Analysis: Trump adds to isle GOP’s woes
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii Republican Party Secretary Boyd Ready, right, visited Donald Trump supporters including Nathan Paikai, center, during the party’s state convention Saturday at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu.
If elections are won by unified political parties with a shared, specific sense of purpose, the Hawaii Republican Party appears poised to extend its long and painful losing streak.
The Hawaii State Republican Convention in Waipahu on Saturday erupted into booing and catcalls when state House Minority Leader Beth Fukumoto Chang took the microphone to say some of Donald Trump’s statements are sexist and racist, and she does not want him to become president.
That triggered an uproar among the crowd of nearly 300 delegates, with delegate Michael Palcic from St. Louis Heights standing up to suggest that Fukumoto Chang resign from the party.
Nathan Paikai, the authorized representative of the Trump campaign in Hawaii, stood at another microphone reminding Fukumoto Chang that “we grew the party 50 percent off of this man,” pointing at his Trump campaign hat. “Why would anybody come against him?”
More people lined up at the microphone to challenge Fukumoto Chang, and state party Chairman Fritz Rohlfing finally called for order to try to move on to other issues and speakers. That prompted more booing, and one woman at the microphone snapped, “This is bulls—!”
Fukumoto Chang, who is the second-highest-ranking elected Republican in the state, remarked after the exchange, “If I needed a reason to leave, they gave me one.”
Almost the entire Hawaii Republican Party leadership supported someone other than Trump for president, but Trump supporters drove a huge turnout of 15,672 voters in the party presidential caucuses on March 8 and propelled Trump to victory in Hawaii.
Fierce insurgency
The idea of a state convention in an election year is to rally the GOP troops and unify the party, but the obvious, raw divisions over Trump’s populist campaign present just one more in a string of problems for the Hawaii GOP.
The once-respected Republican brand in Hawaii has been so profoundly weakened over the decades that the party struggles mightily every two years to field enough candidates to provide meaningful competition for Hawaii’s ruling Democrats.
The Hawaii Republicans who do run for office often downplay their party membership in advertising and yard signs, a clue that the candidates calculate that party membership here may be more of a liability than an asset.
Lately the party’s weakness helped fuel a sometimes vicious insurgency by a faction of unhappy Republicans known as the Hawaii Republican Assembly that is accusing the party leadership of both incompetence and wrongdoing.
And wading into that volatile mix this weekend were Trump’s supporters, a group whose members mostly appear to be unaligned with either the official Hawaii party leadership or its angry Republican Assembly opponents.
Officially, the business of the convention Saturday at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu was to elect representatives to the Republican National Committee and amend party rules, but the real question of the day was whether the Trump troops are the key to reviving the Hawaii GOP.
After a high-energy day of speeches, selfies and sign-waving, it still isn’t clear exactly what the Trump supporters want from the Hawaii party, or if they will steer the party in a new and more successful direction.
Warner Kimo Sutton, a member of the leadership team for the Trump campaign in Hawaii, said the national Trump campaign made it clear it isn’t interested in local party conventions or activities because the campaign is focused on winning the presidency.
Considering Hawaii hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, the national Trump campaign has good reason to direct its energies elsewhere. But with the deadline for candidates to file for election just 16 days away, the local party has little time to sort out its dramas and chart a new course.
Paikai said even Democrats want to be part of the Trump movement, which he said is dominating the party, will cross ethnic boundaries and will sweep the state.
“The tide is already changing,” he said. “I’m hoping to bring Mr. Trump here.”
He said the Trump movement will focus on job creation and infrastructure because Trump is a builder, he said.
“The party is already moving,” he said.
Reversing GOP slide
The arrival of Trump’s supporters on the scene introduces a new ingredient into what was already a complicated political mix.
Republican Linda Lingle’s rise to governor of Hawaii from 2002 to 2010 was the pinnacle of success for the party in the post-statehood years, but the local GOP promptly resumed its long-term collapse shortly after Lingle left office.
After Lingle won re-election as governor, the Hawaii party members “decided, ‘Well, we’ve done our best, and we’re going to go back and do the things we really like to do as Republicans, which is maybe not politics,’” Rohlfing told listeners at the convention. “What happens when we let down our guard is the other guys come in, and they never stop, and so we need to be vigilant and involved.”
The ranks of GOP officeholders in Hawaii have been whittled down to one member in the 25-member state Senate and seven in the 51-member state House.
