Audrey and I are halfway through a ten-day swing around Maui, Hawai'i Island and Kaua'i. We've signwaved at sunrise and sunset, hosted more talk stories and community meetings, walked communities, greeted voters at farmers markets and fundraisers, met with our great and growing grassroots teams, and done whatever we can do to talk story with folks where you live, work and play. On this spectacular Presidents' Day that was at the beach, as we walked Spencer Beach Park, Hapuna Beach, Wailea Bay, Kekaha Kai, Pine Trees and Honokohau in West Hawai'i.
Tomorrow we're heading back to my Hilo hometown for more grassroots campaigning and for our East Hawai'i headquarters grand opening Wednesday afternoon. If you're in Hilo then, please join us! Here are the details:
Maui No Ka ‘Oi; Talk Story Upcountry/ Fishing with Ed
Dear Friend:
Happy Valentine's Day!
Amazingly, Audrey not only agreed to be my Valentine all over again but to hit the campaign trail anew with me around Hawai'i. I feel so much better when she's with me.
First stop: Maui through this week, where my great-grandparents moved from Honolulu in 1903, raised their family and lived their lives. We'll be speaking, signwaving, going door-to-door and talking with folks wherever and however we can.
University of Hawai’i Professional Assembly Endorses Case
Dear Friend:
I'm deeply grateful to the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly (UHPA) for endorsing my United States Senate candidacy today.
UHPA represents over 4,000 UH faculty members at ten campuses statewide. UHPA's board acted on the recommendation of its political endorsement committee, which interviewed both me and Mazie extensively.
Like most Americans, I'm frustrated, angered and just plain embarrassed by Washington today. From paralyzing hyperpartisanship and gridlock to the deepening grip of PAC/special interest/lobbyist money and influence to the avoidance of pressing national challenges, Capitol Hill is just not getting the job done. It doesn't have to be this way. The best road to change is to elect leaders willing and able to bring strong, effective and inclusive leadership to bear on the challenges of today and tomorrow. But we can also help by changing the corrosive rules under which Washington is operating.
Hawai'i voters have a crucial choice to make between us in the Democratic primary for Hawaii's next U. S. Senator. Voting in that primary starts in less than five months.
In making that decision, voters are entitled to listen to us debate the issues of our day, just as we must be able to do as their United States Senator. I hope you agree that providing voters the opportunity to compare us side-by-side and in person across Hawai'i will bring this election personally to their doorstep and help bridge the widening chasm between government and citizens.
In our first statewide television ad, "Strong Effective Leadership", I share how we all feel about Washington today and what we need in our next U. S. Senator to fix DC. But elections are about choices between candidates and just who can get the job done.
Your choice in the Democratic primary for Hawaii's next U. S. Senator, in which all Hawai'i voters can vote, is between me and my successor in Congress, Mazie Hirono. With primary voting starting in just five months, it's time to focus on that choice.
My top priority as U.S. Senator will be to grow our economy and create good jobs. For Hawai’i that means in part maintaining and enhancing our current economic drivers.
At upwards of a quarter of our total economy and our second largest employer (after tourism), our defense community is not only an integral part of our fabric but a key economic pillar. For your Senator, that means providing strong leadership in DC that knows and values Hawai’i’s military and its contributions to our national defense, and advocates effectively for our defense presence and to maximize its local contributions.
Last week I began rolling out my Senate agenda with My Agenda #1: Growing Our Economy. One of my top action items was to strengthen what we do best.
We do tourism best, best in the world. But we cannot depend on yesterday and today to ensure Hawai'i tourism remains strong tomorrow. Please read on to see my tourism agenda, or view this short video summary.
Today, I released my Economic Agenda and discussed "Strong Effective Leadership in Business and Government" in my speech to Smart Business Hawai'i. Whether in a Hawai'i small business or on Capitol Hill, it's all about being honest about challenges, innovative and flexible in solutions, persevering in accomplishing goals and able to make the necessary decisions. My remarks are below.
Strong Effective Leadership in Business and Government "Fellow members of Smart Business Hawai’i, good morning and aloha!
Letter to Dante Carpenter Asking for a Series of Statewide Joint Presentations of Candidates
Dear Dante:
Happy New Year! I wish you and yours and our party only the best for 2012.
This is to suggest that the Democratic Party of Hawai'i host a series of statewide joint presentations with Mazie and me before primary election voting starts at the end of June.
Too many of us will remember 2011 for our Congress' failure to deliver strong and effective leadership for our country when most needed.
In my seven years on Capitol Hill, beginning as a 22-year-old legislative assistant to Sen. Spark Matsunaga and later as Hawai'i's Congressman, I grew to trust in representative democracy and cherish the institution. But over the last decade and especially the last year I've gone from puzzlement to discouragement to anger to just plain embarrassment.
The U. S. Senate and each of its members bear unique responsibilities under our system for our country's foreign policy. And the foreign policy of our country over the next generation will turn ever-increasingly to Asia and the Pacific. I've started that discussion with this interview, Ed Case on Foreign Policy Issues in the Senate Campaign, from just before Kim Jong-il's death on the TV show Asia in Review, hosted by Bill Sharp.
