would entail.”

And that is really the governor’s race in a nutshell. David Ige’s refusal to “exchange favors” is perhaps both his greatest strength and his greatest liability. Legislators have consistently criticized Ige for failing to act like a politician. He hasn’t engaged the legislature in traditional ways. Despite his years in the legislature, he has stayed aloof from the insider politics and back room maneuvering and deal-making.

Instead, he staked out his own policy positions, and then sat back to wait and see how the legislature would respond. His refusal to engage in the wheeling and dealing that is the nuts and bolts of traditional political decision-making has left legislative leaders at a loss on how to deal with the administration. That’s been a key factor in the current backlash.

Dayton wrote: “Saiki said Ige was “absent” last year when lawmakers debated the controversial proposal to extend the excise tax surcharge for the second time as a financial bailout of rail, and “this is why I was so disappointed to read that Gov. Ige is now ‘open’ to a permanent rail tax.”

Ige’s “absence” appears to refer to his refusal to get drawn into the traditional insider bargaining, where often “good” decisions are made for “bad” reasons.

Whether that’s good or bad depends on your perspective, I suppose. On the one hand, Ige’s defenders say he can’t be accused of backroom deals because he doesn’t engage in that kind of bargaining. But that also means that Ige isn’t effective in traditional political terms. He can’t get things done in the traditional ways because he declines to engage with the legislature in order to further his administration’s preferred policies.

On the other hand, his primary opponent, Colleen Hanabusa, is obviously very well versed in the art of insider bargaining and deal-making. She’s adept at using all the tricks of the political trade to further her agenda. Politics as usual? Yes. Politically effective? Again, the answer is yes.

In a period where public opinion is aroused against special interests and backroom deals, Ige’s refusal to “exchange favors” would seem to make him a most attractive candidate. But in today’s climate, the challenger’s call for “leadership” and “effectiveness” has struck a public chord.

It’s looking like a very close race, probably a toss-up at this point.