Ige’s leadership style about to be tested in new setting

After four years of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s shoot-from-the-hip leadership style, Democrats in the state Legislature are now expecting David Ige to be a governor who reaches for the conference call before the sound bite.

Two days of on- and off-the-record talks with legislative leaders show lawmak- ers expecting a more collaborative and conservative administration when Ige, 56, replaces the 76-year-old Abercrombie on Monday.

The one word of caution is that Ige, like Abercrombie, has only legislative experience without ever serving as an executive.

"In the Legislature you can pontificate and say this and that, but you don’t have to carry it out, you don’t have to be responsible for the outcome because you have other people you can blame because you operate in a group," said one veteran Democrat.

"The executive is very difficult. The buck stops with you," the lawmaker warned.

House Speaker Joe Souki, who has been representing Maui as a Democrat since 1982, said Ige is likely to be more conservative than Abercrombie.

"We can only hope that he will be a good steward. I see him as a stable captain of the ship," said 81-year-old Souki.

"His style is kind of similar to (Gov. George) Ariyoshi, maybe not as conservative on social issues, but certainly on financial ones," Souki predicted.

A Senate colleague who has served with Ige for more than a decade calls the Pearl City Democrat more meticulous than Abercrombie.

"The David I know is process-oriented and doesn’t necessarily pull the trigger right away," the veteran legislator said.

"It is going to be interesting to see if he can step out of that mold and see if the people he surrounds around himself will be able to act quicker."

Another senator said Ige’s election was "a community consensus that we didn’t want a leader who sought to divide us" as Abercrombie did with his fighting words, such as threatening to "roll over" the AARP when it opposed his pension tax proposal.

"I think David is more about looking for common ground," the Democrat said.

Senate President Donna Kim agreed, saying, "I think he will be good to work with, I think he will be very collaborative."

The open question is what will Ige be interested in doing with the Legislature.

Souki predicts that because Ige has such a short time between the election and inauguration, the new governor will not have much time to set an ambitious early agenda.

"I don’t see any big programs coming from the administration next year. If there are any major programs, they will come from the Legislature," Souki said in an interview.

"I expect the first year to be relatively quiet while everybody gets orientated," Souki said.

Because so much about the new administration is as yet unknown, lawmakers can only hope for the best.

Legislators know that every consensus-building Democratic buddy can become an unhearing roadblock when one side wants something the other side does not.

"In the election we all came together at the end because of David, but I don’t know how long that is going to keep on translating over the next four years," one legislator said.

———

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