This is, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Year of the Snake; the Hawaii political calendar has 2013 as the year of the new faces.
For a political environment that basked in its predictable routine, this year has a lot of new hands on the levers of the political machine.
The certainty of Hawaii was you knew who was running things, you knew what was favored and what and who were disliked. There was a way to success and there were limits on who would progress.
The death of Hawaii’s political patriarch, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, disrupted that machine, but it was fast up and running in version 2.0.
For instance, our freshest faces, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, 31, and one of our oldest, Gov. Neil Abercrombie, 74, were at Hotel George in Washington, D.C. last November for a $2,500 to $1,500 fundraiser labeled "Breakfast with Gov. Abercrombie," with the money earmarked for Gabbard.
The newest senior U.S. senator is Brian Schatz, who as lieutenant governor was neither a household word nor on everyone’s tongues as the next great thing.
But, steady and reliable he was, and his appointment shows that it makes sense to play ball with the last guy standing, who is Gov. Abercrombie.
In Schatz’s place is the newly named Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui. He is so new that some TV news reporters were actually asking questions like, "How did you get your name?"
Before his promotion, Tsutsui privately held the fairly prosaic goal of wanting to be mayor of Maui.
Now, besides being acting governor when Abercrombie is out of state, Democrat Tsutsui will be considered someone who could step into the top state job permanently, if Abercrombie decides to retire.
Unlike Abercrombie, Tsutsui is more prone to collaboration than bombast and has been a steady hand as state Senate president.
Similarly, over at City Hall, no one is expecting bombs to be thrown from the mayor’s office.
Kirk Caldwell’s inauguration speech was a model of hands-across-the-aisle bonhomie.
Caldwell spoke well of the public and of the City Council and proclaimed the less-than-startling wish that everyone get along.
His claim to fame was serving as Democratic leader in the state House and being a well-liked Democratic representative from Manoa.
His campaign for mayor was marked with several surprisingly testy debates with former Gov. Ben Cayetano and was aided immensely by labor and Hono-lulu’s establishment backing rail and transit development.
These new hands at the wheel will find that it still turns the same way and that Hawaii is still headed in the same direction.
Our state’s tiny economy is more vulnerable to disruption now that we are without the federal assistance given by the late Inouye and the retired U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka.
Honolulu’s vibrant business climate is still a hoped-for future and not a dream realized.
New and old politicians know that an expanded economy comes with much controversial growth.
When politicians promise more jobs, they downplay that increased economic vitality means more crowded roads, hotels and subdivisions.
So this new year may be coming with new faces, but the question is, do they have new solutions for our old problems?
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
