Aloha Hawaii Republicans:
No matter which political party, the county party organization is where the action and power really lie. Our party structure has four counties and each of these is presided over by a county chair. That county chair is supposed to make sure that the party’s district and precinct organizations are humming 24/7/365 during the entirety of those 24 months between elections. In reality, NOTHING HAPPENED . . . as you’ll read below. Again, this is about JOB PERFORMANCE!
FRED "FRITZ" ROHLFING
Oahu County Chair
Rules of the state and county parties make it clear that the County Chair is supposed to make sure each house district and each precinct was organized and functioning during the 24 months leading up to election day: fundraising, communications and public relations programs, voter outreach, campaigns for voter identification and registration, absentee ballots, transporting voters to polls, staffing of polling places, and much more. For the last 2 years, none of this took place.
So what did Rohlfing do instead? He held secret meetings at his home to try and have Democrat Muliufi “Mufi” Hannemann become the party’s candidate for governor in 2014. This travesty cuts one of two ways or perhaps both: either our Republican prospects for governor are so thin that the County Chair “scraped the bottom” to recruit Mufi and/or our County Chair’s idea of Republicanism is so out of whack that he thinks Mufi’s principles and positions align with ours. Rohlfing also glad-handed at Djou’s headquarters on election night; working the room and shaking hands with everyone as if he did something to improve Republican prospects as county chair in the 11th largest metropolitan area in the United States.
In his campaign brochure (click image to view full-size) for the position of county chair, Fritz promised to “work hard” by “recruiting house district and precinct chairs for Honolulu county who are committed to our platform and are willing to work hard and fulfill their duties." Well, they never even heard from him. It should be noted that Oahu county, the relatively conservative county where the entire HRP executive committee of party officers resides and works, saw Republican prospects in 2014 be savaged by Democrats: Aiona lost by 8 points, Cavasso by 37, and Crowley by 52.
BOB HICKLING
Kauai County Chair
What can you say about Kauai’s county chair, Bob Hickling? He was touted by Pat Saiki as the best new voter registrar in the HRP. However, Kauai’s three candidates lost by an average MARGIN of 45 percentage points. Hickling’s county party raised ZERO funds to support candidates, and in the big ticket races, Duke Aiona lost by 20, Cam Cavasso lost by 46, and Kawika Crowley by 62. What can you say?
GEORGE FONTAINE
Maui County Chair
Fontaine’s county organization supported only two candidates with a couple hundred dollars. Maui’s Republican county organization recruited only six candidates that went on to lose in 2014 by an average MARGIN of 39 points. After Fontaine’s defeat from the state house in 2012, Republicans have no elected presence on Maui, since past Republicans Mayor Arakawa and Councilman Don Couch have already aligned themselves with the Democrat Party.
Under the supervision of Hellreich and Saiki, Fontaine’s Maui county had no rallies and held zero fundraisers. Not surprisingly, Aiona lost by 24, Cavasso 47, Crowley 62. Fontaine also did not help to generate any excitement about the importance of voting, as turnout was only 52.7%. Quoting a member of the TEA organization on Maui, "I have seen nothing from the County Chair (Fontaine)".
GUNNER MENCH
Big Island Chair
According to Pat Saiki this past July, Gunner Mench “. . . will serve as the party’s liaison in West Hawaii, and organize a coordinated campaign between local, state and federal candidates. With Duke leading in almost every poll to date and strong candidates in targeted districts on the Big Island, it is more important than ever that we have a leader who understands the lay of land in West Hawaii and can organize boots-on-the-ground. Thankfully, Gunner has stepped up to ensure Big Island Republicans are a key player this election.” That boast to the news media came when Saiki decided to break our party’s rules and unilaterally and arbitrarily appoint a ‘half-county’ chair; since Mench’s predecessor Daryl Smith up and quit the county chair job to run the hopeless Big Island campaign for Duke Aiona, who lost by a stunning 21 point spread to Democrat Ige there.
Not to be outdone by the other three counties, the Hawaii county organization helped Cam Cavasso to lose by 49 points, while Kawika Crowley lost by 61 points. The same Big Island Republican Party could recruit only four candidates -- as many as the Libertarian Party -- and those Republicans lost by an average MARGIN of 35 points.
Perhaps Pat Saiki will endorse Daryl Smith and Gunner Mench for re-election to their party posts in 2015, despite Smith’s bailing on Hawaii county Republicans in the middle of an election. The mysterious circumstances which led to Saiki’s Obama-like and extremely questionable legal authority to divide a county chairmanship (established clearly under the rules of both the state party and the county party as one person) grew even more mysterious when Saiki plucked Hellreich-friend Gunner Mench from obscurity to become the half-county chairman and then promoted to the whole county’s chairman (based on appreciation for not-so-great election results, we suppose). Not a single vote of the state committee ever was held to fill either vacancy. 
Nor were the rules changed by the state convention delegates from a full county chair to half a county chair and then back again, which under the rules would have taken four years and two state conventions. This illicit maneuvering and rulebreaking coming from the same Saiki/Hellreich gang which announced immediately after the devastating 2014 elections that these RINO’s were now in the planning stages of keeping control of the state party by manipulating the elections of district chairs in Spring 2015, just as they have done in the past.
Looking at HRP’s whole county picture, not a single county bothered to hold a rally or a fundraiser. Neither HRP nor Oahu County bothered to provide any direct support to candidates. Even worse, none of the four counties are working with a full complement of district chairs implementing a non-existent strategic political plan, since the only plan in 2014 was to put everything into a Hail Mary play for Aiona and Djou.
And we now have less than 24 months before the next general election. Do we want more of the same failure? It’s time to unite as a party around better leadership before we lose another decade.
HIRA warned you that HRP led by Saiki and Hellreich and their cohorts would be taking us down the same road of failure for another two years. And HIRA did what a Republican supporting PAC is supposed to do: Make the case for Republicans and the case against Democrats. While the Hawaii GOP sat on the sidelines in 2014, HIRA raised and spent thousands on ads like THESE:
Please donate to our SuperPAC, HIRA Action, today so we can keep fighting the good fight. Please join HIRA in identifying those who should be leading our party into a future of political and policy success. We deserve better than to keep treading water.
SHOW YOUR KOKUA: SIGN THE PETITION URGING THESE ‘LEADERS’ TO RESIGN
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