Hawaii Republicans have not held one of the state’s four congressional seats since Charles Djou held office for seven months in 2010 and 2011, and Republicans have not held any statewide office since Lingle departed a half-dozen years ago.
Sam Slom, the only Republican left in the state Senate, lays some of the blame for that erosion in the party at the feet of Lingle and party leaders who deliberately diluted the definition of what it means to be a Republican in Hawaii in order to make party membership more appealing to more people.
Change is inevitable
Slom said in an interview he believes the party is deliberately avoiding controversy by, for example, avoiding heated public debate over the party platform. Slom says the party has not adopted a new platform with specific planks on issues such as abortion in 10 years.
The House Republican minority led by Fukumoto Chang has also “bent over backwards” in recent years to prove it can work with the Democrats instead of acting as vocal critics of the Democrats, which Slom said has also hurt the local Republican Party.
Still another factor that hurts the party brand is the decision by prominent Republican candidates such as James “Duke” Aiona, Lingle’s lieutenant governor, and Djou to downplay their Republican affiliations, Slom said.
“You don’t see a Republican label next to their name, and in fact they don’t campaign as Republicans,” Slom said. “If you’ve got the party leaders who are running away from the brand, and you don’t have very strong statements or positions, why would you want to be a Republican in Hawaii?”
The surge of Trump supporters has caused excitement about the election both nationally and locally, “so the party will be changed, there’s no question about it,” Slom said. “A lot of people fear that. I don’t fear it. With new people coming in, new ideas, new energy, I think that gives us a real opportunity.”
Palcic, the delegate from St. Louis Heights, was the Hawaii coordinator for Ben Carson’s campaign, but said he welcomes the Trump supporters into the party and supports Trump’s candidacy.
For those Republicans who refuse to back Trump, “I think they need to think it through,” Palcic said. “They will realize that to withhold support from Trump means that the other party will win. It’s like a vote for Hillary Clinton, and to have the Clintons back in the White House I think is an abominable thing.”
Slom, who is recovering from heart surgery, gave a rousing speech to the convention from his wheelchair despite his concerns about the trajectory of the party.
“Let’s win in Hawaii, let’s win the presidency, because we are Republicans. Let’s stand proudly as Republicans, not bipartisan or anything else,” he told the crowd.
‘We’re not Texas’
Fukumoto Chang said in an interview she remains concerned about the Hawaii GOP because “what’s sort of taken over the party is anger for anger’s sake, and it’s not policy-driven anymore, and for me that’s very disconcerting.” She said most Hawaii voters cannot identify with that approach, and she has argued for a less confrontational posture.
She said some local Republican Party members demand that local candidates adopt a mainland style, but “we are Hawaii, we’re not Texas, and I was born here, I grew up here, I’m a local girl, and I have a local style.” Party members have expressed anger toward her in the Legislature because she has avoided a confrontational style, she said.
Fukumoto Chang has also said publicly she is troubled by statements from party members both locally and nationally that “are coming from a place of either racism or sexism … and that definitely upsets people, but again, I’m just trying to make the party better,” she said.
That kind of talk has fueled speculation Fukumoto Chang might switch parties to join the Democrats, and she did not rule that out.
“I don’t know where the party’s going to be a year, or two years, or 10 years from now, so no, I haven’t committed to never changing parties,” she said. “None of us can say for sure where the party is going right now, and if the party no longer represents my district’s values, or my values, then my commitment is to my district.”
She added, “We can be better than we are right now, and until we address some of those elements in our party, I don’t think that we’re ever going to have a viable alternative for voters in Hawaii.”
State party chairman Rohlfing sees it differently, and assured the gathered delegates that “we are on the threshold of a Republican renewal in Hawaii nei.” He said the official party membership has grown from 22,176 to 33,074 today.
“Our prospects are bright, but we cannot slacken our pace now,” he said. “We need to lengthen our stride and quicken our pace. We can’t afford to sit back and let somebody else take up the slack.”
54 responses to “Analysis: Trump adds to isle GOP’s woes”
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Unfortunately, the party of Abraham Lincoln, who eliminated slavery and kept the nation together; the party of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who gave us the interstate highway system; and the party of Ronald Reagan, who precipitated the collapse of the USSR; is sadly, today the party of Trump. Granted, the Republican party “establishment” precipitated the extremist “tea party” movement by using public funds to bail out Wall Street; but really, Trump? He’s a buffoonish bully, with self-serving motives, is vindictive, misogynistic, bigoted, racist, lacks tact and diplomacy, and flip-flops on issues whenever it suits his ego. And that’s probably his good qualities. If he ever becomes president, I wonder how soon thereafter that brown shirts and jackboots begin appearing? If Trump becomes president, then God help us all.
