Could crossover
voting throw
off primary?

GOP fears Democrats will
vote for Fasi to help
ensure Cayetano win

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

The "very serious message" from Republican stalwart Jim Rath was sounded a month ago, and it is taking on an urgent tone as primary election day draws closer.

The GOP primary on Saturday "is a very small, even tiny, race," said Rath, a former Big Island councilman now running for the state House. It could very well be the target of mischief-making by supporters of Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano, he warned.

Rath's fear: Cayetano will "get some of his union friends to pull Republican ballots" to vote for former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi to beat Maui Mayor Linda Lingle, who, according to Cayetano's own internal polls, is the front-runner in the gubernatorial race.

"Frank is more beatable than she is, and Ben knows that," Rath said.

And just two weeks ago, the Committee for Political Awareness, a noncandidate political action panel, ran a full-page news paper advertisement in MidWeek urging Cayetano supporters to cross over to the Republican primary to vote for Fasi, a former Democrat.

"For the first time you can and do have a choice to pick (Cayetano's) opponent in the November general election. We supporters of Frank Fasi believe that if Cayetano loses the election, you want former Mayor Frank F. Fasi to take his place!!!" the ad declared.

That's a great idea, added Fasi, who declines to say if he has any connection to the Committee for Political Awareness.

With open primaries that don't require a party declaration, crossover voting is easily done in Hawaii. And this year, unlike previous elections, the excitement is with the suddenly more interesting Republican primary, mainly because of contested races for governor and lieutenant governor. Even the primary for the 1st Congressional District (urban Honolulu) was hot until state House Minority Leader Quentin Kawananakoa of Nuuanu dropped out for health reasons, leaving the nomination to state Rep. Gene Ward of Hahaione Valley.

But there is much debate on whether crossover voting will influence GOP races.

Rath believes it could because in 1994, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, former U.S. Rep. Patricia Saiki, garnered 49,953 votes in a primary that drew just 54,075 voters. Fasi, meanwhile, got 30,879 in an essentially uncontested primary for his own third-party, which has since disbanded.

"We know Fasi can probably get about 25,000 votes, so right away it's a close race," said Rath, who is urging Lingle supporters of all political persuasions to vote in the GOP primary.

Another factor: Democrats have 38 uncontested primaries out of 64 legislative races, including six House contests in traditionally Democratic strongholds from Kalihi to Moanalua.

But other veteran political hands noted that voters usually select the candidate they favor, rather than vote against someone to help another candidate.

For years, isle Republicans have crossed over to vote in the Democratic primary "when nothing was going on in the Republican primary," said state GOP Chairwoman Donna Alcantara. "Republicans always took Democrat ballots hoping to defeat the incumbent, but it never worked."

Others countered that's because Hawaii has fewer Republicans than Democrats, who in 1994 had nearly four times more voters in the Democratic gubernatorial primary than in the GOP primary.

State Democratic Party Chairman Walter Heen said he has heard that several unions -- including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186 -- were talking about having their members cross over and vote for Fasi.

But Heen doubts that such an effort, if implemented, would have any impact. "I don't think Frank Fasi is close enough to Linda Lingle for that kind of crossover to make much of a difference," Heen said.

Thomas Fujikawa, IBEW business manager, was unavailable for comment. Last month, Fujikawa declined to say if the IBEW's endorsement of Fasi for the GOP gubernatorial nomination was more anti-Lingle than pro-Fasi. Four years ago, the 2,400-member IBEW endorsed Cayetano through the primary and general elections. Fujikawa has held out the possibility of the IBEW endorsing someone else for governor after the primaries.

The state's largest public workers union, the Hawaii Government Employees Association, has rated Fasi the second best candidate for governor after Cayetano. But Russell Okata, HGEA executive director, said that is not a signal to members to vote for Fasi in the GOP primary.

Ann Kobayashi, a co-chairwoman of the Cayetano campaign, said the campaign is "definitely not" trying to orchestrate a crossover effort to defeat Lingle in the GOP primary. "Our message is to re-

elect Gov. Cayetano," she said.

Ira Rohter and Yasumasa Kuroda, political science professors at the University of Hawaii, doubt that a crossover campaign to defeat Lingle would work.

It would have to be done on a massive scale, would be complicated to implement and could cause a backlash against Cayetano if it were traced to him, they said in separate interviews.

Also, there are some key Democratic primaries involving House Speaker Joe Souki of Wailuku, Sens. Malama Solomon of Kohala, Wayne Metcalf of Hilo, Rosalind Baker of Lahaina, Rod Tam of Nuuanu and Robert Bunda of Wahiawa that would keep Democrats in the party primary, said Rohter, who's also co-chairman of the Hawaii Green Party.