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Mazie Hirono: Our First Female APA Governor?
Asian Pacific Americans have grown in political strength and sophistication over the past half century, as members of our community have risen up each rung of this country’s political ladder. Although there, unfortunately, was no unified APA community to celebrate with Dalip Singh Saund, D-Calif., when he became our first APA Congressman in 1952 (the term “Asian American” was not even coined until the late 1960s), there was a nation-wide outpouring of support when David Wu, D-Oregon, won the state’s 1st Congressional District seat in 1998.
Wu, Washington State Governor Gary Locke, D-Washington, and other candidates were the beneficiaries of fundraising by the Asian American Action Fund (www.aaaction.org) and other groups with a broad vision. Their goal: help APAs rise as high as possible, whether or not you lived in their district. Their reasoning: When Rep. Wu or other elected officials speak out against hate violence or anti-Asian American stereotypes, they do so on behalf of a community that stretches from one end of the country to the other, not just one political district.
This “virtual redistricting,” aided by e-mail and the Internet, allows politically savvy APAs to follow and support the careers of rising stars such as Minnesota State Senator Satveer Chaudhary, as well as established community leaders such as Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Calif.; Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii; and Hawaii’s senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka.
In the last year, APAs have scaled heights unimaginable 50 years ago, when Democrat Norman Mineta (commerce secretary under Clinton and secretary of transportation under Bush) and Republican Elaine Chao (labor secretary under Bush) were nominated for Cabinet-level positions. Once these two were approved, the only truly lofty peaks left in our federal government where APAs have not served are on the Supreme Court and in the White House.
On a statewide level, Hawaii has led the way with three governors of APA ancestry: George Ariyoshi (Japanese American), John Waihee (Native Hawaiian), and Ben Cayetano (Filipino American). When we broke a significant psychological barrier with the election of Gary Locke as governor of a mainland state in 1996, the next big barrier became clear — the election of an APA woman as a governor.
While APA women have held statewide office (March Fong Eu was California’s Secretary of State from 1975 to 1994, for example, and is running again in 2002), holding the top spot in a state allows that person to set an agenda and speak from a pulpit. Looking around the country, Hawaii, California and Washington seem to be the states where APA women have gone the furthest. Prominent female legislators there include Colleen Hanabusa and Donna Mercado Kim, who are members of the Hawaii State Senate; Sharon Tomiko Santos and Velma Veloria, who are members of the Washington State House of Representatives; and Carol Liu and Wilma Chan, who are members of the California State Assembly.
The one person who has made the most strides to be the first APA woman governor in 2002, however, is already just one heartbeat away from the seat. She is Mazie K. Hirono, who currently serves as Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor. Her support was critical in the slim election victory of Governor Ben Cayetano in 1998, and she brings to the job an enviable record of public service that goes back several decades. She is a veteran legislator, having served in the Hawaii House of Representatives for seven terms, from 1980 to 1994. A champion of the underdog, she litigated antitrust cases as the state’s deputy attorney general, and was a strong proponent of consumer rights as a legislator.
While Cayetano himself moved up in an orderly transition from lieutenant governor to governor after serving in the secondary role from 1987 to 1994, prominent state leaders, including some APAs, don’t seem to be rushing to get behind the next logical gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Hirono. Not being an expert in Hawaiian politics, I can only guess why this is so. But as a concerned Asian Pacific American, I know that Hirono is a qualified, dedicated, and outspoken advocate for our concerns, and the perfect person to be our first APA woman governor.
Helen Zia, prominent APA human rights activist and author of Asian American Dreams, plans to help Hirono raise money for her campaign. “She has the qualities I admire in elective officials, including strong personal convictions, and the courage to stand up for the issues she believes in.”
Caryl Ito, a business leader in San Francisco, added, “Mazie Hirono has a lot to offer, and many Asian Pacific Americans on the mainland are planning to support her in any way we can.”
As always, APA candidates can garner votes only from those who live in their legislative districts, so only Hawaiian voters can actually elect their next governor. Through “virtual redistricting” and the power of the Internet, however, we as Asian Pacific Americans living outside Hawaii can show our support for Mazie Hirono and other worthy APA candidates. This will hasten the day when an APA woman is not just running for the statehouse, but is settling into the White House. |
