Cayetano sees Hanabusa rising on political horizon

In one of his first speeches since losing last year’s campaign for mayor, former Gov. Ben Cayetano this week warned, "I may ruffle some feathers, but I will say it anyway."

Cayetano, appearing before the annual meeting of GOP Sen. Sam Slom’s Smart Business Hawaii conference, then started ruffling away.

Cayetano, a strong liberal Democrat, was supported in his campaign by Slom and other Hawaii conservatives because of their opposition to the city’s heavy rail proposal.

Rail is moving, and Cayetano is turning his attention to Hawaii’s political landscape now without the looming presence of U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

He praised the state House organizing with a bipartisan coalition, noting that when he was in the Senate 30 years ago, he helped form a coalition with Republicans.

"Things went pretty well; it gave people what they wanted, which was bipartisanship," Cayetano said, adding that Hawaii politics could get a lot more interesting.

The big question, said Cayetano, the former two-time governor and lieutenant governor, is what U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa will do.

"I don’t think Colleen Hanabusa will remain in the House. She is a very talented person," said Cayetano, before the crowd of about 250 at the Ala Moana Hotel on Wednesday.

"As a freshman state senator, Colleen was a leader; she managed to get people to follow her, which is leadership.

"She helped us pass the most far-reaching reform of government that has ever been passed," Cayetano said, referring to civil service reforms.

Asked later if he was endorsing Hanabusa for any specific campaign, Cayetano said "no," but added that he wanted people to know that she was capable and would be a strong candidate, adding "I had my own run-ins with Colleen."

Asked for her reaction, Hanabusa acknowledged that she and Cayetano have had several policy disagreements.

"While he and I haven’t seen eye to eye on every issue, I’m proud to say a mutual respect has grown between us," Hanabusa said. "I’m glad that experience has shown him some of my positive qualities, just as I have come to see his."

She declined, however, to speculate on her political plans for 2014.

When Cayetano was governor, he tried several times to reform state civil service laws to rein in the power of the public worker unions. He wasn’t opposed to the unions, but the state couldn’t afford their salary and benefit demands, Cayetano said.

After trying to use his own Cabinet members, including some who were former union leaders, Cayetano found an ally in Hanabusa.

"It was opposed by the unions. … For Colleen to pass that, even with the unions opposed to it and very angry with her, showed another side of her. She has courage to do what she thinks is right," Cayetano said this week.

Hanabusa, Cayetano predicted, "may run for governor or she may run for the U.S. Senate."

Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie selected former Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz to replace Inouye in the Senate, but Schatz will have to run for the remaining two years of Inouye’s term in 2014.

Already signaling that he expects opposition, Schatz has picked Andy Winer as his chief of staff. Schatz’s appointment announcement played up Winer as a two-year Obama administration official, but Winer’s political value is as one of Hawaii’s most adept political organizers. He helped lead state Democratic campaigns and worked on the Pacific Resource Partner campaign against Cayetano last year.

As for Cayetano, he repeated his pledge that he will not run for another office. He also showed off his loyalties, when a young woman asked for political advice.

She said she had tried unsuccessfully to run as a Republican in two campaigns.

"Switch parties," Cayetano advised. "There are conservative Democrats."

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.