Pat Saiki is settling in at the Hawaii Republican Party’s Kapiolani Boulevard offices hoping for just a little magic.
If her first time as party chairwoman did not lead to GOP victories, perhaps there is lightning the second time around.
Saiki has already done this. In truth, at 83, she has already done most things. She’s served in a Constitutional Convention, the state House and Senate. Walked the marble floors of the U.S. Capitol as a U.S. representative. Ran the U.S. Small Business Administration. She also did not win races for governor or the U.S. Senate.
If you looked to Saiki’s age as a punch line about the local GOP, it would be a mistake.
In Hawaii, politics is some sort of fountain of youth. Our governor is 75; the speaker of the state House, Rep. Joe Souki, is 81; and the chairman of the Hawaii Democratic Party, Dante Carpenter, is 80.
The most enduring dynasty is the local Democratic Party.
Democrats love to joke that the keys to their 60 years of domination in Hawaii are the missteps of the local GOP.
"The Republicans are our secret weapon," one former Democratic Party chairman joked to me last week.
As soon as the GOP announced that Saiki was the new interim chairwoman, the rump group, the Hawaii Independent Republican Assembly, started questioning the choice.
Saying Saiki, while in the state Legislature, supported abortion, the dissident group went on to question whether Saiki was conservative enough for today’s GOP.
"We can only imagine her views on gay marriage, Pono Choices, and overpaid government employees," HIRA said in an email blast.
Of course, if the minority party spends most of its time trying to saw off the ankles of fellow party members, soon you will have few people standing.
Asked if she was conservative enough to lead a GOP with its own tea party, Saiki showed she is more in sync with Hawaii voters than a lot of conservatives.
"Listen, I am a liberal when it comes to equal rights and a conservative when it comes to spending people’s money," Saiki said.
Besides being the first woman in the state Legislature to support abortion rights, Saiki authored and steered to passage the Hawaii Equal Rights Amendment to the state Constitution and wrote the legislation that allowed women to keep their own names after marriage.
Some in-fighting is good for a political party. Former Gov. John Waihee insisted that the local GOP would not grow if it did not allow contested primaries.
The local Democrats have certainly taken that advice as all the interest in the August primary elections is in the Democratic primary, including the big-ticket races for governor and U.S. Senate.
Saiki is coming to the campaign season with a different message: "We don’t care what label you are wearing as long as it isn’t D.’"
Saying she was leading a "back to basics" campaign, Saiki said the GOP has people who can win.
"We don’t have to label ourselves. People vote for individuals, not the party," she said.
Saiki may have been one of the few at party headquarters who could remember it was former Gov. John A. Burns, the founder of Hawaii’s modern Democratic Party, who said: "Any damn fool can take a stand."
The jury is still out on whether Saiki can take a page from the Democrats in the November general elections.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
