Newsmaker




Monday, March 10, 1997

Name: Paul T. Kawaguchi
Age: 49
Education: McKinley High School, University of Hawaii
Hobbies: Golf, collecting pigs, pogs
Title: Chief clerk, Hawaii Senate

On the Senate floor, he calls roll and counts votes. But in his office, Kawaguchi is the wizard of the Senate's administrative side.

"I'm a very ordinary person," said Kawaguchi, 49. "Somebody has to do this job to keep the session running smoothly."

But there's nothing ordinary about organizing a staff of 40 or so, who coordinate the Senate's 2000-plus bills, personnel and 2,500 cases of white paper. Not to mention the Senate's minutes, journals, orders of the day and speeches.

In other words, senators would have a hard time working without him.

"Senators are like jet planes zooming off into the stratosphere with the bills and things," said longtime friend Sen. Randy Iwase. "Paul's like the helicopter that comes in and makes sure we're going in the right direction from an administrative standpoint."

Kawaguchi's career with the state started in 1970 at the Health Department and then at the Department of Public Safety.

But he didn't get to the Legislature until 1991, when he took a position as committee clerk for then-state Sen. Norman Mizuguchi. In 1995, he became the assistant to then-Senate Clerk David Woo. Kawaguchi took over when Woo retired after the 1996 Legislature.

"I love my job," Kawaguchi said. "There was some anxiety in the beginning, but Woo left a good staff. They make my job very easy."

Kawaguchi's term lasts for two years, but, "I'll serve at the pleasure of the Senate," he said.

Kawaguchi does have an ordinary side, though.

Every Sunday, he meets up with a group of golf buddies for a match. Same time, same place.

"They're all retired so I provide their income," Kawaguchi joked about his losses.

Kawaguchi also collects pogs. He has nine albums of more than 3,000 pogs worth thousands of dollars, collectively.

And he has a passion for pigs.

Pig figurines. Pig stuffed animals. Pig stickers. Pig clocks, wind chimes and even a pig snow globe. Enough to fill four shelves of a bookcase in his office.

The pig menagerie started with a gift from a friend who gave him one for being born in the year of the boar.

"It's fun," Kawaguchi said. "Friends and fellow workers come by and they bring a pig. That's how it grows."

Which are his favorites?

A framed collection of ... what else? Pig pogs.