BRINING IN THE SHEAVES

BRINING IN THE SHEAVES: Since our a.m. agenda failed to materialize we had time to read the sum of the Hawai`i punditry trying to analyze why the Republicans failed so miserably here, not just losing both major races in which they ran allegedly viable candidates but in failing to pick up more state house seats and dropping down to one senate member.

We’re not talking abut the devastating loss in contrast to the national insanity but in terms of Hawai`i politics where the huge margins of the Democratic victories belied the polls that had both the governor and first congressional races neck and neck.

So why the difference?

It’s clear to us that it was the over the top religious statements and affiliations of Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Aiona and, even worse, the way when Aiona tried to play down his ties to some of the worst of the worst of the evangelical nut job organizations, the International Transformation Network, his party’s Chairman Jonah Ka`auwai, chose to up the ante with his infamous “Duke will win because the Church has been behind him the entire time operating in the POWER and the AUTHORITY of the NAME OF JESUS!” essay.

While many look to the way the Aiona campaign and his outside supporters pushed the devilization of Barack Obama or the gravity driven approval ratings of current Republican Governor Linda Lingle those factors might helped but could have been overcome.

We’re not just talking the kind of “my faith is important to me” type of religious mumbo jumbo that can easily slide by but it was the rabid, bible-thumping, nonsensical rantings of the Kaua`i born and bred Ka`auwai that turned what could have been a close race into a runaway for Abercrombie.

With Ka`auwai representing the party in general it not only addled Aiona’s campaign but hurt the party up and down the line with many who might have considered changing over in the current national political climate shying away from supporting the kind of radical Christian agenda represented by the party leadership itself.

Ka`auwai isn’t just one of those “Hawaiian” loyalists who have traditionally been Republicans for a century or even one combined with the 200% Christian element held over from missionary days.

He’s taken that political demographic, which is normally acceptable in the islands, and added the mainland-style, nutcase, religious fanatic element to establish an image in voters’ minds of some kind of Christian Taliban governing though literal interpretations of the bible.

And that’s just too much for multi-cultural Hawai`i voters who just shook their heads and voted Democrat as they have for generations.

Ka`auwai’s time as party boss is over if for no other reason than, when you lose that badly- and do so while the rest of your national party is grabbing power- your welcome is always worn out.

But if the Hawai`i Republican party is smart they’ll run, not walk, away from the brand they’ve been selling this election cycle. Even Eric Ryan might be an improvement.

VOTE AGAINST “DUKE" AIONA

VOTE AGAINST “DUKE" AIONA

There is little to recommend Neil Abercrombie as the next Hawai`i governor. He has been part of our congressional delegation’s pro-militarism and anti-kanaka maoli (native Hawaiian) support of the US armed forces’ occupation of the islands for many years and his support for thieving Akaka bill alone make him tough to vote for.

But he has one big thing going for him- he is NOT James “Duke” Aiona, the Republican religious yahoo and scion of the Lingle administration.

While we are usually loath to play the “hold-your-nose/lesser-of-two-evils” game, we reluctantly must urge you to assure Aiona will not serve as governor by voting for Abercrombie.

Despite recent lame denials, Aiona has been exposed as a scary zealot and as Dave Shapiro detailed in detail today:

has been neck deep for at least five years in the International Transformation Network and its local offshoot, Transformation Hawai`i, which stated a goal of introducing Christian values into all aspects of Hawai`i society, including government.

If you want to see something really scary watch the video posted by Ian Lind this week.

But even worse, if possible, is the likelihood that an Aiona administration would be like Lingle on steroids with most of the current crop of her incompetent and corrupt, crony department heads remaining on the job.

Or even worse they will likely be replaced by people like Kaua`i born and raised Republican state Chairman Jonah Ka`auwai who, according to Shapiro’s piece, said “Duke will win because the Church has been behind him the entire time operating in the POWER and the AUTHORITY of the NAME OF JESUS!”.

Abercrombie is even opposed to same gender marriage- though he has said he would sign the compromise civil unions bill- and has voted to fund both the Iraq and Afganistan wars.

Though he claims he will govern with more compassion that Lingle by reversing many of her more draconinan budget cuts, he has exhibited behavior that leads us to think he’d be all too ready to throw progressives under the bus should the politcal winds blow that way.

All we can say is you’ll be sorry of you don’t stop “Dookie” by voting for Democrat Neil Abercrombie.

THE DAMAGE DONE

THE DAMAGE DONE: We often feel a wave of ambivalence come over us when a true buffoon runs for office. On one hand we’re terrified that this moron might actually get elected but on the other it would provide us endless material.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Aiona is the kind of twit that, if the prospect of his incumbency weren’t so scary, we’d love to have to kick around.

Last night we’re watching KITV’s six o’clock news and there’s the big Dookie on the screen and Denby Fawcett is reporting that despite the fact that Aiona has spent eight years promoting flu vaccines he himself doesn’t get them.

