Neil Abercrombie first sought the state’s top job in 2010, with Hawaii in a recession. His "New Day" vision, developed in a statewide, consensus-seeking "listening tour," was an easy sell.
Four years later, there’s still a lot left on the job list: Reducing homelessness, for example, has proven to be a very heavy lift. Some of his traditional supporters — environmentalists, for starters — are disappointed that there’s been such a push for urban development. On some of the administration’s most intractable problems — especially at the social-services and Hawaiian Home Lands departments — the governor still has not risen to the challenge.
As for tone, the governor is no longer on any listening tour. Too often he dismisses those with contrary views, and this is a serious deficiency in any good leader.
However, Abercrombie is not getting enough credit for the progress that has been made, and it’s on the strength of that effort — and the promise of further advances — that the Honolulu Star-Advertiser endorses him for the Democratic nomination to a second term.
Abercrombie, who has largely been faithful to his party’s bedrock values, has advanced policies for problems that have hovered for years, even decades. To cite a few high notes:
» The administration pushed hard for the settlement preserving much of the rural character of land surrounding Turtle Bay Resort. The pact did involve many parties, and ironically, the final financing compromise happened with a push from his primary-election rival, state Sen. David Ige.
» Civil unions, and then marriage equality for same-sex couples, were divisive issues in the community, but our view is that settling these concerns to the benefit of broader civil liberty was the right thing to do.
» A long-standing crisis of abysmal conditions at the state’s system of public housing is resolving, with improved prospects for affordable housing development underway.
» Above all, the economy has largely recovered, with its core tourism industry stable, and the governor deserves kudos for working to right the ship before too much damage was done.
The winner of this contest will move ahead to the general election. The ballot for that Nov. 4 polling should include former Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona, the only truly qualified GOP primary candidate; others are Charles (Trump) Collins and Stuart Todd Gregory. Unopposed in the primary are former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, now on an independent ticket, and Libertarian Jeff Davis.
Abercrombie is locked in a tough contest with Ige, outgoing chairman of the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee. Ige is genial and refreshingly devoid of the theatrics the governor often brings to his encounters.
Ige, who still works as a private-sector engineer, has vowed to bring a tech-savvy business perspective often lacking in government.
On the information technology issue, he’s undoubtedly right that the governor’s push to bring Hawaii into the 21st century would have gone better with more human-resources groundwork, reclassifying jobs and adjusting salaries.
In general, Ige possesses a clear understanding of many of the problems and conflicts in state government. He recognizes, for example, the imperative to provide a greater measure of decentralization of the school system so that administrators and teachers who know their campus needs have more capacity to respond.
However, what’s pointedly missing in Ige’s critique is a powerful prescription to counter any of the ailments he diagnoses.
For example, Ige said he’d work to reverse the top-down style of school administration through appointing like-minded members to the Board of Education. But he hasn’t articulated any specific initiatives he’d develop with those appointees to give principals more leeway.
Similarly, the senator has acknowledged the improving economic fortunes but said more should be done to enhance job creation.
He points to the need to cut through the regulatory web for businesses, but suggested a task force to deal with the problem. This is unsatisfying: Task forces have been convened before. What’s needed is a pointed analysis and action plan.
Ige criticizes Abercrombie for failing to meet promises to grow more of Hawaii’s food in-state, despite the progress that has been made in, for example, the Central Oahu’s Galbraith Estate lands. When pressed for his solutions, however, Ige said only that the governor should be "driving that conversation," rather than present his own game plan for moving the process forward.
He remains stubbornly opposed to the notion of building a private-public network of preschool services. On that score, Abercrombie has been bold in his proposal to direct public funds as subsidies to qualified private schools as a way to expand early-education access to the families that need it most. Research suggests that this would deliver better academic results, but Ige proposes expanding access only through public school and federal programs.
In his first term, Abercrombie has shown the capacity to compromise with lawmakers, hammering out a pact with the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs and settling crises in the state’s unfunded liabilities.
So his often-abrasive style can be abated. If he is re-elected Nov. 4, this is the governor Hawaii needs to see.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Endorsements: July 20 through July 27, we present our picks for the primary election’s major contested races.
