Isle Democrats elect lobbyist Lopez as new chairwoman

Waikoloa, Hawaii >> Hawaii’s Democrats elected lobbyist Kealii Lopez as their new chairwoman for the next two years Sunday, dealing a blow to the more liberal or “progressive” wing of the party.

The election of Lopez was in part a reflection of continuing party tensions that date back to the 2016 split between supporters of Hillary Clinton and the more liberal backers of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Lopez, 57, served as director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs under former Gov. Neil Abercrombie. She defeated current party Chairman Tim Vandeveer, a Sanders supporter.

Vandeveer was elected two years ago after more conservative elements in the party and labor groups split among several other candidates, creating an opening for the Sanders supporters.

This year’s convention in Waikoloa was well attended by the more liberal wing of the party, which is particularly well represented in the ranks of Hawaii island delegates, but Lopez defeated Vandeveer by a vote of 529-472. A third candidate, Gloria Borland, received 38 votes.

The convention at the Hilton Waikoloa Resort was actually attended by only 605 delegates, but the vote count was weighted to give more votes to off-island delegates to compensate for party members who were unable to manage the interisland travel trip to attend.

In brief remarks after Sunday’s convention election, Lopez recalled her childhood, moving from one public-­housing project to another, but said her family always had a “special place to return to” at her grandmother’s home on Hawaiian homelands in Waimanalo.

“I will be very upfront with you. The Hawaiian community and the Hawaiian agenda, I hope, is going to be very important to this family,” she said referring to the state Democratic Party.

Vandeveer supporters, including Democratic National Committeeman Bart Dame and former state Sen. Gary Hooser, said they were satisfied the election process was fair, but some delegates expressed concern privately that the party had just elected a “corporate lobbyist” as its chairwoman.

Lopez is director of government affairs for the law firm of Alston Hunt Floyd &Ing, and was registered to lobby this year for clients that include the American Resort Development Association, Expedia Inc., the Hawaii Association of Mortgage Bankers and the Western Plant Health Association, which represents biotechnology and fertilizer companies.

Vandeveer pledged to support Lopez, telling the crowd, “I want every single one of you to know that this is my party chair, and I want you to stand by her and the work that she does,” gesturing toward Lopez. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re not going anywhere. We’re Democrats. This is what we’re all about.”

Earlier Sunday, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard offered the convention crowd a harsh Memorial Day weekend critique of national leaders “who continue to act as through the United States should be policeman for the world.”

“As peaceful as this day may be, it is important that we all observe it, and remember the cost of war and who pays the price: those who were killed in combat, and those who come home who suffer from visible and invisible wounds that sometimes haunt them for the rest of their lives,” she said.

Gabbard, a major in the Army National Guard who deployed to Iraq, described a veteran she served with who last week joined 22 other veterans “who survived combat to come home and end up losing the battle and taking their own lives.”

“He was just 32 years old, unable to withstand the demons that haunted him, leaving behind his two young daughters,” Gabbard said. She did not name the veteran.

Gabbard repeated her opposition to U.S. participation in “regime change wars,” drawing a long, loud round of applause from the delegates.

“Too often people say, ‘Hey, this is bad, this is dangerous,’ but that’s something happening over there. We need to focus on what’s happening here,” Gabbard said. “We cannot forget the cost of war does not only exist for those who wear the uniform, but it takes a toll on every single one of us in this room and every single one of us in Hawaii, every single one of us in this country.”

“We’ve spent trillions of dollars on these wars since 9/11 alone,” she said. “Those trillions of dollars could have and should have been used to invest in the needs of our veterans right here at home. … Every single dollar that we spend on counterproductive wars is a dollar that we are not spending here at home.”

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hana­busa also addressed the crowd, saying she is running for governor “because we have the most wonderful place in the world to live,” adding, “Hawaii is a very special place. When you are in Washington, you realize how very special Hawaii is, and I am running because I feel in my heart that unless we have strong leadership, we are going to lose the Hawaii that we all love.”

She added, “You hear all about minimum wage, but the real issue is the living wage, and if you look at my record, you will see that early on I proposed those pieces of legislation,” she said. She also cited the need to cope with increasing health care costs.

Former state Sen. Clayton Hee, who is also running for governor, called for a single-payer system of health insurance and a minimum wage increase “that needs to be done, and needs to be done now.

“Those are the issues, and you need someone with a history who’s unafraid to do those things, and that’s what I’ll bring to the table,” he said.

Hanabusa and Hee are challenging Gov. David Ige in the Democratic primary.