Editorials
Thursday, August 27, 1998

Weed and Seed:
hope for
troubled district

CRIME and poverty have long plagued the Chinatown-Kalihi-Palama area, making it a prime target for a new federal program aimed at revitalizing neighborhoods. The program coordinates federal, state and city efforts to strengthen both law enforcement and social services. But success will not come easy in the face of skepticism that has hardened over the decades of scant progress.

Operation Weed and Seed was designed by the Justice Department five years ago to combat violent crime, gangs, drug use and drug trafficking by weeding out crime and planting economic seeds that will allow neighborhoods to flourish. In June, the Justice Department allocated $235,418 to implement the program in lower Kalihi and Chinatown.

The area's economic condition is dismal. Only one-fourth of its residents are in the labor force, and two-thirds receive some form of public assistance. Its many homeless converge at Aala Park. The neighborhood, which includes the Mayor Wright public housing project, is notorious for violent crime and drug-related offenses. Past attempts to deal individually with those problems have failed to change the area's character.

The new effort has begun with increased enforcement of federal drug laws, which are tougher than their state counterparts. More than 40 persons have been charged federally with drug use and dealing in the past two months, and 35 of them are behind bars awaiting trial; if charged in state court, most would have been released on bail. Federal funds will expand the Hawaii Drug Court, which provides a treatment-based alternative to jail.

Early social-service projects are aimed at helping children at Kaiulani and Kauluwela elementary schools. The plan also calls for programs to combat blight, provide housing assistance and job training, and draw new businesses to the area.

Weed and Seed has had mixed success in other cities but may be a good fit for the Chinatown-Kapalama area. Coordination between the crime-enforcement and social-service aspects is crucial, along with full participation by the area's residents.

Kawananakoa quits

HAWAII'S Republican Party has suffered a major blow with the withdrawal of Quentin Kawananakoa for reasons of health from the race for the 1st Congressional District. Kawananakoa was leading Gene Ward in opinion polls in the battle for the Republican nomination and was expected to provide a strong challenge to incumbent Democrat Neil Abercrombie in the November election.

Kawananakoa was an articulate, even dynamic, minority leader in the state House of Representatives in the last session. Only 36, he represented a younger generation of politicians bidding to displace the mostly Democratic establishment, which is showing its age, particularly in the congressional delegation. His links to Hawaiian royalty gave him a unique appeal.

Kawananakoa's withdrawal leaves the GOP nomination to Ward, a seasoned legislator at the state level, with a solid background in business and foreign affairs. Part of his task will be to win over Kawananakoa's supporters, but he will have to appeal beyond them to have a chance against Abercrombie.

Ward has the endorsement of Orson Swindle, who gave Abercrombie a fight in two House elections. But Swindle was too conservative for many voters and Ward will have to contest Abercrombie for the moderate vote, much of which usually favors Democrats.

It's not clear whether Kawananakoa's health will permit him to resume his political career at a future date. If not, the Hawaii GOP has lost one of its most promising figures.

Gephardt's candor

HAWAII has just been treated to a public exercise in loyalty as Vice President Gore professed his unqualified allegiance and support to President Clinton. No doubt the vice president had little choice; this is not a job where public candor and independence are valued. And Gore has to be concerned that Clinton's problems could have an impact on his own presidential ambitions. What if anything Gore has told Clinton in private may be quite different.

More significant than Gore's unstinting praise of his boss in appearances in Hawaii are the remarkably candid comments of Gore's probable chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Dick Gephardt, the House minority leader. Of the Lewinsky scandal, the Missourian said bluntly, "It was wrong and it was reprehensible." There was no attempt to dismiss the situation as a private matter or, like Clinton, to blame the independent prosecutor. A Republican could hardly have been more harsh.

Gephardt even ventured to discuss impeachment, pledging that House Democrats wouldn't blindly defend the president if impeachment proceedings are warranted.

As minority leader, Gephardt is in a position to speak for the House Democrats. And what he is doing is trying to put distance between the House Democrats and the beleaguered man in the White House. With the elections approaching, they fear that being linked with the scandal-plagued Clinton could hurt them.

Despite the president's request, none of the key Democrats except the loyal Gore is willing to declare the controversy at an end. Members of Congress in both parties are nervously awaiting Kenneth Starr's report.

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A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor