Cayetano tops primary for Honolulu mayor; advances to general election

by Atty. Emmanuel Samonte Tipon

HONOLULU – As expected, Ben Cayetano, the first Filipino Governor in the United States, topped the primary election for mayor of Honolulu with a 30,699 vote margin over his nearest competitor. However, he did not get the 50% plus one vote required to give him the victory outright. He must compete with the second placer, Kirk Caldwell, a former city administrator, in the general election on November 6.

Here are the numbers: Ben Cayetano, 90,151 votes, or 44.8%; Kirk Caldwell, 59,452 votes, or 29.5%; and incumbent Mayor Peter Carlisle, 50,540 votes, or 25.1%. Cayetano needed 9,922 additional votes to achieve the goal of 50% plus one vote. In the general election, which is mano a mano, whoever gets more votes will win.

Cayetano won in all but two of Honolulu’s 35 legislative districts, including those where the proposed railroad will run through. Cayetano vowed to stop the rail from being built.

Against each of his white competitors, Cayetano won about 2 to 1 in the enclaves of the rich and white and more than 3 to 1 in Chinatown and in the Filipino dominated districts.

No one but Cayetano with his charisma, skill, 38 years of experience in elected office as two time governor, two time lieutenant governor, and several times legislator, and winning in all 16 elections he was involved with could have built such a very diverse coalition with the Filipinos as the nucleus, plus a majority of all minority ethnic groups – Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Portuguese, native Hawaiians, and many Caucasians. Of the political parties, more than half of his fellow Democrats went for him and most Republicans supported him. The anti-rail group which now constitute the majority in Honolulu were solid for Cayetano – even more solid than Filipinos.

Some of the Hawaii media who had supported Caldwell immediately cast Cayetano as the “underdog.” Their arithmetic goes like this: if you add the Caldwell and Carlisle voters, they number 54.6% vs. Cayetano’s 44.8%.

But Cayetano laughed off his designation as the “underdog” saying that he has always been considered the underdog in his previous 16 fights and he had always won. He ridiculed their arithmetic, saying that it does not work that way in the general election. Cayetano expects many Carlisle voters will come back to him. Cayetano and Carlisle were once staunch allies. It is widely believed that Cayetano’s active support (including this writer’s and a number of Filipinos) propelled Carlisle to victory over Caldwell when they ran against each other in the special elections in 2010. Carlisle and Cayetano had a falling out when Carlisle promised Cayetano that he would keep an open mind about the rail. But immediately after he had collected our contributions at a fund raiser in a movie celebrity’s beachside home, Carlisle went on stage to say that he was determined to build the railroad. We all looked at each other. Someone shouted “Give back our contribution.”

Cayetano believes that his 45% base will remain steadfast and all that he needs is an additional 14,000 votes or 7% - the magic number – with a safety cushion - to clinch the November election. Cayetano indicated that he will expand his base and court new voters, independent voters, Republicans, and those who did not vote in the primary.

On the other hand, he pointed out, Carlisle will need at least 42,030 or 21% additional voters to win - an unlikely prospect. “Where will he get them?” is the question.

FAC

The Filipinos Against Cayetano aka FAC (sounds bad on radio) claim bragging rights that they constitute the 5% that denied Cayetano outright victory. Most Filipinos laugh at their claim, saying that 5% equals 10,000 votes. The number of self-acknowledged but vociferous FACs is about 12, hence the moniker “The Dirty Dozen”. But that description would not be apt because “The Dirty Dozen” were brave soldiers who did heroic acts for their country, not spread lies about their kababayan and torpedo the unity of Filipinos in Hawaii. Filipinos have been described as riding on a banca in the middle of turbulent waters buffeted by strong winds from whites and other ethnics. But a few Filipinos laugh at ethnic pride and are rocking the boat without giving a damn whether the banca sinks. They hope the rail – which might never be completed - will be their salva vida.

ROUGH, TOUGH, AND EXPENSIVE

The next 90 days will be rough, tough, and expensive for both candidates. The anti-Cayetano forces, especially the union of carpenters and other workers who are pro rail, and hope to make money on the gravy train, vowed to spend more than double the $1 million already spent smearing Cayetano. Their poster boys are two Filipino ex-teachers. These detractors have an attack ad about every 5 minutes on major television stations smearing Cayetano, accusing him of having taken half a million dollars in illegal contributions when he ran for governor in 1998 and did not return it. “If I did anything wrong, Carlisle would have prosecuted me, since he was the City Prosecutor then,” is Cayetano’s brief answer.

The so-called “illegal contributions” reportedly came from people who allegedly did not identify or falsely identified themselves or corporations who were ineligible to contribute. Nobody believes – even those putting out the ads – that Cayetano pocketed this money. Everything was spent on his campaign and whatever was not used was returned to the Campaign Spending Commission. Cayetano said that he did not know about the “illegality” of the contributions which were given directly to his campaign chest. His campaign manager and campaign treasurer also said they did not know of any “illegality”.  But the innuendo of the ads is that Cayetano pocketed the money and is running to pocket some more.

Bob Watada, the Campaign Spending Commission’s executive director from 1994 to 2005 said that Cayetano did nothing wrong. He came out with an ad saying “Ben Cayetano is one of the most honest persons I know.”

Although there are other issues confronting Honolulu – like the three Ps - potholes on every road, rusty sewer and water pipes, and public safety – they have been placed on the back burner. The main issue is: the rail and derail.

WIFE AGAINST HUSBAND

Never have the Filipinos in Hawaii been so divided. Not even during the Marcos vs. Aquino years. It is brother against brother, friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, and – you better believe it – wife against husband. During a picnic at Ala Wai Beach Park on primary election day, we approached an attractive and seductive young Filipina who was sitting by herself under a banyan tree and asked if she had voted. She replied that she had not because she was still trying to convince her husband to go out and vote for Cayetano and against the rail, but her husband was for the rail and against Cayetano. “I don’t know what I can do to convince him,” she lamented. We advised her to tell her husband that if he did not vote the way she wanted him to, that she would deny him marital comforts.

(Atty. Emmanuel Samonte Tipon may be reached by email at filamlaw@yahoo.com)