State office or campaign guru are options A memo from the Republican Party of Hawai’i to Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka might read something like this: “Honorable Mayor Kusaka: We respect your decision not to seek national elected office after
State office or campaign guru are options
A memo from the Republican Party of Hawai’i to Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka might read something like this:
“Honorable Mayor Kusaka: We respect your decision not to seek national elected office after your term as mayor expires next year. If you decide also not to seek any higher state office, would you mind running several Republican campaigns on Kaua’i next year, or at least helping us recruit some candidates for the party?”
The party, privy to Kusaka’s decision not to seek the U.S. House seat currently held by Rep. Patsy Mink (D-2nd District) before Kusaka made her not-running announcement Saturday, now is seeking the Kaua’i politician’s services to help other Republican candidates, said Micah Kane, party executive director.
“One of the things that we think she can be very helpful with is recruiting candidates and helping the campaigns on Kaua’i,” including governor, mayor and the Legislature next year, Kane said.
Helping state GOP chairwoman Linda Lingle’s race for governor would be a huge boost, Kane said, noting Kusaka holds the highest elected office of any Republican “right now in our state.”
“She deservedly gets a lot of respect, and on Kaua’i she’s very well-liked,” Kane added.
While Kane said he doesn’t think Kusaka would run for the County Council or the Legislature next year, the party is still encouraging her to run for state office.
“We think she’s definitely a solid candidate that relates well to Hawaii’s people,” Kane said. “If holding an elective office is what she wants to do, we’d love to see her run.
“I know she wants to remain on Kaua’i. She definitely loves the people on her island, and loves being involved as a leader on that island. She is also, I think, considering helping us in the governor’s race there on Kaua’i, as well as the mayor’s race there. She can be a champion of many campaigns on that island for our party. We see just having her involved as such a big plus for us.”
Politicians with their own campaigns to worry about have less time to work on those of other candidates, “and this allows us to try and get her involved in many other ways to help us,” Kane said about Kusaka nearing the end of her two-term, eight-year mayoral career.
Kane said Kusaka is seen as a recruiter of Republican candidates on Kaua’i, but he doesn’t think she would get involved in a Democratic campaign.
“I don’t even think that’s a fair question,” said Kane, despite knowing that Kusaka served as administrative assistant under the late former mayor Tony Kunimura, a Democrat, and ran at least one Kaua’i re-election campaign for U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, also a Democrat.
“She’s on board with us. I just know she’s been extremely supportive” of the party’s efforts, and on a more personal level, a mentor for him, Kane said.
“I became executive director two and a half years ago, and she became an immediate resource for me in functioning here effectively and has been a big help to (Lingle) within the party,” said Kane.
State Rep. Bob McDermott of Oahu, a Republican candidate for Congress against Mink next year, learned from a reporter yesterday of Kusaka’s decision not to enter the same race. He said he “was in the race regardless,” but Kusaka’s announcement “should help me clear things up” with prospective campaign contributors who were undecided over who to support on the Republican ticket.
He said he hasn’t heard of any other Republican challengers who meet the criteria he says are necessary in order to effectively campaign for Congress: A lot of money, or previous experience in public office.
“You always have some granola candidates, fruit, nut or whatever,” but he doesn’t see anyone mounting a legitimate primary challenge to his campaign, McDermott said.
Like other candidates, McDermott knows that fund-raising will get even more difficult next year, when both U.S. House seats from Hawai’i, every seat in the Legislature, the governor’s office, all the county mayors but Big Island’s, and other positions will be decided at the polls.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
