UPDATE: Even After Resignation, gay-dominated Oahu Democrats vote to oust Okino over Gay Civil Unions
by Andrew Walden
Volcanic Ash columnist David Shapiro describes Hawaii Democrats as “a party where the sun rises and sets by civil unions these days.” If there is any doubt, take a look at what happened to gay marriage opponent, former Honolulu Councilman Gary Okino, after his unsuccessful Primary challenge to Rep Blake Oshiro, who introduced HB444-gay civil unions-last session.
On the November 4 PBS Island Insights program, Hawaii Democratic Party Chairman Dante Carpenter responds to a question from a listener:
Question: Why didn’t you kick Councilman Gary Okino out of your (Democratic) Party?
Answer: We did. We asked him to leave the Party because he openly advocated somebody of another Party. And he had several options. Either:
1) to resign or
2) face a tribunal within the Democratic Oahu Co Convention or Oahu Co Committee and answer to the questions as to why he did what he did. And (Okino would) thereafter be subject to whatever penalty they felt might be appropriate amongst which would be asking him to resign.
And he opted to resign which he did effective October 6 and we accepted his resignation.
The Oahu County Democratic organization is at the center of efforts to pass gay civil unions. It is a 100% Abercrombie organization which helped engineer the agit-prop protests in Governor Lingle’s office to make sure she was blamed for the Democrats’ furlough scheme. A show trial held by the Oahu County Org would make Stalin blush.
The Party which rose to prominence in the 1950s on the support of WW2 veterans and plantation labor is now run by gay activists, militant atheists, UH Manoa professors, and environmental shake down lawyers. Key campaign volunteers are in the pay of organic eco-billionaire Pierre Omidyar. Instead of being the champion of labor, its leaders line up to defend accused human traffickers in the Aloun Farms case.
The Abercrombie Democrats are working to remove all vestiges of the Democratic past as they create a new monolithic order.
There has been a reaction. Duke Aiona’s unsuccessful bid for Governor received the support of Okino, Rep Roland Sagum (D-Kauai) and former Big Island Democratic Senator David Matsuura as well as the solidly Democratic Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In an early September email message, Okino pointed out that the Progressive Democrats of Hawaii (PDH) are “evil”. But the Democratic sun now “rises and sets” by the PDH agenda. PDH candidate Abercrombie handily defeated Dan Inouye’s candidate Mufi Hannemann for governor. Inouye himself has been relegated to the job of providing a steady flow of pork to a party led by his opponents and governed by the same Neil Abercrombie who Inouye termed “a stranger.”
By exactly the same logic used against Okino, Dan Inouye could be expelled from his own Party based on his support for Alaska’s late Republican Senator Ted Stevens.
One listener to the Island Insights show commented:
“Face it: If we had a viable Republican Party, half of our current Democratic Legislators would run under the GOP banner.”
Shapiro notes that only 61% of Hawaii Democrats support civil unions in a mid-October Star-Advertiser poll. Gary Okino--and 39% of Hawaii Democrats—may soon have no choice but to switch parties or leave politics.
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Source: http://www.pbshawaii.org/ourproductions/insight.php
VIDEO: http://www.pbshawaii.org/indexee.php/site/vidpopdream/136/ (Okino resignation at 7:41)
Some fascinating looks at the Progressive Democrats and their favorite activities: