Hawaii Dems, meeting in their state convention on Mary 26-28, voted to call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, impeachment of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Gonzales and their prosectuion for war crimes. We also voted for universal, single-payer healthcare and free public education to the university level.
Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie gave the key note address in which he detailed the illegalities of the Bush-Cheney administration, calling for an end to Bush's imperialism and restoration of our constitutional government. Abercrombie was was greeted by repeated standing ovations, replete with shouted approval.
Hawaii's other congressman, Ed Case, was not so fortunate. Case, who took Patsy Mink's seat after her death in 2003 and was elected to the seat in 2004, was virtually shunned by the Convention delegates, attributable both to his continuing support of Bush's war and his recent announcement that he will challenge long time liberal Democratic Senator Daniel Akaka for his senate seat in the upcoming Democratic primary.
HAWAII DEMS DISMAYED BY CONGRESSMAN CASE.
Case dismayed many Hawaii Democrats when one of his first acts as a congressman was to voice his support for Senator Joe Lieberman for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. He has compounded this error by consistently indicating his support for the Iraq occupation and refusal to call for an immediate withdrawal from that debacle, repeating Bush's "stay the course" mantra. Case is a DLC member.
Case has wandered far afield from his campaign pledge to carry on the Patsy Mink liberal tradition. Patsy would have been aghast that any Hawaii Democrat would have signed on as a co-sponsor to the Bankruptcy reform act, otherwise known as the "Credit Card Company Protection Act". Case even voted with his "Yellow Dog Democrats" caucus to speed up the passage of that bill. (Well, the Yellow Dog Democrats' PAC did give him a campaign donation for toeing their line.)
The bankruptcy revision bill was literally written by credit card companies and severely reduces a debtor's ability to discharge credit card debt while requiring the filing of a Chapter 13 debt repayment plan which requires more work by the attorney than a Chapter 7 full discharge, meaning higher attorney's fees, thus raising the amount needed by a debtor to file bankruptcy and reducing his ability to discharge his debts.
Case, whose office has tried to help Filipino immigrants get permission to return to their home country for family emergencies, inexplicably, voted to restrict Cuban-Americans from going to Cuba to visit their relatives more than once every three years, with no provision for deaths or family illnesses. Case also voted to restrict the funds that families can send to Cuba. (Case did get a $1000 donation from the a Cuban-American anti-Castro PAC for that vote). I bet that there isn't a single person in Case's congressional district who would care enough to stop Cubans from visiting their relatives, so who is he representing?
When Senator Akaka appeared to speak to the convention, the hall was filled to over-flowing with stomping and cheering Akaka supporters. Senator Akaka voted against the Iraq invasion, and has consistently opposed most of Bush's reactionary policies.
Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye addressed the convention indicating his support for Akaka and calling on Democrats to keep a strong team, with a lot of seniority, in place in Washington. The majority of delegates clapped and yelled their enthusiastic agreement with Inouye's endorsement.
Hawaii Democrats gave thanks to Governor Howard Dean, chair of the Democratic National Committee, for providing three full time, well trained and effective staff members to our state Party as part of his plan to strengthen the party in all fifty states. The DNC staffers will be a big help in winning back the governorship in Hawaii in 2006 and insuring that all Hawaii votes to regain the presidency in 2008.