Gamble on Abercrombie has failed to pay off so far

If Gov. Neil Abercrombie ever comes through on his promised New Day in Hawaii, you’ll probably have to experience it from a blackjack table.

The most compelling faces of his "new day" were the bright, young newcomers he attracted to his campaign and administration, who symbolized the promise of fresh perspectives on Hawaii’s long-standing challenges.

Now, after an abrupt shake-up that’s been attributed to a sudden mass need to spend more time with family, most of the fresh faces are gone only 10 months into the new administration — chief of staff Amy Asselbaye, her deputy Andrew Aoki, communications director Josh Levinson, his deputy Laurie Au and human resources director Sunshine Topping.

The replacements so far — chief of staff Bruce Coppa and communications director James Boersema — are bedrocks of the status quo, with deep ties to the powerful business, labor and political interests that are used to the state government working for them.

Now that Abercrombie has thrown his fate to the power establishment he vowed to change, it’s fair to say that the "new day" survives only as a term of derision for 10 months of futless governance.

Critics say the newcomers were too inexperienced to connect with the Legislature and other powerful political stakeholders. But that was the expertise Abercrombie himself was supposed to bring to the table after more than 30 years of experience as a federal, state and county legislator.

The young staff were criticized for failing to project a cohesive message for the administration, which is a polite way of saying they couldn’t keep pulling their boss’s foot out of his mouth as fast as he kept shoving it in.

Those who have been left behind to explain the mess while Abercrombie tours Asia for two weeks are saying there’s too much important work to be done to waste time on post-mortems. The most pressing work for this administration is to wipe the egg off its face.

To get back to the blackjack table, the only idea that seems to be gaining traction in all this confusion is legalized gambling, which has always been an undercurrent of Team Abercrombie.

Lobbyist John Radcliffe, one of the governor’s closest political friends, has long represented gambling interests. State Sen. Malama Solomon of Hawaii island, Abercrombie’s appointee to a vacant seat, has devoted herself to passing a gambling bill.

Abercrombie himself has been fanning interest in the idea lately, and now he’s appointed Boersema, a retired public relations executive who was most recently prominent for promoting a Waikiki casino.

After all the talk of new ideas, if this old dog is the best the governor can come up with, it’ll be a sad day for Hawaii.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.