Beth Fukumoto is interim chair of the Republican Party of Hawaii, yet she shares something in common with Hawaii’s Democratic governor, Neil Abercrombie: They both majored in American studies at the University of Hawaii.
Of course, Abercrombie is 73 while Fukumoto is 28. But still they share a love for politics, and both are in the upper reaches of politics in Hawaii today, despite their vast age and ideological differences.
While at UH-Manoa, Fukumoto also worked as a journalist for the student newspaper, Ka Leo, winning multiple awards for excellence from the UH Board of Publications. She went on to earn a master’s degree in English at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and now is plying her journalistic and literary skills in Hawaii as director of the House Republican Research Office.
"The primary thing we’re working on right now," she said, "is getting together our House package (for the next legislative session). … Obviously the economy is a large percentage of that package … And then we also do communications, the news releases and things like that come out of our office."
As interim chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party — which is down to just one of 25 members in the state Senate and eight of 51 in the House — Fukumoto is working to improve the party’s finances and line up a strong slate of candidates for the next election in 2012. The entry of former Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, into the race for U.S. Senate, could help with those goals, Fukumoto said.
A graduate of Hawaii Baptist Academy, Fukumoto is single (though engaged) and lives in Mililani, where she ran unsuccessfully against Democrat Ryan Yamane for that district’s House seat in the 2010 election.
QUESTION: When you took over from former Hawaii GOP Chairman Jonah Kaauwai last month, how is it that you are the one who stepped up to the plate?
ANSWER: Well, I was elected the first vice chair in May at our convention, so it’s sort of like being vice president — natural succession.
Q: So you’ll be in this position through to the next state convention?
A: Actually, our state committee meets quarterly, and the state committee will have the option of choosing a permanent chair, which could be me.
Q: Is that a position you’d like to continue with?
A: I’m still weighing it.
Q: When is the next quarterly meeting?
A: We’re going to have one on Nov. 5.
Q: Is anyone else jockeying for that position?
A: Not yet. (Laughter)
Q: Who exactly was putting pressure on Jonah to resign?
A: I wouldn’t say it was one person in particular. There were just a few concerns, and eventually the executive committee came out with a letter asking Jonah to resign, and that was actually a variety of people.
Q: What were the issues of concern that prompted his resignation?
A: Primarily management. We have some financial issues, and the bottom line was we wanted make sure that we were on a good solid footing for 2012.
Q: What is the financial situation of the party right now?
A: Right now we are in debt.
Q: To what extent?
A: I think last I checked it was about $95,000.
Q: Who do you go to to get the party out of debt?
A: We’ve had a variety of donors. One of the things that Jonah actually started — and I’m going to look to build on — is our sustaining donor program, so that we have smaller donors who contribute monthly. And then, of course, you have your typical conservative or moderate donors.
Q: Is there any money coming in from the national party?
A: I haven’t seen any yet, but certainly during the 2010 election there was money coming in from national.
Q: Do you think Jonah was doing a good job?
A: I think Jonah did a lot with what he had, and he set a good foundation.
Q: Do you agree with the perception that he made it seem like the Hawaii GOP had been captured by Christian theocrats?
A: There are a wide variety of Republicans. Certainly you named some Republicans. But I don’t think that’s the entire party at all.
Q: How are you going to change that perception, that it had been captured by the Christian right, or whatever you want to call it?
A: Well, I want to make sure that people understand that the Hawaii Republican Party is open to all, that we offer an alternative voice to the dominant Democrat voice, and that there are different kinds of Republicans. We have fiscal conservatives, social conservatives; we have social liberals; we have some fiscal moderates — there’s all kinds of Republicans. So I think we have to continue to get that message out.
Q: Do you think you can be culturally conservative but still tolerant in a legal sense — basically the libertarian theory of limited government?
A: Certainly. We have a lot of those Republicans, too.
Q: To what would you ascribe the Hawaii GOP’s truly minority status right now?
A: You know, we had a lot of good opportunities in 2010, and lots of things could have gone better than they did. But I think we’re still building. I don’t think we’re at such a low point that we’re never going to come back up. And like I said, Jonah set a good foundation that we just need to build on.
Q: I do remember that Rohlfing father-son article that looked at the numbers from the last election and noted how the vote margins had narrowed in some of the districts ("Republicans in Hawaii in better shape than victories of last election suggested," Fred Rohlfing and Fritz Rohlfing, Island Voices, Star-Advertiser, Feb. 19).
A: And I was one of those candidates that they mentioned.
Q: So there is some reason to be optimistic?
A: I’m 28, so I sure hope so. I have a long career ahead of me.
Q: Are you excited that former Republican Gov. Linda Lingle has formally declared her candidacy for the U.S. Senate?
A: Very excited.
Q: Do you think that it will help revive the party in Hawaii?
