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.