It was a long time ago, when Frank Fasi was the bad guy.
In our household, Fasi was persona non grata because of his ongoing feud with then-Gov. George Ariyoshi, the chosen successor to the sainted Irish Catholic Democratic statesman, John A. Burns. Ariyoshi also employed my father at the Department of Planning and Economic Development, the precursor to today's DBEDT.
So when Fasi challenged Ariyoshi for the governor's seat in 1974, the family was drafted to walk the streets, distributing Ariyoshi leaflets and removing the Fasi ones. We all knew the Ariyoshi mantra, "Quiet and Effective" - the opposite of Fasi.
Of course, it was only half true. Fasi was pretty effective, in his own way. Anyone who rides TheBus should know this. But at the time, his campaign to become governor seemed like preening ambition, an attempt to make himself over as a statesman to replace what he truly was - a hard-working, blue-collar, big-city mayor who got things done. The elegant aerie of the Capitol's Fifth Floor wasn't a good fit for a guy who drove himself around in a yellow van; at least, that's how voters saw it.
But history has the last word, and Frank Fasi leaves us with a legacy of a beautiful, vibrant city, built in no small measure on his strength as a public servant. That's the mark of a statesman.
It used to be that a critical report from the State Auditor meant something — that the target of the report would at least pay lip service to the call for action. Serious allegations call for a serious response.
This has not been the case with the latest audit, which called for the resignation of Ted Liu, the head of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, because of how the department managed federal grant money and private donations for an overseas trade mission. It said that Liu and his staff withheld records and provided misleading information about the trade mission and the use of federal monies for department business.
That's a serious allegation in itself; even more so is calling for the resignation of a Cabinet-level officer, which is uncommon, even for an auditor as independent and aggressive as Marion Higa.
But Gov. Linda Lingle dismissed the auditor's conclusions with the back of her hand. She told the DBEDT staff, in comments quoted in The Advertiser (Jan. 30), that "everything that they hear about DBEDT is simply politics, and has nothing to do with their work, that they do an outstanding job." She also went on to say that Liu has her "complete and total support, as well as his entire DBEDT team."
Well. So much for lip service. The chasm between Higa and Lingle over this audit is too vast to be bridged by nuance or compromise. Which leads to only one conclusion: One side is right about Liu and DBEDT, and the other side is terribly wrong. Both sides are sworn to act in the best interests of the public — and one is apparently not doing so.
That should be disturbing for any citizen, regardless of which side you believe.
This morning, while sitting in stopped traffic at a long red light, I watched a woman ahead of me get out of her car, open the door to the rear seat and take something out. She proceeded to walk up the middle of the roadway — the light was still red — to the bright yellow city garbage truck a couple vehicles ahead of her.
She knocked on the door and held up a case of beer.
After a momentary pause, the door opened and she slid the case inside the cab. Then she returned to her car, got in and closed the door just as the light turned green.
So I read the headline about Ed Kubo being tapped for the state Circuit Court and was struck by three thoughts.
One is that Gov. Linda Lingle may get a few more chances to fill the multiple judicial vacancies before she leaves office, certainly a way to leave a lasting impression.
The second is that this appointment probably will be confirmed without much of the drama so often seen in the state Senate. Though it's possible to be speaking too soon on that score.
The final, more personal reaction to this bit of news: Boy, am I getting old.
The reason I say this about the Kubo story is that I am a contemporary of the former U.S. Attorney, who also attended the University of Hawaii.
Once, while attending a reunion of former staff at Ka Leo O Hawaii, the student paper, I was flipping through the pages of a bound volume of newspapers.
I stumbled across a story I wrote. There was a mug shot with the piece, of a young, oh-so-young-looking Kubo, who at the time was a senator in the student government, the Associated Students of UH.
Now he's about to be a judge and I... well, that's where the parallel breaks down. I'm still basically doing the same thing, though now with electrons as well as ink.
It's funny how suddenly you've become the old guard, feeling older but not always so much wiser than the kids you once were.
OK, now things have gone too far for this McKinley High School grad.
I'm almost embarrassed on behalf of our visiting president, that he'd have to read about all the silliness over honoring him by sticking his name on something in his home state.
But McKinley? You really want to honor the president by having him jump the claim of all those well-known pols who actually are Tiger alums? This would have to be a real stick in the eye for Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, who already voiced his doubts about Barack Obama's local cred. I count myself among the Obama supporters, but I trust many of my classmates would agree that this is a bad idea.
Wasn't crazy about the mayor's proposal, either. Rename Magic Island? First of all, it's going to be too tough to get people out of the habit of calling it Magic Island if you can't even get them to call it by its FIRST official name. (I consider myself pretty local, and I had never heard of 'Ainamoana Park.) Besides, I love the Hui Ohana song "Magic Island," so I think we need to keep a place with that nickname.
Putting his grandmother's apartment on the historic register? Argh. And creating ANOTHER state holiday in his name? That's over the top, even if the state didn't already have an excess of holidays.
I do appreciate the notion of creating something new, though. Why can't one of the new schools that surely will be built on the West Side be named for Barack Obama? Setting aside all the flap over the state's education challenges, it would be fitting to put his name on a place that's starting up fresh. Nothing could be more central to the Obama agenda than education , and there are other regional reminders of his priorities, too. Renewable energy, mass transit starting up on the 'Ewa plain.
But changing the name of an established alma mater such as McKinley High School is sure to have a Tiger by the tail. Quite a few of them, in fact.