A: It’s definitely going to draw a bunch more attention to the party, which is a good thing. And I think it’s positive attention.
Q: Why positive?
A: Gov. Lingle is a very independent-minded person. We need more politicians like that. And I think it reminds people that Republicans in the state have the ability to be very independent-minded.
Q: How would you describe Lingle politically, other than being a Republican.
A: I think she is always willing to do what is best for the state of Hawaii. We saw that during her time as governor. She wants to listen to the people, and she’s willing to make good decisions. I don’t think she holds hard and fast to any particular party line.
Q: Doesn’t that bother you?
A: No. Not at all. I think that more of our elected officials should really listen to the people and not their parties.
Q: How would you describe the party’s position in Hawaii on economic issues? What are some of the points that you’re trying to make?
A: One of the things is Hawaii is one of the most heavily taxed states. So certainly we want to bring down the level of taxation. Now, we’re going to have differences of opinion within the party on which taxes to bring down. But, in general, I would say that we all agree the overall tax burden is too high.
Q: What else?
A: The other thing would be that we need to stimulate the private sector more. One of the problems that we’re seeing, one of the reasons why I got into politics, is that all of my friends when we graduated from college had trouble getting good, high-paying jobs here — a lot of times because we just don’t have the diversity in the market. But Hawaii is in a very strategic location now with the market all going to Asia, and we’re in such a good position to capitalize on that, and I think that Republicans would like to see us do better in attracting some of that new business.
Q: Do you have a position on gambling?
A: I can say for myself I am against gambling. And I think that the majority of our membership would feel the same.
Q: That’s not very free market, though, is it?
A: (Laughter) To be against gambling?
Q: Yeah.
A: I think the concern is that it could negatively impact Hawaii …
Q: Socially?
A: Right. That it could socially have an impact. I think you have to be careful with opening the market too freely because you do have some unintended consequences.
Q: It seemed that in the last election that cultural issues were really driving that whole crop of GOP candidates. They were against civil unions, and I would imagine gambling, too. Is that going to continue to be prominent in the party?
A: You know, I think in the last election there was a lot of pressure to forefront some of those issues.
For myself personally, I had tried not to forefront them, but there was a lot of pressure to come out and say where we stood on those things.
So I think it’s more a matter of what are voters going to want in this next election. Do they want to focus on those things, or are they going to focus on the economy? I think that we should focus on the economy.
Q: Do you think that President Barack Obama’s low ratings nationally will help the GOP in Hawaii in any way?
A: I think we always see a higher percentage of likeability (for the president) in Hawaii — we don’t always pair up nationally with those numbers — but it could help us. It’s possible.
Q: What are you and your colleagues doing to build a new generation of candidates who have a chance of getting elected?
A: Well, in 2010, we fielded a lot of candidates, but a lot of them started late. I personally campaigned for only three months, and yet I did end up getting 42 percent of the vote.
I strongly believe that if we can get people to start early, and start strong, then we have a better shot in 2012. So what we’re trying to do is get people lined up, and get them trained, because a lot of the candidates were not very well trained.
Q: How do you train people?
A: Well, you have to … even people at the door, teaching them how to talk to people when they go door to door, and teaching them about the issues, and how to design campaign pieces — there’s all sorts of things that go into campaign training.
Q: What about fund raising? How do you train people to do that?
A: I think the big thing is to get them to just get over their own personal fears. Sometimes, because of our culture … I personally am Japanese and it’s very difficult for me to ask for money. So it’s trying to teach them easy ways to ask.
Q: I know you worked for Rep. Gene Ward, and I imagine you might include him as part of your answer to my next question, but which Hawaii Republicans do you admire the most, now or in the past?
A: Well, yes, Gene Ward. Also Charles Djou. And Linda Lingle, of course. And obviously I really like the minority caucus.
One of our up-and-coming Republicans that people might not mention very often is Rep. Aaron Ling Johanson. He is extremely intelligent and extremely thoughtful, and I think he’s a very good example of what a Republican can be in Hawaii.
Q: What about Sen. Sam Slom? He’s the longest-serving Republican in the Legislature, isn’t he?
A: I believe it’s actually probably Barbara Marumoto.
Q: Oh yeah, sure. Where would you put Barbara among the various party factions?
A: I think she tends to be more socially moderate, but she’s definitely a fiscal conservative.
Q: And Sam Slom?
A: Sam Slom is one of our hardline fiscal conservatives, and I absolutely love him because he’s willing to say no when sometimes other people are not willing to say no.
Q: What do you think about the performance of Gov. Neil Abercrombie?
A: Well, it seems like there’s been quite a shakeup in Abercrombie’s office. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I’m disappointed because he had a very young staff, and even though I may be ideologically not in line with all of them, it’s always nice to see young people involved in government, so I’m sorry to see them go.
