If you want to run for office, today is your deadline to file.
Eight years ago, many of Hawaii’s political players, in different roles, showed up for the Hawaii version of “Game of Thrones.”
Back in July of 2008, there was Mufi Hannemann when he was still mayor. Brian Schatz was the Democratic Party chairman. Then-Gov. Linda Lingle got into the game to call Schatz “a political hack.”
Kirk Caldwell was there in a role that would be Hamlet, if the Prince were deciding between the state House and the City Council instead of life and death. Unfortunately for Caldwell then, the combination of dithering and ambition put him in that most uncomfortable of political positions: “between jobs.”
Ann Kobayashi, then as she is now, was on the City Council.
And because of that one day, Isaac Choy would be transformed from the Democrats‘ favorite CPA to becoming a Democratic office holder himself.
Sadly not around is former Councilman Duke Bainum, who was poised to make a comeback, only to later die in office.
The 2008 July campaigning filing deadline serves as a cautionary tale of political chaos to all politicians. And of course, for political reporters watching politicians forced off-message and into panicked ad-libbing, it was a delight.
It started with Kobaya- shi’s surprise, last-day announcement that she would run for mayor and leave her City Council seat.
Upon hearing that, Hannemann enlisted Caldwell, the House Democratic leader who had already filed for re-election, to run for Kobayashi’s Manoa Council seat.
Bainum, who had left his Council seat to unsuccessfully run against Hannemann in a previous contest, jumped back in to fill the Kobayashi chair.
Incumbents win 92 percent of the time, so when an office opens up, it is a magnet for the politically ambitious.
The confusion soon escalated as it became clear that Caldwell had filed for both the Council and the House. Caldwell wavered and said he might still run for the House if he didn’t like the Council candidate.
Then the Democrats stuffed Chrystn Eads, an executive assistant for Hannemann, into the House seat to be abandoned by Caldwell.
Eads was late getting her papers filed, and Caldwell didn’t have enough signatures from voters in his district. Eads had to drop out, leaving the House seat without a Democratic candidate. And Caldwell was ruled ineligible to run for the Council.
The chief elections officer ruled that the Democrats could pick another candidate, so they went with Choy, who was well-known in the district and had kept the campaign books for several area Democrats.
GOP Gov. Lingle offered a description, calling the chronology “shocking and embarrassing.”
Lingle noted that Schatz, as Democratic Party chairman, was trying to pry open the doors to help Caldwell and Eads.
“Some political hack goes in and tells an elections official how to run an election and do something that was obviously wrong. … The U.N. sends people around the world to make sure things like that don’t happen,” Lingle said.
All these last-minute rulings came from state Chief Elections Officer Kevin Cronin. To add to the pandemonium, it was learned that Cronin was not a registered voter in Hawaii, which is a requirement to be chief elections officer.
Hannemann made Caldwell managing director and when he resigned to run for governor, Caldwell became acting mayor. Caldwell would first lose then later regain the job from Peter Carlisle — who, like Caldwell, is running for mayor again this year.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
