Chairman's Report

May 6th, 2014

Aloha Fellow Republicans,

It has been a mere 6 weeks since I was elected Chair of our Party and so much has happened to make me feel optimistic about our future.  So many reliable, dedicated people have been keeping our ship steady as we plan for the coming elections – the Primary on Saturday, August 9, and the General on Tuesday, November 4.

Under the leadership of our Vice-Chair, Boyd Ready, our “Chairman’s Challenge” – a project to register new voters – has started off with good results.  Leading this effort are our County Chairs, Fritz Rohlfing – Oahu, Daryl Smith – Big Island, George Fontaine – Maui County, and Bob Hickling – Kauai.

The outstanding district led by candidate Richard Fale and his team reported the greatest number of new registrants of any district in the state.  That’s progress!

I had the privilege of attending the Maui Republican Convention this past Saturday, where George Fontaine and his wife, Paige, did an outstanding job of coordinating the entire event.  Of course, they had a lot of help from volunteers including Greg and Susan Lussier, who helped with arrangements, including food, decorations, and campaign tables for our candidates to display their literature.

The convention featured Gubernatorial Candidate, Duke Aiona, Lt. Governor Candidate Elwin Ahu, US Senate candidate Cam Cavasso and US House candidate, Marissa Capelouto.  Many other candidates for the State House and Senate also were present.  They all delivered stirring and convincing speeches and it was impressive to know that we have outstanding Republicans running for office.

Especially memorable was Duke Aiona’s message that Republicans WILL win statewide this November – it’s been done before and will be done again.  He and former Governor Linda Lingle carried every single district in the state to win re-election in 2006– the first ticket to do so in our state's history.

We look forward to hearing from him again at the coming State Convention.

May 17th is the day of our 2014 State Convention -- less than two weeks away. Please plan to attend. Kayla Berube, our hard working Executive Director, is also chairing the Convention Planning Committee, and is available to answer any questions you may have. The theme:  “Back to Basics” is very appropriate to winning elections which is the mission of our Party.

We are also looking forward to having representatives from the Republican National Committee conduct training for our delegates, Party officers, and GOP campaigns on Friday, May 16th at no cost to participants. With recent data enhancements, this training will be informative for all. 

Please see the details on how to register below.

In our next newsletter, we look forward to a report about the Republican National Committee's Spring Meeting in Memphis, Tennessee this week.

To victory,

Pat Saiki, State Chair