 Community Matters here at 11 o'clock rock with Jane Sugimura, a member of the Democratic Party. Jane, thanks for coming down today. It's very important that we talk to you about things democratic. Yes, thank you for having me and I'm always glad to talk about things democratic. I know that. So the first thing we really need to talk about this at least a little bit is the Mark Takaya funeral going on. He was a very popular guy. He was well liked. I think part of the reason is he was a genuine, genuine human being and he meant what he said and he said what he meant and he tried hard. He always tried hard. Yes, he did. And I lived in his district. In fact, when he first ran for office, I was in his district and I'm no longer in his district because of reapportionment, but he still represented the district in my part of town, IA Pro City. So I've known him for a long, long time. What's going on now with the funeral and the... Well, there was a public viewing yesterday at the State Capitol and that was live streamed on the Internet and I know many, many people went and right now there's a funeral going on. I just came from visitation and there were lots of people there. There were people from Congress and Senator Schatz was there and Aaron Johansson who started off as a Republican in the House of Representatives but a very, very, very good friend of Mark Takaya's. He's going to give one of the eulogies at the funeral. They were very, very close. You said Nancy Pelosi was here. Nancy Pelosi was here yesterday and one of the speakers at today's funeral is Tammy Duckworth and I saw where a lot of congressional people were coming and they were already arriving as I was leaving. Remarkable. He was a young man. He was about 50, wasn't he? 49. 49. And he had two teenage children. Yeah. So it's very sad. Yeah. And I think it's just another case with what do you call it, pancreatic cancer. Right. And he's so quickly. It went very fast. I was really shocked because I was a supporter of Mark. I was there when he started his campaign for reelection in Congress. I think it was February. And there was a big party at a country club and then he made the announcement in May and when he died, I mean, two weeks ago, no, a month ago, it was so fast. It was just a shock. Yeah. That's the way February had a cancer worse. It was very shocking to me. Remarkable that he achieved the friends and connections that he did in Washington in a relatively short period of time. And you know, I'm on the neighborhood board and so Mark was at all of our meetings over all of the years. And one of the interesting things that we will all remember Mark for and for people who serve on neighborhood boards or go to neighborhood board meetings, they will appreciate this. Mark was able to coordinate all highway and road repairs with the city and county. He had a committee and anything that happened in IAEA because, you know, there are people who were grumbling. We have two roads in IAEA. We have Cam Highway and we have Montelua Road. And people couldn't understand why if the electric company, the water supply had to dig up a road, you know, to fix a pipe. And then they would, you know, they would repair it and then HECO would come and rip up the same road and do something with the electric. And it was like, why? Why can't you do it at the same time? Don't you guys talk to each other? And it was Mark who many, many years ago, you know, was hearing all the complaining about all the different agencies ripping up the roads to do road work who decided, well, you know, this is silly. You know, we have the means to get the city and the county and the state and everybody to get together and work together to say, okay, we're going to do this repair. Who has to go in? And everybody work together and go in and do the repairs. And that way you inconvenience the community only once, right, instead of inconveniencing them multiple times while multiple agencies and whatever have to go in and rip up the roads and fix them up again. He's a good guy. He was. He was a friend of ThinkTech. He appeared on ThinkTech a number of times in both the state jobs and the federal job. And he was good to us. He appeared early in our evolution. And so he believed in us. And I certainly appreciated that from him. Anyway, let's move on to your experience in Philadelphia. That is, if you hadn't noticed, it was the city. It is the city of brotherly love. Yes. And it was a strange convention, wasn't it? Well, it is a city of brotherly love. And I think Philadelphia did welcome the delegates and put on quite an affair for the delegates. I know the opening night affair was at the Art Museum. And people who have seen the Rocky movies might remember the stairway where Rocky runs up. That's the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They had an extraordinary event there to welcome the delegates. And so they had people playing music. The Art Museum was open. And the docents were taking people around. And they had food. All these various food vendors. And they had rock music outside, classical music inside. So you had the violins inside. You had the rap and whatever outside. And you had the mimes on the stairway. And it was just beautiful. And the weather was beautiful that day. Most of the other days it was either very, very humid and muggy or thundershowers. You