After running down his numerous “get your shots” PR efforts over the years the on air story had this quote in explanation from Aiona.

"I have never really been vaccinated in the past and I guess I am a creature of habit and I seem to take care of myself fairly well, exercising and dieting and I do brag about that," said Aiona on Tuesday.

But for some reason Fawcett leaves out a quote that appears only in the print version of the story at KITV’s web site.

Aiona said he is neutral about the information about flu shots.

"I have read the literature on it, I have read the science on it and I say it has some merit to it and I am not convinced that vaccines are more beneficial that harmful. But I don't think in any way my personal views hamper our efforts to get people to get vaccinated. I encourage people to get vaccinated," said Aiona.

Are you freakin’ kidding us? It’s downright scary to think this dim-witted church-addict might just be deciding issues based on Leviticus instead of Lister.

Not everyone needs a flu shot- not everyone comes into contact with a lot of people. But Aiona is currently crisscrossing the state shaking every hand, kissing every baby and hugging every tutu he can get his hands on, spreading germs with a paint roller.

You never know with these bible thumpers- maybe when it comes to infectious disease transmission he eschews the germ “theory” in favor of demonic possession.

But think of the fun in four years of ridicule. We couldn’t ask for more.

GOING FOR THE GUSTO

GOING FOR THE GUSTO: To hear the talk from the churchies last May there was fire and brimstone a’comin’ at the polls for those legislators who voted to make gays and lesbians first class citizens– albeit with a “civil union” asterisk- when it comes to the rights bestowed in marriage.

But a look at the results of Saturday’s elections shows that not only was the bigot community’s empty threat to “remember those who voted yes to Bill 444 in election day” given way too much credence by the media, but also by the legislators themselves- most of whom, if you’ll remember, had conniption fits to keep from voting on the record until being forced to do so on the last day of the session.

But a few key races show that not only were some who voted “aye” not punished but those who voted “no” were.

Of course on Kaua`i one of those “no” votes, Roland Sagum, was not just ousted by an unknown, Dee Morikawa, but lost in a landslide. Morikawa won with 55.2% of the vote to Sagum’s 37.8% and another 7.0% left their vote blank, always an indication of dissatisfaction with the incumbent.

The funny thing there is that, in talking to westsiders over the past few days, we haven’t really been able to find any other reasons for Sagum’s dismissal other than that he just “did do anything”- that and, to some extent and for those who even knew about it, his recent representation of an unpopular projects by a North Shore developer before the planning commission.

Even though Sagum’s 16th district of the south and west sides of Kaua`i is known to be more conservative than the north and east sides the talk last May of the vote on 444 being a key to proponents’ votes was apparently indicative of the result.

Perhaps THE key race was between the openly gay introducer of HB 444, Representative Blake Oshiro and the leader of the religious homophobes, former Honolulu Councilpersons Gary Okino who specifically ran against Oshiro over the civil unions bill.

Oshiro similarly trounced Okino 53.3% to 42.0% with 10 0.2% blank.

Both statewide races also went the way of HB 444 proponents.

Former Congressperson Neil Abercrombie, who said he’s sign it in a minute, crushed Mufi Hannemann who, although he hemmed and hawed, was seen as opposing civil unions. The last minute push- or punch as it turned out- to get Republicans to crossover to the more “righteous” Mufi coming from the head of the Hawai`i Republican Party, nutso bible thumper and Kaua`i boy, Jonah Ka`auwai, is seen by many as cinching Hannemann’s rout.

Finally there was the lieutenant governor’s race where Brian Schatz, a civil rights proponent who said unequivocally that he supported 444, trounced the two biggest anti-civil rights members of the state senate, former Senators Bobby Bunda- who successfully blocked the bill in committee only to see it “ripped” to the floor- and Norman Sakamoto who made opposition to civil rights his signature issue.

Not only did Schatz win in what can be considered a landslide in a plurality vote with 34.8% of the vote to Bunda’s 19.2% and Sakamoto’s 18.5% but former Senator Gary Hooser- who made his support of the bill his top issue in ads- led the pack of also-rans pulling in 9.5% of the vote.

With the other candidates for lt. governor also supportive of civil unions, the anti civil rights voters accounted for only 37 .7% of the vote.

But let’s not forget that while “civil unions” was adopted by the progressive community as the fight du jour at last year’s legislative session it is still just another way to treat gays and lesbians as second-class citizens. And it may well be a moot issue as the “Prop 8” case recently decided in federal district court wends it’s way to the 9th Circuit appellate court where a decision upholding full same gender marriage would be binding on Hawai`i.

If we learned one thing this year it’s that these religion-addled bigots will see that any attempt to secure people’s right to love anyone they want is turned into some idiotic “sanctity of marriage” argument. Despite common wisdom of the past decade there are apparently few, if any, that are for civil unions but against same gender marriage.

The court’s decision may or may not come before next May but it’s time to decide whether to fight for full civil rights in this year’s legislature based on the results last Saturday and presumably in November where a landslide Abercrombie victory over religious nutcase Duke Aiona is likely.