Brown shirts and jackboots? A bit dramatic, no? The system of political checks and balances have tempered past Presidential hubris, Trump will quickly feel the leash tighten more than he has ever felt as captain of his real estate empire. Would be interesting to see how he handles it.
If Fukumoto Chang is not behind the presumptive nominee Trump she should resign. Let’s see if she’s true to her words in leaving the GOP or is she full of it and stays being a part of the Party! She’s a Hillary supporter not getting behind supporting The Donald!
They should save time and kick her out.
You know when she makes the move she’ll just bad mouth the pubs and have a love fest with the dems.
Many in Mililani are determined to dump Fukumoto Chang in the next election. The talk on the street is that she is planning to become a Democrat. Marilyn Lee is running again and this time will probably win since Fukumoto Chang has become very unpopular. The talk is also that she doesn’t even live in Mililani anymore. She and her husband have a condo in town and she uses her mother’s home as her address.
Why should she quit (locally) if you have (which you do have) major Republicans who will not support Mr. Trump (including the last Republican presidents). Because one belongs to a party does not mean you have to totally support each candidate in that party; in fact, many decry those who vote “straight tickets.” I applaud Beth’s courage in pointing out the many comments which Mr. Trump has made that are sexist and racist (and I might add that there has been many populist sentiments expressed but little-to-no policy…words, words, words).
I am from Mililani and a Democrat who voted for Beth. From my perspective she has done a good job. She stays in contact and every time I have written her, she has responded. She also attends events and doesn’t just show up and leave…she spends time talking with individuals who are there. Again, I am a Democrat and do not know her or her family; my engagement has been only in regards to local politics.
And I will add that I came to HI (because of work assignment) from New York where Sec. Clinton was our state senator. I am NOT surprised that she won NY. She did an excellent job as NY senator and her office was on top of all items (including local items) and responded quickly, efficiently, and effectively.
Dear Zedalis,
Please enroll in therapy before it’s too late. Scratch that. Please enroll before you hurt someone.
Republican Party? Thought it’s the Trump party. The Republican Party is dead.
Fukumoto-Chang was performing Kabuki Theater. She needed an excuse to depart to the Democratic Party and provoked the convention with her show of disloyalty so as to insure their wrath. She was actually quoted as saying “If I needed an excuse they just gave me one.” No, Beth, you orchestrated the whole thing.
IRT what: Yes, I am being, perhaps, a bit melodramatic. And I do hope that, indeed, the system of checks and balances are effective. That being said, I’d rather not see how he (Trump) interestingly “handles it”. I’d prefer that he’d not be given the opportunity to test the system and make the U.S. look like *insert-your-favorite-colorful-metaphor-here* to the rest of the world. The man’s temperament, attitude, and demeanor makes him unfit to be president.
And sadly kauai, the party of Humphrey, Truman, and Kennedy has become the American socialist party in everything but name.
IRT BlueEyedWhiteDevil: FYI, Humphrey was never president, Truman ended World War II in the Pacific, and Kennedy continued the fight to eliminate racism and bigotry. “American socialist party”? Re-study your history lessons.
Does that mean you will vote for Trump?
Thank you, DNC.
Elephant graveyard? Dump da chump.
GOP Hawaii. The rednecks of Hawaii. LOL.
What a load, to be expected by the mouthpiece of the democrat party in Hawaii.
I’m sure next week Sunday’s edition will be the story of the dems imploding worse than the pubs. The exact same thing is happening with Bernie Sanders and the party establishment tools who are denying the People their will by using bought out “Super Delegates” and other nefarious methods (like voter fraud in Iowa and Kentucky) or closing polls when it starts looking like their chosen Queen is about to lose. Look what the DNC and state chairmen are doing now….making new rules so Bernie’s Army can’t disagree verbally or non verbally. Don’t be surprised when Bernie and all his supporters drop the dems and run on a Green Party ticket.
If anything, the GOP is getting together to back their nominee, no matter what the Party elite are saying. And it’s good that the members of the GOP are identifying and calling out RINOs like Fukumoto Chang who leaves no doubt to her intentions via her voting record, actions and present statements about being given a reason to leave the party. The local GOP should sue her to get the money they invested in her campaigns back.
And why would you say Trump adds to the GOP woes?