went as a staff member of the Hawaii delegation. Yes, I did. And what was it like from your point of view? Was everything as good under the hood as it was to public appearance? Well, I think so. And I have been to several national conventions. Every single one that I can remember, as a matter of fact. This one was different because we had a lot of new people who had never been to a national convention before. And these were the Bernie Sanders delegates. So they had enough clout to get in? Oh, yes. They were persuasive in the party so they could get into the convention. Right. We choose our delegates through a process that's authorized by the Democratic National Committee. And so we do it like a year ahead of time. It's called the Delegate Selection Plan. And we had our caucuses in March of this year. And the Bernie Sanders people, they mobilized and they were able to get 70 percent. I remember that. 70 percent. It was a phenomenon. Right. The caucus vote. Right. And yet, when it came time to really step up, they had already, you know, dissolved. Well, no. At our state convention, they were there. I mean, we had over a thousand people at our state convention. A thousand delegates. And a lot of them were Bernie supporters. Bernie Sanders. And they were able to elect the party chair. Are they still powerful? Well, they're not as active anymore. I mean, we had an event in Kailua that the party usually participates in. And there were some precincts that had the Bernie Sanders people who were elected. And they didn't, you know, get involved. And that's too bad. That means it's kind of ephemeral, which I mean, sure, Bernie wants better than that. We all want better than that. We want to see them continue and keep, you know, keep on. But what about in the convention itself? Were they instrumental in the votes? Were they instrumental in devising platform points? Well, you know, prior to the convention, the Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee had these meetings to establish the platform and the rules that are going to govern the race. And the platform that the now candidate, Hillary Clinton, has to defend and advocate for. And Bernie Sanders, because he had the 1900 delegates, was able to effectuate change on the platform. And she bought into a lot of it. She had to buy into it because, you know, he had that many people. And so they were able to negotiate with the Hillary Clinton campaign. And I guess I understand they managed to get most everything in except the issue about the trade plans. I think that was the only one that they didn't negotiate in. And, you know, he would not have been able to do that, but for the fact that he had a substantial number of delegates at the convention. Did you see the Hawaii Bernie Sanders guys in action? Did you see them involved in the negotiation? How did they express themselves? Well, I don't think they were involved in the negotiations, but I mean, because all of this happens before you get to the convention. And the entire convention votes on it. And that happened on Monday. And that happened with a little bit of angst. I mean, there were some demonstrations and protests. Outside? No, inside and outside. And who was demonstrating and protesting? The Bernie Sanders people. And they were, you know, they had some issues, even though Bernie Sanders had publicly declared for Hillary Clinton. And in fact... They were not completely convinced of that. Well, I think they were disappointed. And a lot of them, this was their first political foray. The first time they got involved in a political party, the first time they... They didn't want to see him capitulate. And for those of us who have been, you know, party members for a long time, we've been through disappointments. And you know that you just have to start all over again and, you know, work harder. Now, what about the lady with the finger? Oh, that... Well, that's an important... She was in a national press with the finger right in the middle of the Hawaii delegation. Well, what was going on there? Well, first of all, the people who were in the picture really didn't know about it. They didn't see what she was doing. No, they didn't see what she was doing. I mean, Senator Shatz and Maisie Hirona were in front of her, and Governor John Waihe was kind of like on the side. And in fact, they didn't really know about it. We were driving home. There were a bunch of us, you know, were driving home. We didn't go in the bus with the delegates. We were in a car. And Governor John was getting text from his wife wanting to know what the hell was going on, basically. And then somebody else was in the car. They were getting text from Hawaii to, What's going on in Hawaii? Why are we on national television with this obscene gesture? And we're passing the phone around and saying, Oh my goodness, this is how we found out. And it was a shock. It was kind of like an embarrassment. It was... And, you know, the chair... It doesn't speak of solidarity, that's for sure. Well, no. And the chair did take action where he gave that delegate a choice of apologizing or, you know, turning in her credentials, and she wouldn't apologize so she gave up her credentials. And left. And no, she stayed for the convention. She just wasn't allowed on the floor. We understood she stayed. But, you know, she... I