That decision is, well, way above our paygrade. But those who are planning strategy for the ’11 legislative session would do well to take the legislative and election results to heart, stop pushing an incremental, fear-based agenda and reach for the brass ring.

SHHHH

SHHHH: There was a plethora of reported jaw dropping among Governor Linda Lingle and her cronies over the “Hawaii State Bar Association's board of directors' rating of appeals Judge Katherine Leonard as ‘unqualified’ to be Hawaii's next chief justice”.

Strangely enough the news of the rejection of Leonard by the bar wasn’t Starvetizer courts reporter Ken Kobayashi’s lede but instead he stressed the professed outrage of Lingle and her republican cronies in the legislature over the secrecy of the bar’s vote.

But we’ve got a lowered mandible ourselves over Lingle’s colossal nerve to criticize the closed vote, especially considering her own legacy of clandestine operations and the notorious way judges in Hawai`i wield their retaliatory sway over attorneys and others in the judiciary, according to many we’ve spoken to over the years.

Lingle and her administration’s abuse of Hawai`i open records laws has been notorious but for those who want to hear the ultimate story of fear and loathing they need turn no farther than legislative staffer Doug White’s recently revived Poinography blog.

Doug finally explained what he was up to in the year plus absence of his popular blog by telling one of those hilarious-if-it-wasn’t-so-serious tales of the runaround he got over a simple record request of the Lingle administration- not to mention the invoice for his temerity in requesting the records for Lingle’s requests for input on the bills she threatened to veto after the 2009 legislative session.

In My UIPA saga – a $1582.15, twelve month struggle White recounts the evasions, lies, delays and the incredible barriers he experienced at the hands of the Lingle administration making any charges of secrecy from her a joke.

We won’t even attempt to truncate the tale- you’ve got to read it for yourself as well as the indexing and posting of the results which White is busily compiling which are already painting a picture of consultation with everyone who is guaranteed to support her position and avoidance of anyone who might dissent.

Also notable is the lack of consultation with the Lt. Governor and current gubernatorial candidate Duke Aiona regarding which we’ll allow you to draw your own conclusions.

Lingle’s legacy of covert governance and feigned outrage over every perceived slight takes a backseat to no other past state administration’s- and that’s saying a lot.

LET THE GOOD GUY WIN EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE

LET THE GOOD GUY WIN EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE: The “last minute” maneuver in the state house to pass the civil-unions bill- HB 444- was still quite a shock to the system despite the fact that we’d heard that a massive push was underway by civil rights activists in Honolulu including some pretty intense one-on-one lobbying of house members by those with access.

Process geeks like us can check out Derrick DePledge’s blow by blow live twittering to find out how it came down.

It was aided by, if there’s such a thing within a legislative body, a grassroots effort by a handful of house members that greased the skids on promoting access and putting their own time and effort into convincing their colleagues to force the vote.

Next time you see Mina Morita give her a hug.

But what strikes us is the brilliant political move of the activist in letting the sleeping dog lie as the session wore suckering the bigots and religious zealots into complacency and do their work under the radar.

Now for the next six months we’re going to hear the big lie that’s becoming the popular rallying cry for many of the wing-nuts and, well, nut-case groups in general... that they are some kind of overwhelming majority even when their ranks are far outnumbered.

Whether it’s the same 18% (in a NY Times poll) of the populace that makes up the tea partiers- the same percentage that supported the war criminals by the end of the last administration- who bafflingly maintain they speak for the majority or the dog ladies on Kaua`i who claim “everybody” wants to engage their dirty smelly mutts when they go down to the ocean (and designed a push survey to prove it) it’s the latest in bogus lobbying through lies.

If you don’t have the majority on your side, just say you do over and over and get the press to report that you said it in their “he said she said” coverage.

Which is why we’ve got to make sure that if the homophobic lobby is going to try to make the November election about this we’ve gotta make sure we turn out and both support those who supported civil rights and replace those who didn’t- or keep those new candidates who don’t on the outside.

Here on Kaua`i the no votes came from the always bigoted Jimmy Tokioka and his west side cohort Roland Sagum. We can only hope good candidates will come forward to challenge them.

But assuming a Lingle veto- meaning we’d have to start from scratch in 2011- we’re going to need someone to sign the bill next year and that leaves only Neil Abercrombie.

Most know that Duke Aiona is generally one of the worst religion-addled ass-wipes around. But fewer know that the corrupt Mayor of Honolulu Mufi Hannemann opposes civil unions too.

Candidates aside our most daunting task will be to make sure that the other big lie- that civil unions are somehow related to same gender marriage- is put to rest by November... and that includes whenever some well meaning pea-brains like Jerry Burris conflates them as he did in today’s Honolulu Advertiser... just as columnist Dave Shapiro did as we mentioned last week.

Whatever Ms. Ding-a-Lingle decides to do we’ve go our work cut out for us on this one.