TIPPECANOE AND ABERCROMBIE TOO

TIPPECANOE AND ABERCROMBIE TOO: It might have been impossible to throw a rock at our mouse this weekend without reading someone- make that everyone- weighing in on the weekend's bloodbath on the 5th floor of the state capitol.

In case you were in a cave, apparently anyone not eligible for social security was ousted from Governor Neil Abercrombie's administration. But the official word was that the first two, chief of staff Amy Asselbaye and deputy chief of staff Andrew Aoki, left "to spend more time with their families," causing gut-busting laughter to echo through the homes and offices of anyone who has followed the administration's gaffe-filled first nine months.

The pundits have had a field day over the weekend listing all the governor's communications foibles, most of which also had people doubled over whenever his spokesperson Donalyn Dela Cruz opened her mouth.

Even Henry Curtis, not known for humorous takes on the PUC dockets with which he usually occupies himself, went to town listing Abercrombie's aberrations.

Whether it was the "fact" that the head of the OIP wasn't fired for not agreeing with the governor about not revealing the list of judicial nominees or the seeing nothing wrong with not bothering to announce emergency declarations, the governor's team seemed to shoot themselves in the foot in a "that's my story and I'm sticking to it" kind of way at every opportunity.

That was the theme once again this weekend as Dela Cruz not only stuck to the "more time with their families" line but essentially called Honolulu Star Advertiser capitol correspondent Derrick DePledge a liar, in calling any other explanation merely "speculation."

Though we won't excerpt it here, DePledge on Friday extensively cited "sources close to the administration" in explaining the way the older generation of Abercrombie's advisers pushed the youngsters out essentially blaming them, rather than the governor himself, for the foibles.

The most absurd part of this weekend's festivities was the fact that the "grown-ups" who had apparently taken over, did exactly what had led up to the the youngsters being "quitted"- trying to cover up some bad news or boneheaded move with a batch of totally unbelievable bullsh*t.

Even after two others left- essentially in protest for the firings of Asselbaye and Aoki- Dela Cruz was still pretty much asking if we were gonna believe her or our own lyin' eyes.

Abercrombie has gotten off to a bad start, not because of any policy, although the way he allowed the press to characterize him as flip-flopping his way through the last legislative session didn't help. It's because even with a cadre of capitol correspondents that could meet in a phone booth (what's a phone booth, grandpa?), he and his team couldn't control his message.

It's gotten trite to point out that it's rarely the act itself that gets pols in trouble- it's the coverup. All the firings in the world won't help if Abercrombie can't get used to the added scrutiny that comes with a switch from legislation to administration.