The question to answer in this Democratic primary election among Hawaii’s major candidates for governor — U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele, former First Lady Vicky Cayetano and Lt. Gov. Josh Green — is not who can best build low-cost housing or stimulate new economic growth or even come up with protections against rising sea levels.
The question is about character: Who has enough tenacity to do an honest, thoughtful and competent job as governor for the next four years.
It is turning out to be a tough call.
Voters can see major questions in all three Democrats.
The dilemma with Kahele is: What does he want to do and can he do it? He went from state senator to U.S. congressman to candidate for governor in less than a decade. The death of his father, a state senator, prompted Kahele’s appointment to the Legislature. Kahele’s political skill landed him in the U.S. House and his own ambition drives the gubernatorial campaign. Now it is up to the voters to decide if he is really up to that job.
Cayetano’s unanswered question is: What does a successful, concerned and thoughtful business person know about successfully operating in the local political milieu? Try as you will, politics is not business. It is not always rational; political ties and loyalties that become the reason for a vote for a bill cannot be just the function of business. Politics is more than an art, or even a passion. It can be a global view, a self-identity. Someone can reasonably say, “I was born a Democrat,” but who says they were born a mortgage broker? So Cayetano has to show voters she can eat, live and exist as a politician — not an easy challenge.
Finally there is Green, who is now running into questions of veracity. What exactly is in your checkbook? How do you earn your money? Green was forced to say bluntly that he has been in private practice as a physician at the same time he was serving as lieutenant governor.
Doctors diagnose; they don’t usually look to make compromises or please the most. Green, however, has developed the political skills to fit in and then move ahead in the sometimes limiting world of Hawaii politics. Now Green is forced to answer questions about his medical practice and to how he can keep it, while also being a public servant.
With Hawaii’s vote-by-mail system, the primary election is going on now and will continue until Aug. 13. Every day until then, Green, Cayetano and Kahele must answer the questions of their character and qualifications over and over.
It is not a campaign turning on anything except who has the fortitude to be governor of Hawaii.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
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