Two Politicians … Each One-of-a-Kind

I’ve known quite a few politicians over the years and they are all fascinating people. No exceptions.

I have two big favorites – the former Mayor of Honolulu, Frank Fasi, and one of our two current members of Congress, Neil Abercrombie.

Frank has retired from politics now, but is a legend in Hawaii. A former marine, he settled in Honolulu after World War 2 and inevitably became involved in politics. Frank was smart, tough and a maverick. Most people loved the guy, witness the fact that he served as Honolulu’s mayor for a total of 22 years.

In one of his re-election campaigns, his polls and also those taken by the daily newspapers indicated that he would win by a very large margin. He did win, but only by 7,500 votes. It was a whole lot closer than anyone had predicted.

So Mayor Frank Fasi, the clear winner, demanded a recount. State election officials refused to do a full-on re-tabulation, but they did hand count several randomly selected precincts. There were no discrepancies and Frank was officially re-elected … by 7,500 votes.

Neil Abercrombie has served in the U. S. House for 18 years. He’s hard-working, highly intelligent, very articulate, and he’s passionate about public service. He’s also a very, very funny guy.

Several years ago, Neil was challenged in his bid for re-election by a Republican state senator named Gene Ward. The finale to the campaign was a heavily-promoted televised debate. During the telecast, poor Gene made a number of gaffs and came out with several statements that were way, way off the wall. It was no contest.

On the way out of the studio after it was over, I remarked to Neil that Gene had not done well.

“That always happens,” said Neil, “when Gene forgets to put the aluminum foil lining in his hat.”

I mean, you gotta love a couple of guys like that!