Politicos rack up political endorsements as election season gets into full swing

Political conventions are where you go for roaring, red meat speeches. Political leaders from Neil Abercrombie and the late Patsy T. Mink and even the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye used the Hawaii state Democratic Party conventions to shout and holler, raise the rhetoric and give the party faithful a chance for the tribal war dance.

Entering that arena last week was avowed vegetarian U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who passed on the red meat, but according to delegates and observers, still gave the memorable, tub-thumping convention speech.

Gabbard has grown into the conundrum of Hawaii politics. According to recent polling, Gabbard, 37, is Hawaii’s most well-liked politician, but at the same time, she failed to win the support of the politically potent Hawaii State Teachers Association, which last month endorsed newcomer Sherry Campagna.

“We looked at Tulsi Gabbard’s record and over a period of time her record on human and civil rights got to a point where it was so bad we couldn’t ignore it,” said Corey Rosenlee, HSTA president. “At the same time, Sherry was someone who shared our values.”

Rosenlee, in an interview, said Gabbard’s trip to Syria and meeting with dictator Bashar al-Assad “was very disappointing.”

Gabbard did not condemn recent chemical attacks in Syria, and then did not support Syrian refugees coming to the U.S. after terrorist attacks, Rosenlee added.

In a statement, Gabbard’s campaign said “While it’s unfortunate the leadership of HSTA is playing politics, Tulsi’s commitment to our teachers, keiki and public education remains unchanged.”

Gabbard’s politics are Democratic but not mainstream. She was a national spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and consistently hits the current U.S. foreign policy.

During her Big Island speech to Hawaii Democrats, Gabbard said she was dedicated to “bringing about an end to our addiction to these regime change wars.”

She warned against what she said appears to be Trump administration plans for war with Iran with legislation buried in a recently passed congressional budget bill. “This gives license to Nikki Haley and John Bolton and Mike Pompeo who are eager to go to war with Iran,” Gabbard said.

If opposing Trump’s foreign policy adds to Gabbard’s popularity, perhaps the major reason for her public approval ratings is her political instinct for positions that are alive in the moment.

The best example of that was when Hawaii was clutching for facts during the January missile false alert, information came not from Gov. David Ige, but from Gabbard who tweeted out “HAWAII — THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII.”

Shortly after that episode, Gabbard gave her congressional colleague, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, one of the labor lawyer’s first major endorsements in her campaign for governor, saying Hanabusa has “my confidence, and my vote.”

Interestingly, while Hana- busa has picked up almost all of Hawaii’s labor union endorsements, both Hanabusa and Gabbard failed to get the HSTA’s approval. The union delivered for Ige during the 2014 race and benefited from big pay raises since then.

Missing one endorsement will not make or break a gubernatorial campaign, and Gabbard is coming into her own race with more than $2 million in campaign funds, a glowing approval rating and solid name recognition.

Still the question for Gabbard to answer is: Exactly what does she want?

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.