Tsutsui expected to join Hanabusa campaign

Not long after his abrupt resignation as Hawaii’s lieutenant governor, Shan Tsutsui is said to be gearing up to run the Maui operations for the gubernatorial campaign of U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa as she mounts a challenge to Tsutsui’s old boss, Gov. David Ige.

The former Maui senator who resigned Jan. 31 as lieutenant governor will be tapped to run Hanabusa’s campaign on his home island, according to sources familiar with the arrangement. Tsutsui says he’s not officially part of the campaign at this time.

“When she’s come to Maui, I’ve taken her to a few events and introduced her to some people,” Tsutsui told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “But there’s no official capacity or anything like that.”

Keith DeMello, spokesman for the Hanabusa campaign, said “the campaign has no announcement at this time” on Tsutsui’s involvement.

Hanabusa “has immense appreciation for Shan Tsutsui’s decade and a half of public service,” DeMello said. “Shan has earned the respect of our community and his colleagues, evidenced by being selected among his peers as the first senator from Maui to serve as Senate president.”

Tsutsui announced Jan. 29 that he had accepted a position on Maui with the Hawaii branch of communications and public affairs firm Strategies 360, and that his last day as lieutenant governor would be Jan. 31.

Tsutsui said he’s known Hanabusa since they served together in the state Senate. Tsutsui, who was first elected in 2002 to the Senate district representing Wailuku and Kahului, became Senate president in 2010 when Hanabusa left the Legislature to run for Congress.

He said he believes she’s been supportive over the years of Maui and neighbor island issues at the Legislature and on Capitol Hill.

“I’ve known Colleen just as long as I’ve known David. I always thought that she did a lot for us, especially on the neighbor islands, and we certainly remember that and appreciate that,” Tsutsui said, citing as examples her support for expanding the University of Hawaii-Maui College campus and helping create a regional board to improve oversight of the Maui Memorial Medical Center.

“I think here,” he said in a phone interview from Maui, “she just has a lot of people who remember that help when she really didn’t have to as Senate president, representing Waianae. She has a natural base of supporters who have interacted with her along the way.”

Tsutsui is expected to be a major asset to Hanabusa’s campaign on Maui, where he’s well known and well liked beyond political circles.

Maui County has nearly 94,000 registered voters. In the 2014 Democratic primary race for governor, 54 percent of Maui voters favored Ige over then-incumbent Neil Abercrombie, who got 42 percent of votes.

Tsutsui had been contemplating a run for Maui mayor but announced a few months ago that he decided both not to run for another term as lieutenant governor and not run for Maui mayor for family reasons.

“He certainly has contacts on Maui. He has an ability to raise money. He has a lot of goodwill over here,” said retired UH-Maui College professor and longtime political observer Dick Mayer.

“He’s always had a positive image on Maui. He’s been elected several times. Many people were disappointed that he’s not going to run for mayor. I think that was a major, almost shock to people,” he said.

Mayer suggested Hana­busa, on the other hand, will need to boost her image with Maui voters.

“Hanabusa’s standing is quite different. I’ve never heard anybody say anything particularly nice about her on Maui,” he said. “I don’t know the degree to which he’s doing this because of his reaction to Ige, being pissed off or angry with him, or because he really believes Hanabusa is a super candidate and would do a great job as governor.”

Tsutsui did not enjoy a cozy working relationship with Ige. When Tsutsui was Senate president, he became lieutenant governor by succession in 2012 under then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who appointed former Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz to the U.S. Senate.

Tsutsui was essentially sidelined when Ige took office in December 2014 and didn’t play a noticeable role in the administration. But Tsutsui said he doesn’t hold any grudges toward Ige.

“I like David. He’s a great person. But I think this next election is going to really come down to leadership and how we can best move Hawaii forward,” Tsutsui said. “I think it’s important that, from my perspective, that the people on the neighbor islands don’t feel like they’re a lost stepchild. I think Colleen has shown that — that the rural areas and the neighbor islands are important.”

Ige disagrees. He contends his administration has accomplished a lot on Maui.

“Leadership isn’t about taking stands. Leadership is about empathy for the everyday folks who struggle to earn a living and provide opportunities for their children or make difficult choices with a fixed retirement income. Leadership is all about making life better every day for these folks,” Ige said in a statement from his campaign.

“So, let’s compare the records of accomplishments of my administration with what my opponent has done. The only bill Colleen ever sponsored that passed in all her years in Washington was the renaming of a single post office on Oahu,” Ige said.

He said over the last three years his administration initiated “the largest public works project in the history of Maui” to make needed improvements to Kahului Airport; made improvements to the Lahaina Bypass Road and Maui Memorial hospital; and helped Hawaiian Commercial &Sugar employees transition after the island’s sugar mill shut down.

“That is real leadership,” Ige said.