Like Nathan Paikai said, he added 50% more people to the GOP rolls. If anything, the dems need to worry as we are fast approaching the tipping point as more and more of the People are seeing the lies, unfeasibility and corruption of dem plans here and on the mainland. Those who work are being forced to give more and more in taxes, taxes that are then redistributed to those who refuse to work. The president is now giving summer jobs to “refugees” from other countries rather than out of work Americans. While the governor is willing to accept more unemployed, uneducated homeless onto our shores, while we are expected to pay for them as we watch our local people shouldered out of the way of the safety net programs that they paid for all these years.
If someone like Trump can cause this kind of rise in the membership of the GOP, the dems better be worried, especially in a place like Hawaii.
Lingle won two terms as governor because even Democrats thought that would make the difference in landscape.
Well, evidently changing back to a Democratic governor since then maybe better suited for Hawaii voters. This can be evident by the makeup in both the House and Senate breakdown in members.
I voted for Republicans in both California and Texas because I felt it would make a difference but this time around to vote for Trump, are you kidding me?? Insane!!, end story.
Yes, I see your point.
Hillary! would be much better. Unfortunately, Ambassador Stevens is unavailable for comment.
Several others along with Vince Foster are also unavailable for comment.
Republicans are diverse, something wrong with that? Must we agree on everything, all the time? Obviously, Trump supporters are very passionate, but so are other members of the GOP opposed to him, welcome to the American system of government. Look at the alternative, a third term of the incompetent and corrupt Obama Administration in HilLIARy.
No vote is half a vote for Hillary..
The “analysis” in this article is essentially this: In order for Republicans to do better in Hawaii, they need to embrace Democrat-Lite ideas. But that’s absurd. Anyone who would support Dem-Lite would vote for a genuine Dem instead. What we need is a choice, not an echo. Bold colors, not pale pastels.
Morning Ken, fully agree with your post. The HRP is pale pastels.
Republikans and their obstructionists policy in the house preventing the will of the majority from moving forward is not only undemocratic but unamerican. Unfortunately the parallels between Hitler, Kim Jong un and the donald are too similar to be ignored. Be more responsible and find moderate, reasonable republican candidates for the next election cycle. I know they’re out there. republikans are smarter than that. I know that.
Sorry to see you descend to Godwin’s Law so soon in the thread.
And what about the obstructionist policies/practices of the Democrats? I guess if it is your “team”, then everything goes. Don’t build the telescope because it offends a handful of Luddites. There are probably a thousand more things I could cite if I were to waste my time thinking and dwelling on the subject. Unfortunately, our problem is that we focus too much on the “minorities” of every issue and have totally forgotten the majority. At some point, there won’t be a majority of anything and no decisions will be able to be made.
Id**t.
Props to Beth for refusing to sell her soul to back the Trump, who is a fake republican anyway. Trump is a deceiver who will say anything to get elected, and his ulterior motive is probably to take down the entire GOP party from the top down anyway. Anybody who doesn’t see this deserves whatever disaster that happens if he is elected president. At the very least, this will result in the Republican party’s early extinction as we know it like what happened to the dinosaurs.
Props to Sam Slom for supporting Trump and seeing the big picture. The surge of Trump supporters has caused excitement about the election both nationally and locally, “so the party will be changed, there’s no question about it,” Slom said. “A lot of people fear that. I don’t fear it. With new people coming in, new ideas, new energy, I think that gives us a real opportunity.”
There’s a staunch Republican running for State House District 22 against Tom Brower the hatchet man. Her name is Kathryn Henski !! View her WEB Site–electkathrynhenski.com
Take a look electkathrynhenski.com
NO
He was actually more the “sledgehammer” man.
My comments on Hawaii’s GOP as a past Honolulu Country Chairman (1996 to 1999).
Using the sport of basketball to explain what the Hawaii Republican Party must accomplish to become Hawaii’s political party. I played, coached, refereed, and followed the sport beginning from the 5th grade (1951) at the Lihue Grammar School on a compacted soil court to following the San Antonio Spurs for years beginning with the “Admiral”.
First, a singular Party mission must be established, understood, and supported by the Party’s Platform (that is detailed and precise). In basketball, the “One Team”, made up of separate functional parts (guard, forward, center, etc.), wins. The HRP does not have a Party Platform and is not a “One Team”.
