WAIKOLOA >> There was a bit of intramural heckling on the opening day of the state Democratic Party Convention in Waikoloa, but Hawaii Democrats saved most of their venom for President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono
attacked what she described as Trump’s habitual lying
to the American public and warned of the dire consequences of the president’s “court packing” efforts as he hurries to name conservatives to the federal bench.
Hirono said the Democrats’ agenda must be to “Make America Whole Again,” repeating a line
Hillary Clinton used in 2016 as a play on Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
A dispute among delegates over the timing of today’s election for the state party chairman caused a
delay in adopting the official agenda for the convention, and Democratic National Committeeman Bart Dame was interrupted briefly by a critic who shouted at him from the back of the Hilton Waikoloa convention center.
But Dame, a prominent Hawaii supporter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election, continued by telling his
fellow party members there is now a consensus in the Democratic National Committee to eliminate “super delegates.”
Super delegates, who are often drawn from establishment Democrats, were leveraged by Clinton in 2016 to win her the Democratic presidential nomination, a maneuver that enraged many party members who supported Sanders’ upstart presidential bid.
Dame said reform of the process is now happening “because there is unity in the DNC.”
“Whether you voted for Bernie Sanders or you voted for Hillary Clinton, we have to be united in 2018 to take advantage of the golden
opportunity to retake Congress,” he said, triggering applause from the crowd.
Party Chairman Tim Vandeveer said more than
500 delegates are attending the convention, which he said is the first state convention on a neighbor island since the 1988 party gathering on Maui.
The delegates chimed in Saturday morning as Daniel Akaka Jr., son of the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, sang
“Hawaiian Lullaby” in honor of his father, and the crowd honored the Akaka family with an enthusiastic standing ovation after the song.
A member of the audience then called to Gov. David
Ige to try to get him to sing, but Ige declined, joking
“that would really end the convention right now.”
Instead, Ige reminded the audience that “we have fought against the hateful and hurtful policies of the Trump administration.”
Lt. Gov. Doug Chin embellished on the anti-Trump theme by gleefully reminding listeners of his lawsuits against the president and
his appointees. Chin said
Hawaii’s citizens care deeply about diversity and equality, which is why, while serving as state attorney general, he sued Trump over immigration restrictions that targeted Muslims.
“But I’m not just talking President Trump, folks,” Chin told the delegates. “I’ve also sued Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.”
Chin, who is running for Congress in District 1, was interrupted by raucous cheering, but continued: “Hey, you know what else I did? I sued (Environmental Protection Agency) administrator Scott Pruitt for the many ways that he’s gone against the environment and rolled back so many regulations that are
important. And, of course,
in all of these lawsuits, I’ve gone up against U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”
Hirono said the Democrats “are confronted with a president who acts more like a dictator than a democratic leader.”
“These are not normal times. We have a president who never gets tired of spreading lies. He started off by attacking the news media,” Hirono said. “Yeah, this is what dictators do. Totalitarian governments go after the free media, so he started off by saying that the news media is the enemy of the American people. He attacked the judiciary … this is not a president who believes in the rule of law, and he also claims that the intelligence community is out to get him.”
The convention continues today, when delegates will elect a party chairman for the next two years.
