When John A. Burns was governor, the door to his press secretary’s office was always open and the political reporters would stop by once or twice a day. It was more a sign of a less-security-conscious time rather than the information flowing from the Governor’s Office.
Press secretary Don Horio, a former Star-Bulletin newspaper reporter, was fairly closed-mouth.
The reporters of the day, like Doug Boswell and Tom Coffman, would ask: "Where did you go for lunch, Don?"
"I went out," Horio would reply.
If there was any news to be gathered, it came from gossiping among the reporters, except when Burns himself would stroll into Horio’s office.
Historian and former Star-Bulletin reporter Tom Coffman, in his book "Catch a Wave," described a Burns interview:
"To a given question, he might purse his mouth, arch his right eyebrow, arch his left eyebrow, arch both eyebrows, frown solemnly, grin lopsidedly, wink, pull an ear, raise both hands in mock surrender, lean back casually, lean forward intently — in the matter of a minute, he might do all these things in succession."
The closest thing to a sound bite from Burns was when he declared, "Any damned fool can take a stand."
With George Ariyoshi as governor, the news media included television, and politicians had to actually appear on camera and talk.
Reporters would gather after Ariyoshi’s many formal proclamations to trap him as he walked from his ceremonial to working office. The leap-and-nab technique went on for years until Ariyoshi finally would sit at his desk and answer questions.
When John Waihee was governor, the news conferences after proclamations were encouraged. Waihee installed a toll-free phone line so neighbor island reporters could call in and join in the questioning. Waihee elevated the importance of communication by naming both a press secretary and a communications director.
Gov. Ben Cayetano was hammered by budget cuts and the neighbor island phone was dropped. He did keep both a communications director and press secretary. The local news media found Cayetano to be a standup newsmaker and, besides reporting his utterances after proclamations, television reporters would ambush him coming and leaving the Capitol. Most of the time Cayetano was cordial and concise in his comments.
The arrival of Gov. Linda Lingle elevated communications. Lenny Klompus, communications director, added more to his staff, increased the governor’s ability to get on the Internet and went out of his way to make sure reporters got the spin on the message of the day.
In addition, Klompus increased the two-way flow of information by providing the local news media with the cellphone numbers of not just the information officers but all department directors. Not since Burns had required all his department heads to list their home phone numbers, were the state executives as accessible.
Lingle remained both available to the media and solidly "on message." Accessability did not mean spontaneity and if she had decided not to comment, the subject would not be explored.
Today with Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the door is simply shut. Gubernatorial proclamations are done in secret or without public notice. So instead of a chance to question the governor at length several times a week, the press and the public are left to subscribe to his Facebook or Twitter feed to be spoon-fed pablum.
After a problematic first 10 months in office, Abercrombie has been forced to redo much of his executive and communications staff. How he handles communications now will go a long way toward defining his term in office.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
