Isle Democratic convention has strange brew of issues
In different ways, much of this weekend’s state Hawaii Democratic Party convention will be about the futures of U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.
Hawaii Democrats are meeting to ready themselves for the upcoming national convention, pick a new party chairperson and take care of other business — but the unstated agenda is the 2016 elections and precisely who is running the state’s majority party.
Leadership is a bit of a question because, while most local Democratic leaders are supporting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president, 70 percent of those who voted in the Hawaii party preference poll supported U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
And there is expected to be much pressure on Hawaii’s uncommitted superdelegates to also support Sanders.
Into this mix comes Gabbard, who has spent much of the presidential campaign season introducing Sanders at rallies across the country. She adds enough to the Sanders campaign that Gabbard is where the networks go for a Sanders sound bite, if the candidate is not available.
Gabbard will be speaking at this weekend’s convention as a Hawaii congresswoman, not a Sanders spokeswoman, but she said in an interview this week that she sees her mission as pushing forward Sanders’ issues of reforming U.S. foreign policy and increasing income equality and health care.
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Gabbard is rejecting the idea that the big win for Sanders among local Democrats translates into the 35-year-old Hawaii National Guard major now running the local party.
“More people in Hawaii have become engaged because of these issues that they care about, so that is where my energy will be and increasing the dialogue,” Gabbard said.
Asked if she wants to be in a position to lead the Hawaii Democrats, Gabbard said, “I haven’t thought about that.”
“I am constantly using whatever platform I can to raise the issues,” she said.
Meanwhile, Hanabusa has thought about her own future, and her thoughts are turning back to Congress.
While former Rep. Hanabusa has been telling supporters this week that she intends to run for her old congressional seat, it is not clear if she will announce at the convention or afterward.
Hanabusa reports that U.S. Rep. Mark Takai called her before announcing that he would not run for reelection because his health condition has become more serious due to the discovery that his pancreatic cancer has spread.
The political reality of his condition is that if Takai cannot run, Democrats will want to quickly put up an electable candidate because the East and Central Oahu congressional district has twice put a Republican in Congress: U.S. Reps. Pat Saiki and Charles Djou.
Hanabusa, a veteran state legislative leader, had once occupied the congressional seat and left it to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.
The race for what had been thought a safe Democratic congressional seat will be a sprint. Hanabusa neatly fits the Democrats’ bill of being someone who can do the job, still has a reasonably intact campaign organization and can quickly raise campaign funds.
The deadline to file for the election is June 7 and absentee voting will start Aug. 1, so the race will go to the already prepared, which in this case is Hanabusa.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
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CORRECTION: Tulsi Gabbard is 35. An earlier version of this story and the story on page A15 of Friday’s paper said she is 34.
12 responses to “Isle Democratic convention has strange brew of issues”
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Go Hanabusa!
Issues? How about tackling the high costs of everything? That’s what the people want solved. All the rest is inside politics. And having said that, if seniority is so important, why doesn’t Takai resign and the Governor appoint Hanabusa?
Whatever Democrats elect to do, one theme to keep foremost in mind is to stop Trump.
All over the news is Trumps remarks to put OIL/GAS/COAL players back front and center. His remarks intended to garner votes from those affected by OIL/GAS/COAL. So much about world climate control. That’ll throw climate control around the world into reverse; suck-it-up-world, cough,cough.
I might add that as evidenced from past Republican administrations, catering to big-OIL/GAS/COAL concerns has been and always will be the driving force.
The dems need an injection of new candidates. It was a breath of fresh air that Takai, Gabbbard, and Schatz were elected to represent Hawaii. Hanabusa’s conduct in her senate bid showed what a nasty person she was.
Hanabusa is logical as the Dem choice for US Rep. Then I can stop calling her Hanabuttah as the toadie HART chair for cladwell, grabby and fiends.
Wish Chihuahua Boy Schatz and Hirono would have the guts to tell us all that the toy choo-choo and HART is the legacy of Daniel K. Inouye. One of the last strings he pulled. Everything is in place now and the unfortunate thing is all the major Dems are going lock step in supporting the toy choo-choo because it is a major bonanza for developers, contractors,the unions, PRP, cladwell, the city council, and all the political hangers-on.
Don’t get me wrong. If the Repubs were in charge in Hawaii and had the Hawaii Congressional seats, they would be doing the same, except for the fact that there remain only 1 Repub in the state senate, and 7 bickering reps in the state house.
Actually, it’s the moderate Repubs here going up against the HE > i — I > u group, that nominally call themselves Repubs, but in reality are the TRUE CHRISTIAnS-only party, otherwise known as the Tea Party. They’re grooming the likes of Trevor Ozawa to take on the mantle of Duke Aiona, who despite being a Christian, is only a Catholic. From what I hear, Catholics are not considered to be TRUE Christians, neither are Mormons. You have to belong to one of the New Faith born-again groups to be legit, drink grape juice as Jesus did at the Last Supper, want to make all abortions acts of murder to the point of vigilante-ism, and return women to the home, raising mucho keiki and cooking for the family. Then you’re a TRUE Christian.
Could you translate the above. Gobblie gook. Nothing personal. mahalo
TRUMP kicked A-S-S
Tulsi Gabbard is 35, not 34
Voting doesn’t really matter anymore-the government always gets in.
Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference (Bernie, ur better than that)? Why Hillary couldn’t just say she should have cooperated with the IG so that the mistakes made, like those before her, can be corrected? Two of the most disliked candidates ever?
Anger and lack of trust can’t be what determines the future of our country. No one needs anymore of this same old rhetoric. We just simply need to wake up.
Decades ago, everyone had their vision for the future. The younger generation today also have their vision for the future. And so it goes, their children will also have their own vision for the future.
Wonder what the future will be like, say, two hundred years from now? As long as it’s better with each generation, that’s what really matters. So let’s remember to be respectful of what came before, that what also really matters.