IMAGINE that you are standing proud and tall in the coronation pavilion at Iolani Palace, waiting to be sworn in as governor. At a time like that, it must be hard to consider that your fate rests, not with you, but with the people you will pick in the next few days to run the state government. Bronster could affect
Cayetano’s fateRarely do governors appreciate how much they surrender their own reputation and legacy to their cabinets.
In the waning days of the administration of Gov. George Ariyoshi, for instance, the candidates to succeed him scored heavily on the need to reform the state Health Department.
The criticism wasn't aimed at Ariyoshi, so much as it was his administration's handling of the heptachlor milk crisis, in which milk-producing cattle ate pesticide-treated food.
Newly elected Gov. John Waihee picked an articulate, publicity-conscious doctor, Jack Lewin, to lead the Health Department.
But Waihee's administration wasn't troubled with health problems.
Lewin's reputation was good enough, in fact, that he was able to run for governor himself, eight years after being appointed.
The problems for the Waihee administration started not at Health, but with his selections for attorney general and budget director.
When he was picked to head the state's legal department, Warren Price was a dramatic choice. A towering lawyer with an excellent reputation, he quickly became a standout in the cabinet. He announced he was reforming the attorney general's office, making it more professional, adding seminars and increasing the department's professional status.
At the same time, he was also starting to become controversial. He refused to resign from the Judicial Selection Commission after being named AG, leaving only after a public protest.
But Waihee's appointment of Price's wife, Sharon Himeno, to the state Supreme Court, which ended in an unprecedented Senate rejection, signaled the turn in Waihee's administration.
The Senate's investigation into Budget Director Yukio Takemoto's nonbid purchases and involvement in other state activities led to Takemoto's resignation and a deepening criticism of Waihee's entire term of office.
The question now is how will Cayetano's appointment of Margery Bronster as attorney general play out in next year's gubernatorial campaign.
If, as one Republican official mentioned to me last week, Bronster wins in court, Cayetano will win in a landslide.
If, however, Bronster's investigation into Bishop Estate turned up nothing, or worse, if while it turns up nothing, the attorney general polarizes the community and damages Kamehameha Schools, then Cayetano might not be seeing that coronation pavilion again.
IRONICALLY, the office of attorney general has resulted in some power and prestige for the occupants before Bronster. But being attorney general has never really translated into a major political springboard.
Some former AGs went on to be judges and bankers, but most went back to practicing law.
If, however, the post was open to election, instead of appointment, the situation would change. The governor would be more accountable for his or her own actions, without having administration policy filtered through the attorney general.
Most importantly, the AG would be accountable directly to the people, thereby fulfilling the vow to be "the people's lawyer."