Colleen Hanabusa Can't Tell The Difference Between Bipartisanship And Selling Out

The 2 wings of the Hawaiian Democratic Party

The worst of the corporately-owned conservative Democrats-- shills like Ro Khanna (CA), Marjorie Margolies (PA), Don Beyer (VA), Wendy Greuel (CA), Kevin Strouse (PA), Pete Aguilar (CA) and the two from the Republican wing of the Hawaiian Democratic Party, Donna Mercado Kim and Colleen Hanabusa-- love to bray incessantly about their efforts to work across the aisle in a "bipartisan" manner. The Hanabusa story is typical of the breed and she's basing her whole mean-spirited, failing race against progressive leader Brian Schatz on it.

Democratic primary voters in Hawaii have traditionally distinguished between bipartisanship as a practical way to advance issues that do not compromise core Democratic values-- i.e., Senator Inouye (D-HI) and Senator Stevens (R-AK) working together to get federal funds for Hawaii and Alaska-- as opposed to that of Democrats who are eager to sell out to their corporate donors and to Republicans, essentially, adopting an anti-family, Republican agenda along with Big Business policies.

For example, in 2012 when progressive Mazie Hirono defeated conservative Ed Case, she got kudos for working together with Rep. Don Young (R-AK) to save funding for Native Hawaiian education programs. Young, of course, was interested in funding for Native Alaskan education programs. At the same time, Case was severely criticized for voting for a Republican Study Committee budget proposal which cut funding for family planning (i.e., no Planned Parenthood funding), public television, and other family-friendly Democratic programs.

Similarly, in the current election, Senator Schatz has worked with Republicans to pass important pieces of legislation, from a Native American Veterans Memorial to crucial energy efficiency legislation for military installations, that did not compromise any Democratic values, while Hanabusa's "bipartisanship" is a thinly veiled way of saying she sold out to the Republicans on the budget (voting for Simpson Bowles), on defense spending (her hawkish bill with Randy Forbes and Buck McKeon), on the environment (her support together with Don Young for drilling in ANWR), and on Medicare (working with PhRMA to continue Part D subsidies to big pharmaceutical companies where she joined with far right extremist lunatic James Lankford of Oklahoma).

After President Obama endorsed Senator Schatz for reelection, it has become clear that Hanabusa has abandoned any pretense-- and that's all it ever was, as anyone who has ever looked at her voting record already knew-- of being a progressive. She is now moving to the right in an effort to stake out ground that would appeal to Republicans who can vote in Hawaii's open August 9th primary. She even went against Hawaii Democrats in proposing a Chamber of Commerce-inspired idea for raising the minimum wage to $9.25 instead of the carefully negotiated $10.10. Corporate interests and Big Business have more than enough representatives in Washington pushing their agendas. Brian Schatz has proven, like Elizabeth Warren, Mazie Hirono, Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders, that ordinary working families need some representation in Washington as well-- not more conservative consensus disguised as fake bipartisanship, the only thing Colleen Hanabusa understands.