LIHU‘E — The most recent version of civil unions legislation was likely dealt a death blow by the state House of Representatives Friday, but the divisive issue could still play a major role in the primary and general elections later
LIHU‘E — The most recent version of civil unions legislation was likely dealt a death blow by the state House of Representatives Friday, but the divisive issue could still play a major role in the primary and general elections later this year.
Conventional wisdom holds that civil unions are considered politically unattractive in election years, but Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser’s outspoken leadership could help distinguish himself from a crowded Democratic field as he runs for lieutenant governor, according to a political expert.
“It depends upon whether this is an issue that is split by party, and there’s some evidence that it is,” said Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller, an associate professor of political science at the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa. His comments came after the Senate passed its version of the bill 18-7 but before the House voted to indefinitely postpone action, effectively killing it.
“Some people are going to hate it, but it’s not Democrats that are going to hate it. The only thing (Hooser) really has to fear is people crossing over,” Goldberg-Hiller said. “There is nothing to indicate that it’s going to be dangerous for him.”
While registered Republicans are legally allowed to weigh in on the Democratic primary election, they could be focused on GOP nominations for governor, lieutenant governor and urban Honolulu’s 1st U.S. Congressional District.
Because of that, Hooser could be largely shielded from danger if the race for lieutenant governor becomes largely an intra-party, rather than inter-party, affair. Whomever secures the Democratic nomination for the position is automatically paired with whomever secures the party’s nomination for governor, at which point the gubernatorial race takes center stage.
“Once the primary is done, the focus will be on the top of the ticket more so than on the lieutenant governor position,” Hooser acknowledged when asked about the potential political fallout from his position on civil unions. “It’s all about the primary.
“In a crowded primary, it’s clear the challenge is to stand out from the crowd, so I will be talking about my record. And my support for the civil unions issue is certainly part of that,” Hooser said, noting that the issue “will not be the focus of my campaign.”
“I’m not going to hide from the issue and I’m proud that the Senate had 18 votes to support it and that I helped lead the way,” Hooser said, adding his campaign will primarily focus on education, the environment and energy independence, and the impact of those issues on the struggling economy.
“I’m hopeful that people will look at the totality of my candidacy and see the civil unions as one component, but more importantly see my experience,” Hooser said.
“I have a broader life experience than any other lieutenant governor candidate, I’m the only Neighbor Island candidate, the only candidate who served on the County Council on a county level, the only candidate that has real grassroots small business experience and the only candidate who’s been through two hurricanes.”
Crowded field
The Democratic field already includes Sen. Robert Bunda, D-22nd (Hale‘iwa, Wahiawa); Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-15th (Kalihi, Pearl Harbor, Salt Lake); Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu, D-41st (Waipahu, Waikele); Rep. Lyla Berg, D-18th (Kuli‘ou‘ou, Kahala, ‘Aina Haina); and Brian Schatz, a former legislator and former chair of the Hawai‘i Democratic Party.
Bunda voted against the civil union bill earlier this month and was one of three members of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee to vote against it in 2009, which delayed the process considerably. Sakamoto has also voted against the bill, while Karamatsu and Berg were among the bill’s numerous co-introducers in the House last year. Schatz said he is on record in favor of civil unions.
“Gary probably recognizes that a lot of progressives will be behind him here in Hawai‘i, and it will perhaps come down to a struggle between Gary and Brian Schatz for those supporters,” Goldberg-Hiller said.
“Gary is going to be trying to pull away from a huge field for lieutenant governor and anything he can use to make himself stand out is going to help him.”
Schatz said the civil unions bill “is a matter of conscience for Kaua‘i residents and their elected officials.”
“I think it’s for pundits to analyze how it will play out in the election,” Schatz said in a phone interview following the Senate’s vote to pass the bill earlier this month. “It shouldn’t be seen through the lens of electoral politics.”
Political gamesmanship
While the civil unions issue is on the front burner this month, Goldberg-Hiller says passions may not be running as high by the time the primary election — which does not usually generate a large turnout — rolls around in mid-September.
“Frankly there are so many dominating issues that even if people really can’t stand somebody’s position on this issue, they’re not going to punish you in November (the General Election is Nov. 2) for what you did at the beginning of the year,” Goldberg-Hiller said.
He said there is a phenomenon where hot-button issues surrounding gay rights elsewhere in the country — from California to Massachusetts — generally cool off after about six months and cease to be a motivating electoral issue.
However, Goldberg-Hiller said Hooser can use his leadership on the issue to portray himself as being above politics and pivot to using it as a narrative for his campaign.
“One of the things it would allow him to say is that he works from very strong convictions and he’s not a typical politician,” he said, language that may be “pretty hollow” and “means nothing” but could carry “rhetorical force” that implies that “some politicians can be bought, and some can’t.”
“I think it depends on how he wants to play it. Politics is a fluid game,” Goldberg-Hiller said.
Hooser has already begun to frame his position in that light.
“I hope people will see me as a candidate who votes for what they believe is right and listens to the community, but in the end votes their conscience,” Hooser said.
“I don’t cast my vote based on polls, but I’m confident that people will look at the whole picture, and certainly the people on Kaua‘i know me as a person and know my track record over the last 12 years and know there’s a lot more to me than just this one issue.”
Deadlocked committee
One of Hooser’s most prominent actions on the civil unions bill was a failed attempt in March 2009 to pull the bill from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was deadlocked 3-3.
While the majority of senators supported the underlying bill — as evidenced by the body’s passage of a slightly modified version this month — Senate President Colleen Hanabusa and Judiciary Chairman Brian Taniguchi were uncomfortable with overriding normal lawmaking process.
Hooser’s motion fell three votes shy of the nine needed to force a vote by the full body.
Before Hooser’s attempt last year, there had been no attempts to pull a bill from a Senate committee for eight years, dating back to the controversial “death with dignity” bill that, if it had passed, would have allowed physician-assisted suicide, Senate sources said last week.
Attempting to pull a bill from committee is an uncommon procedural step that is not generally favored because it avoids the public hearing and committee processes that allow the Senate to move as many bills as it does during a legislative session, the sources said.
Hooser’s attempt to pull the bill in the face of that precedent, those sentiments and long-shot odds led some Democrats to privately wonder if the high-profile move — initiated just weeks after Hooser announced his intent to run for lieutenant governor — was designed more for political purposes than as a genuine attempt to steer the bill toward passage.
After the attempt to pull the bill from committee failed, Hooser was quoted in an Associated Press report as saying, “For those people who think that this is going to help me in the lieutenant governor’s race, I have a bridge I’d like to sell them. I’m doing this because it’s right.”
While Hooser may well believe promoting civil unions is the right thing to do, his visibility on the issue could also prove to be beneficial as he seeks higher office.
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mlevine@kauaipubco.com.
