Lieutenant governor candidate Clayton Hee was well-positioned for his 2014 campaign.  He had plenty of money, had served in the Hawaii State Senate since 1984, and according to the Hawaii State Legislature website, had held significant assignments including being an impressively busy member of the Judiciary and Labor and Hawaiian Affairs Committees.

Hee also enjoyed the support of former Gov. Ben Cayetano, former First Lady Vickie Cayetano and City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro. Equally important Clayton Hee had, in my opinion, one of the most effective and persuasive television commercials aired during the primary campaign period.

In this particular often-run commercial, Hee looked and spoke humbly, reasonably, sensibly and appeared to enjoy an accomplished professional and personal life.

State Sen. Clayton Hee lost a bid for lieutenant governor in the August primary.

PF Bentley/Civil Beat

So how is it that the good Senator didn’t make it to the next level yet again — having previously lost to Matt Matsunaga in the 2002 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor and finishing fourth in the 2006 Democratic primary for the U. S. House of Representatives in Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district in 2003 behind Mazie Hirono, Colleen Hanabusa and Matt Matsunaga?

The answer is pleasingly simple: Hee’s problem is he’s Hee.

Clayton Hee has a tendency to make comments suggesting he is possessed by an unfortunate and unattractive bias.  An instructive example occurred during Hee’s failed attempt to derail the confirmation of Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Glenn Kim for judge of the First Circuit Court of the State of Hawaii.  As Chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, the notoriously mild-mannered Hee had doubts about Glenn Kim’s judicial temperament and recommended his rejection to his fellow senators.

I had the pleasure of working with Glenn Kim when I was Prosecuting Attorney.  Glenn Kim’s personal and professional accomplishments are blindingly brilliant.  He served in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star, earned not one but two degrees from a school called Harvard and graduated at the top of his law school class at the William S. Richardson School of Law.  One member of the staff of Hawaii’s only law school informed me that no other student in the school’s history equaled Glenn’s level of academic achievement.

Prior to the floor vote on Hee’s recommendation to reject Kim, Gov. Linda Lingle and I engaged in an intense lobbying campaign to overcome this potential travesty.  We went door to door to ask senators for their support.  Former Senate President Robert “Bobby” Bunda deserves credit and gratitude for being instrumental in lining up votes for Kim.  Former Sen. Russell Blair, a former deputy prosecutor who had worked with Kim had moved to California, emailed senators that “Glenn’s resume is backed by his personal qualities.  He is bright, hard-working, honorable generous and is called to public service.”

The confirmation vote was highlighted by Senator Hee’s providing all present with a vaguely coherent and impressively repetitive rant that lasted nearly half an hour.  Fortunately he was not persuasive.  Glenn Kim by a 16 to 9 vote was confirmed as judge of the First Circuit Court.

Here’s a breakdown of the Senate vote:

For Confirmation of Glenn Kim

Rosalyn Baker

Robert Bunda

Suzanne Chun Oakland

Will Espero

Carol Fukunaga

Mike Gabbard

Fred Hemmings

Les Ihara

Lorraine Inouye

Donna Mercado Kim

Ron Menor

Clarence Nishihara

Sam Slom

Brian Taniguchi

Gordon Trimble

Paul Whalen

Opposed to Confirmation

Clayton Hee

Colleen Hanabusa

J. Kalani English

Gary Hooser

David Ige

Russell Kokubun

Norman Sakamoto

Jill Tokuda

Shan Tsutsui

My suggestion is that if the persons who were opposed to the confirmation of Glenn Kim are running for re-election or for some other elected office it might be helpful if they were asked to justify their vote. Use their response as one of many factors you consider when you cast your vote.

After Hee’s effort was rejected he made a statement that caused me to believe he may be possessed by an unfortunate and unattractive bias.  He stated:  “Being local, it is tough for us to be in opposition to local people.”

Sometimes I’m so hopelessly naïve, I always thought that opposition should be on the basis of merit rather than who is or is not “local.”

So what does all this have to do with the 2014 election season?

First, I want to thank those of you who saw through Hee’s impressive endorsements and brilliant media campaign.  While I am prone to the use of satire, sarcasm and hyperbole more than occasionally, I am genuinely sincere in my admiration of Clayton Hee’s media campaign.  Its strategy and execution approached perfection.  In my opinion it failed because the proposition that Clayton Hee is humble, reasonable and sensible are shoes that just don’t fit Clayton Hee’s feet.

So when you cast your votes this November I suggest you gather as many facts as you can and then use common sense and reason as the basis of your decision.