Second, a Party Rules (the Constitution), of the Party, must be understood and revered as the Party’s official document. The GOP Rules must be protected and defended as the U.S. Constitution. In basketball, the Rules are established and all players abide by the Rules. A Coach never modifies the Rules for his/her advantage. Same-same the U.S. Constitution.
Third, the Party Rules does establish the organization and it begins from the Precinct. It does take time, years, to organize and accomplish the mission. The Precinct is the foundation of the Party. Without the Precinct, you don’t have a Party. In basketball, without guards you don’t have a team. You work with the guards, for they handle and manage the team. The guards handle the ball and without the ball, the team does not score to win. The HRP does not have a single organized Precinct. The Precinct provide the leadership, (Presidents, vice Presidents, Treasurers, Secretary’s, and Committee Members). The education and training by the Party through the Precincts understanding the Party Rules and Platform transforms the Party.
The Hawaii Republican Party has failed in all three. Awe. Donald Trump and my candidate for President Ted Cruz has very little to do with the HRP. It’s all internal.
So, pulls the Party Rules out of their rear ends?
Who pulls?
I was at a business seminar of business, entrepreneurs and investment bankers– Republican types. They are raising PAC money to defeat Trump. Their hope is that if Trump is elected President he does nothing but mouth off, because if he does what he says, he will destroy the American economy and hurt big and small businesses with his proposals fo force American business to do what he wants. You may have heard some big time businessmen and investors saying this recently– Mark Cuban was one predicting the collapse of the market if Trump is elected.
No worries, the President is not King and will not have the power to ruin the country. We have survived presidents like Democrat Lyndon B Johnson, who had the type of personality that when asked about why he got America into the Vietnam war, actually unzipped his pants and waved his Johnson at some reporters to express his feelings about that (google it, i’m not lying).
You mean Obama isn’t King? He acts like it.
The King from Kenya.
A village in Kenya is still missing their idi@t.
Bravo Rep Fukumoto for standing up for a GOP with a heart for the people. We need two parties working for the benefit of the people of Hawaii. Hang in there!!!
Well of course Democrats thinks this great. Yet another convert and one more step closer to total control.
Like everywhere, the GOP party leadership doesn’t reflect the will of the people. The same thing is happening with the Democratic Party.
According to the article, “Paikai said even Democrats want to be part of the Trump movement, which he said is dominating the party, will cross ethnic boundaries and will sweep the state.” Any non-whites who cross ethnic boundaries to vote for Trump must not be paying attention. The KKK and neonazis have endorsed Trump–and his failure to disavow their support is tantamount to his agreeing with their philosophy of hate. His attacks on Moslems and Mexicans are attacks on non-whites. From Trump Tower, all non-whites look the same. Does Paikai really believe what he said?
Listen carefully to what Sam Slom, the voice in the wilderness has to say. Your scare tactics obviously aren’t working. Trump moving higher in the polls .The surge of Trump supporters has caused excitement about the election both nationally and locally, “so the party will be changed, there’s no question about it,” Slom said. “A lot of people fear that. I don’t fear it. With new people coming in, new ideas, new energy, I think that gives us a real opportunity.” Trump 2016
I used to respect Sam Slom. No more.
IF the people didn’t want Mr. Trump, HE wouldn’t be in the position that he is now!
It’s anyone’s right to not want to support any candidate, but you do that as an INDIVIDUAL not as a representative of the people if that candidate was elected by the people thru the ELECTIONS PROCESS. that candidate may not have gotten the votes of the MAJORITY of total voters it’s NOT the CANDIDATES FAULT IF THAT OCCURS. A message is being sent to politicians that the general public is so fed up with the way the government has been run the last 12-15 years that just about ANY CHANGE other than the status-quo IS ACCEPTABLE.
Commend Fukumoto Chang. She is correct, and I know many Republican legislators in Washington who agree with her and share her concerns. Commend Ryan for meeting with Trump and his efforts to try and find workable solutions.
Democrats must work with Republicans, Republicans must work with Democrats, like it or not. Yes, there are people from both parties who find even the thought of working having to have to work together to find solutions almost unthinkable.
So here is our take on having hope for a strong future for our country, for Hawaii:
There are few things that are more fortuitous than having the pleasure of knowing someone who is a genuinely good person, someone you can trust. If we are lucky, some of these men and women will decide on a career of public service and hopefully, someday, there will be enough of them working together to truly make a difference.
Thanks Mom,
– Beth
Not sure that the Hawaii Republican Assembly qualifies as a “faction” any more. It’s just one guy ranting about his own imaginary greatness in third person.