Hawaii GOP must broaden its base

The Republican Party of Hawaii has its biennial chance to improve its marginal standing as the primary opposition party in state governance. Broadening the islands’ political landscape, with the entrenched dominance of Democratic Party leadership, would benefit public discourse.

But that goal will be achieved only if the challengers read the electoral mood correctly and reach voters on issues they care about in their daily lives.

That is by no means assured. Last year’s special session assembled lawmakers who passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. That event infuriated socially conservative voters in particular, providing GOP political strategists with a wedge issue that could drive more people to the polls in the current election cycle.

That might even succeed as a short-term mobilization strategy, but the party leadership has rightly decided that pocketbook concerns and other issues should dominate Republican messaging, not proposals to revisit the same-sex marriage question, now settled law. Like its physical counterpart, a political wedge provides leverage only at a single point. Compounding even that limitation, this particular issue is likely to deliver diminishing returns.

The GOP met last week in a party convention in which development of a platform was a focus. Delegates reauthorized the party’s "L.L.I.F.E" platform of 2010, a list of broad, largely libertarian principles. The acronym is short for liberty, limited government, individ- ual responsibility, fiscal accountability and equality of opportunity.

Under that umbrella, more specific resolutions were adopted, including support of a simplified tax code.

Other measures conveying a message of fiscal restraint include official objections to taxpayer support of preschool programs and to a state constitutional amendment that would enable it.

Many of the positions are decidedly more right-leaning than centrist: Its support of a national energy policy dominated by nuclear power and fossil fuels will disappoint many in Hawaii who are on board with the state’s clean-energy initiatives.

But, despite the protests from the state’s most conservative activists that the issue shouldn’t be written off, GOP Chairwoman Patricia Saiki said opposition to same-sex marriage is not among the official talking points. The primary nod to social conservatism seems to be the measure opposing the state’s Pono Choices program, a sex-education curriculum that some say is too graphic. That might also resonate with some independent voters who share misgivings about top-down adminis- tration.

Still, political consultant Dylan Nonaka is among those who believe there’s an untapped reservoir of votes from same-sex marriage opponents; the former GOP party official plans to use that as an inducement in a voter-registration drive. Nonaka said he polled 1,000 gay-marriage opponents who gathered at the state Capitol during the special session and discovered that 63 percent reported that they were not registered to vote.

The party has no intention of exerting tight control over the campaign message of individual candidates, Saiki said, so there’s always the possibility that some will make marriage a central issue.

They would be ignoring the lesson of previous election cycles, when efforts by previous party leaders to rally around such isolated wedge issue ultimately fell flat with most voters. And they will be ignoring the fact that, nationally as well as locally, public opinion has shifted in favor of marriage equality rights, especially among younger voters.

Any party that hopes to get enough members elected to affect policy for the future has to be mindful of that trend line.