Hee poised to roil gubernatorial race with ideas to legalize gambling and marijuana

Clayton Hee said it best in a 2014 interview with former Star-Advertiser reporter B.J. Reyes: “I would be the first to share with anybody about engaging in things that I wish I could have a do-over.

“I’ve made mistakes. There’s no question about that. And those mistakes I own. They belong to me.”

A long-time controversial Democratic political figure, Hee announced last week he is running for governor in the August primary election against incumbent Gov. David Ige and the major challenger, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa.

Serving in the state House and Senate and as an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, Hee has been a sometimes-divisive figure.

On one hand, Hee is the very definition of a drama queen: For proof, just look at his last-minute entry into the race for governor. On the other hand, he is skilled and canny. Reporter Reyes in 2014 noted that Hee “is adept as anyone at the Capitol at the tactical nuances of legislating and has prevailed even when he appears isolated.”

So what to make of this latest gambit? Hee said he and supporters have done enough research to show that the more than 80,000 votes won in his unsuccessful race for lieutenant governor four years ago would be enough to win a three-way primary race for governor this year.

This is not a widely held feeling.

“I and some other of his close friends — we all tried to talk him out of it; what I didn’t, we didn’t, know was that he already made up his mind. I am not sure how he is going to do,” said former Gov. Ben Cayetano, who figures that Hee will likely take votes away from Hanabusa.

Another adviser and former local political leader, who asked for anonymity to talk candidly, explained the race in terms of how Hee only takes votes from Hanabusa.

“Anybody who is going to vote for Ige has already made up their mind. It is hard to believe that (Ige) is going to win a single vote that he doesn’t already have today.

“As for Hanabusa, she needs every vote she can get. Any vote for anyone but Hanabusa is a vote for Ige.”

What Hee needs to do is run a campaign between Ige and Hanabusa, to campaign for voters not affiliated with either Ige or Hanabusa — which, the anonymous campaign strategist said, “is another way of saying non-AJA votes.”

Another way of looking at it is through the geography of campaign issues. Hee said he will focus his campaign on the high cost of Oahu’s rail project and the issue caused by the Legislature last year changing the funding to include neighbor island hotel room taxes in the inclusion of new rail surcharges.

“People on the neighbor islands have expressed to me their anger at being included to pay for rail,” Hee said in response to an email question about his campaign.

Hee added that he is willing to expand the transportation debate to include relocating state coastal highways endangered by eventual flooding caused by global warming. And he said that hugely expensive project could be paid for by legalizing and taxing marijuana sales and joining a multi-state lottery.

If Hee is able to open the the gubernatorial campaign debates to the issues of both gambling and legalizing marijuana to save the roads and an anti-rail vote, the narrative shifts enough that what looked like a Hanabusa trouncing of Ige becomes a three-way dog fight.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.