With the Republican takeover of Washington, D.C., the local GOP is crying about Hawaii being out of step because of our all-Democratic congressional delegation.
Yes, Hawaii would probably benefit from having a Republican voice on Capitol Hill, as the late U.S. Sen. Hiram Fong and former U.S. Rep. Pat Saiki once provided.
The question is, how often do Republicans put candidates of their caliber on Hawaii congressional ballots?
The answer is not often at all, and it’s disingenuous of Republicans to blame voters and the Democratic Party for their lack of representation in Congress when it’s nobody’s fault but their own for failing to field and support credible candidates.
Do they expect Democrats to throw them a couple of congressional seats as a charitable gesture?
In this year’s U.S. Senate race, Republicans took on incumbent Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz with John Carroll, an affable perennial candidate who repeatedly loses bids for high office with near-invisible campaigns.
Even many Republicans didn’t vote for Carroll, who received some 36,000 fewer votes than the 128,847 Donald Trump got in Hawaii. Was it the voters who missed something or Republican leaders who couldn’t find a candidate capable of carrying them to Washington?
In the 1st Congressional District, Republicans recruited a potentially appealing candidate in Shirlene Ostrov, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with experience in many of the issues facing Congress.
But she languished as the best candidate nobody ever heard of, raising only $36,000 to get her name and message out against Democratic opponent Colleen Hanabusa’s $813,000.
The Republican Party gave her a grand total of $879, and it wasn’t even cash; it was for sending emails to party members on her behalf. Who can blame voters for sending a proven capable legislator to Congress over a candidate they didn’t know?
In the 2nd Congressional District, the GOP candidate against U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was Angela Kaaihue, who was disavowed by the party after she insulted Japanese-Americans, denigrated Gabbard’s race and religion, criticized the late U.S. Rep. Mark Takai for having cancer and offered to drop out if Gov. David Ige gave her a land deal.
With such a lame effort by the local GOP against well-established Democrats, is it any surprise Hawaii Republicans were left out of the Trump takeover?
The Hawaii Republican Party’s is dead unless it can shut down the vicious infighting and extremist ravings that have made it a toxic brand among the vast majority of local voters, taking down quality candidates like Linda Lingle, Charles Djou, Duke Aiona and Sam Slom along with the fringe players who too often carry the GOP banner.
Democrats fight among themselves too, but they stop long enough to do the hard work of recruiting credible candidates and giving them the support needed to win.