didn't see her anymore that week in our events. What was her point in that? I mean, I know she wrote an op-ed piece for the Star Advertiser a week later, but what was her point in making the gesture there on the floor? Just before the convention began in Philadelphia, I think there was a hacking of the DNC and there were some emails that were disclosed. And that showed that the DNC favored Hillary's campaign over Bernie Sanders. And that led to the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schmidt, who was a DNC chair. And so my understanding is the delegate was mad at the DNC. Why she chose to make the obscene gesture during the time when, you know, the Hawaii delegation was on national television during the roll call doesn't really make any sense. If she's mad at the DNC, she should go and march in front of the DNC with her obscene gesture, you know, not do it in a group, you know, that represents the state. And, you know... And it's on national television and so are our images there. We're not going to do that here in Think Tech. We're not even going to show you what the obscene gesture was, but we will take a break. We'll come back. Maybe we can do it during the break, Shayne. Aloha. My name is John Wahee. And I used to be a part of all the things that you might be angry at. I served in government here and may have made decisions that affects you. So I want to invite you in. I want to invite you in to talk story with me and some very special guests every other Monday here at Talk Story with John Wahee. Come on in, join us, express your opinion, learn more about your state, and then do something about it. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Kaui Lucas, host of Hawaii is My Mainland every Friday here on Think Tech Hawaii. I also have a blog of the same name at kauilukas.com where you can see all of my past shows. Join me this Friday and every Friday at 3 p.m. Aloha. So you were there among the delegation from Hawaii at the floor in the city of Brotherly Love three weeks ago, I guess. What was it like? And what was the delegation like? The delegation, you know, usually, you know, there's camarades. So, you know, everybody kind of got along, but we didn't see a whole lot of the burning people. And I was told it was because they couldn't afford to stay in the hotels. And so they were staying other places. You know those burning people. And so, and for some reason, our congressional people didn't stay in our hotel. Usually, you know, our hotel, for one thing, was way outside. We were an hour away from the city. No kidding. We were in Valley Forge. Well, it has historical significance. Right. So I can see why maybe the Congressional might want to stay in town because, you know, that way, but typically, you know, we're all kind of like in the same place. In years past. In years past. Yeah. The Congressional. Does that have an effect on your ability to communicate? No. I mean, because we would get together for caucuses and they would show up at the convention. The Congressional's would be there. And, you know, and I think overall, you know, there was a good mix of people who, you know, stayed together. I know the Bernie Sanders people had events during the day. Their own events. Own events. The protests in the park and things like that. This is strange. You know, usually, you know, I would assume that you go to a convention like this. Everybody's on the same page. Right. And in Hawaii with Democratic Party is king. Everybody's on the same page. Right. And you go there and it's really... We know what we're going to vote for. We know where our position on things. But in this case, it wasn't like that at all. Right. Well, you know, there were these protest groups that, you know, had their events. And so I'm not saying that all the Bernie delegates went to those. I mean, and they went to other events because the various caucuses met at convention center. The women's caucus, the LGBT caucus, the labor caucus. So if anybody was interested in any of them, they could attend those meetings. But these caucuses were about platform points, I assume. Right. You said the platform points were decided before the convention ever met. Right. So what's the point? Well, they have other issues that they want to pursue. And, you know, they have members that, you know, they want to lobby with. And, you know, basically the first two days of the election is political, right? After the roll call, which is... What's political? What do you mean by that? Who's going to be the national candidate? Selecting leaders. Selecting leaders, you know, voting for the platform. And then the after, you know, you have the roll call and the person is nominated to be the national candidate. The rest of the three days is a political advertisement. For the world. For the world. And to rally the troops and get them already... Excited. All excited to go back to their homes and get ready to campaign for the candidate. Yeah. So did that happen? Yes. Did that make your blood run faster? Yes. I mean, what do you think of her speech, of Bill Clinton's speech? What do you think? I thought all the speeches were, you know, very, you know, very good. And, you know, this was the first time. I can remember. Nevada was behind us. And Nevada, for some reason, were very raucous. And for some reason, some reason they kept chanting No More War. And I don't understand why they were chanting that No More War, because there weren't people up there talking about war. And so we were getting text messages... It was like a chanting at the Republican National Convention. They would put Hillary in jail or whatever they could say. Yeah. So we were getting text messages. And this is something new, right? We were getting text messages saying, when they chant this, then you chant this. And so you have... Competitive chanting. Competitive chanting. Yes. So that's the new norm. I mean, so now you don't... Because it's loud and noisy in the convention. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you talk to people, sometimes you have to yell. But now you don't have to yell. You can just text. That's, you know, that's a lesson. You know, in the past, you know, these chants, you thought they rose spontaneously for group people. Somebody came up with a good chant. Somebody else heard it. And now you have a lot of people chanting, No, it doesn't work that way anymore. No. It's all social media. Right. Cell phones. You get a text saying, when they say No More War, you chant this. And so, you know, so everybody was pointing to their phones and then you do the counter-chant. And, and so it was, it was, it was fun. And, but, you know, and what we heard is the very last day, the Bernie people were wearing these yellow t-shirts that said, enough is enough or something like that. And we were told they were going to walk out of the convention. That would have been very disruptive for the whole effort. Very disruptive for the Hillary and very disrespectful on the very last day. And, you know, I have to give credit to our group. What they did is they said, you know, really don't, you know, we're going to work for Hillary, we really don't want to go into the speech. They turned over their credentials so that the family members of the other delegates could attend that last night. Oh, good. So, you know. That's fair. Yeah. So, so if they didn't want to go, that's fine. And, and, and, you know, one of the delegates, the Bernie delegates, wrote a nice message to the executive director of the, of our group. And she basically thanked us for, you know, making the, her first national convention an enjoyable event, that she was disappointed that her candidate, that Bernie Sanders, you know, didn't become the national candidate, but she was grateful for the opportunity to come and they were going to go home all energized and work to elect Hillary Clinton. And so, you know, to me, that's, that's a positive. Yeah. Well, you're going to make the best action you can with the circumstances. Right. And that's a good attitude. You know, you were talking young people. These are, these are college kids. Well, Bernie's going to come back, don't you think? And, and, and I think that this is a credit to Bernie. I mean, I like Bernie Sanders. I like some of the stuff he said. You mean him? He did. He came to our, came to our caucus on the last day. Bernie Sanders came to our, and we were at a hotel, at our hotel we were there with West Virginia, North and South Dakota, Utah. And I think Wyoming, or Idaho, one of those states. But anyway, he came to our caucus. And he was a big hit. And he, he, he was very, very insightful. And he thanked his, there were a lot of Bernie people in the room. And he thanked his, his supporters. And, you know, his very last day, I mean, on the roll call, I have to give Bernie Sanders credit because when I saw, I was there and then Vermont deferred. And I figured, okay, something is going on. What does that mean? What does that mean? And they waited for the very last. And I thought, okay, now they're going to make the motion. This way Bernie Sanders delegates were able to register their votes, at least to take, In a more powerful way. No, they were in favor of Hillary. No, no, they registered their votes for Bernie. They were allowed to do that. And then at the end he was going to do this gesture, or the state was going to do a unified vote for Hillary. Is that what happened? And it did. It was him who made the motion. And I thought that was very honorable. It was cool. Yeah, I remember that. Very cool that he did that. What about Hillary? She suffered some slings and arrows lately. And some people say that at the convention, in order to accommodate the Bernie people, she made the tent too big. She accepted everybody's position about everything. It's hard to do that. And maybe some of the other side didn't like it too much when she capitulated to the Bernie people. Well, the Democrats have always bragged about, we have a big tent. And we fight. I mean, we historically, we fight amongst each other. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty, we come together. And sometimes we reluctantly vote the way we do, but we stick together because we all believe in certain basic principles. And I think the fact that she is advocating this broad tent is a good thing. Because I mean, we should invite... She saw her position on a number of things. She did. And it was due to the fact that Bernie Sanders demonstrated that there were people out there who cared very strongly for these ideas and these principles and these policies. And so she has to listen if she's going to be representing them as the candidate. Is she now? Is it that peace now where everybody under the tent agrees that she's the candidate? I don't think so. There are some Bernie people who at the National Convention were holding signs for, I think, the green candidate. Dr. Jill, I don't know what her name was, but I know I saw the signs. And I'm told that there are some people who... And there are complaints filed with the local Oahu County Committee against certain Bernie Sanders people because they represent... I mean, they're campaigning for the green candidate. So the essential party, though, the core party here in Hawaii, how is it affected by all of this? Is it strong? Is it stronger or weaker? How is it getting along with the millennials? I think we're in this transition period and we do have more members. We do have more members. And I think if the convention demonstrates anything, it means that we're getting along. I mean, we don't hate each other. Except with the woman with the finger. Well, no, she's still in the party, I guess. And although people have filed complaints against her, I don't know what her status is going to be. I think people are saying that if she doesn't like it, she should resign. But, you know, like I said, we have a broad tent and we invite everybody and we can fight amongst ourselves. So this was not all that disruptive to the party in general? I don't think so. And it's part of the growing pains. What it does is it means that you've got a younger generation coming in and they think differently. And the party, well, they think more to the liberal side, I guess, because of the burning. And you have to accommodate. You need to learn to accommodate. But what about the problem of one party? Does this help that problem? I mean, some people firmly believe that we have a sort of a fatal flaw here. We have one party in the state running everything and in response to the unions. And so we really don't have two hands clapping on anything and the decisions are made in the back room instead of, you know, an open conversation between two separate, two hands clapping. And so I really wonder how this whole affair with the Bernie people and what happened in Philadelphia affects that. Well, I don't, what I think is what it shows is that, you know, we're a dynamic party and we are flexible. And, you know, the thing about this back room, if there were back room deals, there wouldn't be these lawsuits between UPW and the state of Hawaii about the privatization of the Maui hospital. You know, so, you know, the thing about the back room deals, I think, is a fiction. And there is, you know, there's not always agreement between the unions and the Democratic elected. And what it is, is, what it is, is the connection is access. They support Democratic candidates. I mean, that doesn't mean that they get what they want, but they have access. They have access to elected officials and, you know, and maybe more than a stranger because they're the, you know, they have supported the Democrats because in general Democrats have supported the super movement historically. People have also expressed concern about the fact that whatever the system is, it doesn't yield candidates who run against other candidates. And we have had several elections in the campaigns in the, I guess, the primary where it was unopposed, several. I mean, for important positions, unopposed. And whatever your party is, even in a primary, you know, you want to see some action there. You want to see new people come up, you know, and disappoint me if I can use that word, is that the millennials and the Bernie people who, you know, have a lot to offer and who are thinking and acting and, you know, active at the convention, why don't they run for office? What's holding them back? They have. There are several who ran for office and they, you know, were in the primaries. They didn't, I don't think, I can't think of any who ran, who won their races. But the thing is, is they participated. Okay, so now they got their feet wet. Now they know the process. And I think what they have to do is they now know, I mean, they have to go out and work, just like everybody else, to get people registered, to make sure they get out to the polls. And I was just as disappointed as you saw those numbers coming up on Saturday. Thirty-four percent. Yeah, thirty-four, that's terrible. You can't do that. You can't do that. No, that's terrible. And I agree with you. I mean, that's, you know, that's a terrible reflection on the people here. What that means is that they're either satisfied with what the status quo, or they don't care. I don't know which is worse, you know? Yeah. But it is. It's very disturbing. That's something we all have to work on. Yeah, that's something we all have to work on. And ThinkTech will work on that. I mean, I think we have to remind people that they, as citizens in a democratic society, I don't mean democratic party. I mean, a democratic society, they have obligations. And they have to connect with the government. They have to vote at the very least. Jane, thank you so much for coming around. Oh, thank you for having me. Will you come around again and talk story with me again? Yes. Yes. That's Jane Sugimura, my law partner and also a great supporter of ThinkTech, and she's associated also with Kano Insider. We'd love to have her come around. Thank you, Jane.