LIHU‘E — U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai‘i, was honored Wednesday on Kaua‘i for a lifetime of public service in Washingont, D.C. Hosted by the Kaua‘i Democratic Party, hundreds of Kaua‘i residents gathered for dinner in Akaka’s honor at the Kilohana
LIHU‘E — U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai‘i, was honored Wednesday on Kaua‘i for a lifetime of public service in Washingont, D.C.
Hosted by the Kaua‘i Democratic Party, hundreds of Kaua‘i residents gathered for dinner in Akaka’s honor at the Kilohana Carriage House in Puhi.
As the first U.S. Senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry, Akaka spent more than 22 years in the U.S. Senate and 13 years in the U.S. House.
In March, he announced his retirement from politics at the end of the year.
“Thank God for all of this,” Akaka said of his 36 years in public service. “It’s not me, it’s you. You are the ones who gave me the opportunity. That privilege and opportunity has been really great.”
Throughout his tenure at the U.S. Senate, Akaka fought tirelessly for veterans’ affairs, recognition for Native Hawaiians and the environment, according to press release from the Kaua‘i Democratic Party.
“You’ve connected the islands as no one else can do,” Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. said.
With great enthusiasm, Carvalho thanked Akaka for “never forgetting who we serve,” and for “staying focused on what is right, what is pono.”
Members of the Kaua‘i County Council presented Akaka with several gifts and thanked him for his stewardship and service to the people of Hawai‘i.
“With the genuine aloha by which you live your life, you inspire and touch those around you,” Council Vice Chair JoAnn Yukimura said to Akaka.
Calling the senator “Hawaii’s own living legend,” former Akaka staff Tulsi Gabbard shared several stories of her time working in Washington D.C., including carpooling to work with the senator and seeing firsthand how he handled irate constituents, senators and staff.
“He never wavered,” she said. “He always responded with aloha when we got angry. He brought Hawai‘i to the world.”
She said Akaka would always ask about the families of his staff and bring them leftovers from dinners he had with his wife, Millie.
“Aloha can never be mistaken for weakness,” Gabbard said of the senator’s attitude of carrying aloha throughout the world. “It is the real answer, the real solution to challenges. The more we can spread aloha, the closer we come to finding peace in the world.”
Among those who came to celebrate, Emi Tokita, of Kaua‘i, remembered Akaka as an educator.
“If you wanted something, he got it and you knew it would get done,” she said of Akaka’s time working under former Gov. John Burns. She said she always appreciated Akaka’s friendliness and humbleness.
Flo Tomita said Akaka always remembers to send her a Christmas card.
“He never forgets,” she said with a smile. “Of course, he’s very akamai.”
His akamai ways were a great help to the senator when he first went to Washington D.C.
Akaka recalled he was given lots of advice and told it was a place where “you gotta fight your way around.”
Akaka felt it should not be that kind of place, and decided to bring the aloha spirit of Hawai‘i to the East Coast.
“I brought you there in spirit,” he said, “and we worked together to get things done. It sounds so simple. You folks are ambassadors of Hawai‘i. Be examples of that spirit.”
• Laurie Cicotello, business writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 257) or business@thegardenisland.com
