HILO — State political parties seem to be having a hard time keeping some of their members in check.
First it was Bernie Sanders Democrat Chelsea Kent of Oahu, who stuck up her middle finger on national television during the Democratic National Convention as the vote for presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was announced. Kent has since come out publicly for Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
Certain members of Oahu’s Democratic Party committee, and the Hawaiian Affairs Caucus of the state party, are pushing resolutions asking that Kent, who was stripped of her delegate credentials at the Philadelphia convention, be removed from leadership posts or expelled from the state party.
More recently, it was Angela Aulani Kaaihue, a GOP candidate for the Second Congressional District, who incurred the anger of Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Fritz Rohlfing by sending out press releases containing slurs against Japanese-Americans and non-Christian religions. Kaaihue won the Republican primary with 7,449 votes, and faces incumbent U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the Democrat, in the Nov. 8 general election.
Kent, who is not a candidate, but is Oahu House District 27 chairwoman as well as an elected Hawaii delegate to the national convention, said Monday that she didn’t use her party position to endorse Stein, but made a video saying she personally was going to vote for her.
“The other efforts to try to expel Chelsea based on her childish antics at the national convention had no basis in our rules,” said Bart Dame, the national committeeman for the state party. “But once she endorsed Stein, she crossed the line. That’s an unmistakable violation of our rules.”
Kent said the party has a double standard, because other Democrats around the state have endorsed non-Democrats in local nonpartisan races, and nothing has happened to them. In particular, she noted support on Oahu by longtime Democratic notables Ben Cayetano and Walter Heen for former GOP Congressman Charles Djou in his race for Honolulu mayor.
There’s a similar situation on the Big Island, where supporters of Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille have lodged a complaint with the Democratic Party over Patti Cook of Waimea, the chairwoman for the party’s District 7, for campaigning for Tim Richards, who is not a party member, over Wille, who’s the district vice chairwoman. Wille lost the election to Richards by 77 votes.
“It’s a huge double standard,” Kent said. “If you’re supporting someone in power, they’re kind of like, ‘Oh, it’s OK.’ It makes no sense.”
The recent complaints are coming from an Oahu regional party committee, which is working on a resolution seeking to strip Kent of her committee positions. Another resolution by Region 5 Chairman Gary Saiko seeks to remove Dame as state committeeman because he “failed to manage the behavior and the expression” of Kent.
Earlier, Leimomi Khan, chairwoman of the Hawaiian Affairs Caucus, said in an undated formal letter of complaint that Kent was disrespectful to Native Hawaiians, the state party and the state itself. She made matters worse, Khan said, by being unrepentant about her action.
“This is about the disrespect shown toward our elected officials and the ill chosen expression of “No Aloha” toward a perceived unfair leadership by Ms. Kent,” Khan said in the letter.
On the Republican side, Rohlfing on Friday released a statement decrying Kaaihue’s statements, saying they do not represent the “views, values, or the sentiments of our party and its members.”
“Her vulgar, racially bigoted, and religiously intolerant descriptions of Democratic Party candidates are offensive, shameful, and unacceptable in public discourse,” Rohlfing said in the statement. “I unconditionally denounce her despicable statements. I strongly urge all Hawaii Republicans to join me in disavowing her candidacy.”
Kaaihue, in turn, called for Rohlfing’s ouster.
“He is putting my faith and religion down. I’m taking a stand for God, and we’ve been overtaken by Buddhist politicians who dominate our political, economic and social-welfare system,” Kaaihue said Monday. “He is the prime example, of what being ‘blinded by the works of the devil,’ and I think he needs to be replaced with someone who knows how to lead a successful party, and it certainly ain’t him.”