[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 3 (Friday, January 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S571-S572]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         TRITUTE TO GORO HOKAMA

 Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I have known Goro Hokama, the 
outgoing chairman of the county council of the County of Maui, for over 
40 years. In the spring of 1954, I recall meeting with him to discuss 
whether we should consider public service as our life's career. For 40 
years, Goro Hokama has served the people of Maui County as a member of 
the county council and also chairman of that same body.
  I wish to share with you and my colleagues the following editorial 
from the Maui News, dated December 20, 1994, entitled ``Goro Hokama: 40 
Years of Service.''
  I believe it expresses the sentiment of many of us who have had the 
privilege of calling him friend, and the many who have benefited form 
his leadership. I wish to join the people of Maui County and all of 
Hawaii in commending and thanking Goro Hokama for his 40 years of 
dedicated public service.
  The editorial follows:

                  [From the Maui News, Dec. 20, 1994]

                    Goro Hokama: 40 Years of Service

       1994's end will officially bring down the curtain on Goro 
     Hokama's 40 continuous years of public service to Maui 
     County. It's impossible to overstate the contributions he has 
     made to this community, and in fact, to the entire state of 
     Hawaii.
       The departing Maui County Council chairman was first 
     elected to office in 1954, the year of the great political 
     revolution that saw the Democrats snatch the reins of power 
     from the Republicans and by proxy from the big landowners. 
     Hokama was Hawaii's lone remaining elected county official 
     who had a hand in that historic housecleaning, a staying 
     power made ever more remarkable by his having to face 
     election every two years.
       U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye is the only person remaining from 
     the 1954 sweep who has served in elected office as long as 
     Hokama, but even he did not have to win 20 straight times to 
     do so. Hokama did.
       And Hokama won without ever sacrificing his principles, 
     even when it meant risking the loss of longtime supporters. 
     For all of his 40 years on the County Council, or its 
     predecessor, the Board of Supervisors, Hokama held the Lanai 
     residency seat. In more than one election he trailed his 
     opponent when the ballots on Lanai were counted, but with 
     countywide voting he would prevail anyway because of his 
     broad appeal to residents throughout the county.
       Seeing himself as more than just a Lanai councilman, Hokama 
     clearly understood his role as a county councilman, and his 
     actions reflected that understanding, even if not always to 
     his benefit back home.
       He learned early, however, not to be frightened off by the 
     odds, working as a union organizer among the pineapple 
     workers on Lanai in the 1940s when unions were a poison to 
     the ruling political and financial powers. And neither was he 
     frightened off nearly 50 years later when the ILWU shockingly 
     refused to endorse him, one of its own, in the election of 
     1992 because of differences he had with the union leadership 
     over the course of development on Lanai.
       He won anyway.
       That was an occasion when he opposed development, and he 
     drew the wrath of labor. On other occasions he supported 
     development, and he drew the wrath of environmentalists. On 
     all of those occasions, however, Hokama acted upon what he 
     believed was right, not on what may have been politically 
     expedient.
       Maui has repeatedly been cited by economists as the county 
     with the firmest financial footing in the state, and that is 
     due in no small part to Goro Hokama. Fiscally conservative by 
     nature, he nonetheless was a leader in the bold gambles that 
     paid off in the developments of Kaanapali, Wailea and 
     [[Page S572]] Kapalua, bringing the full fruits of tourism to 
     bear on Maui's economy. That economic success story is 
     certainly his chief legacy.
       His first and only election loss came in November when his 
     bid for mayor was turned back by Linda Crockett Lingle. 
     Hokama again found himself bucking the odds by taking on the 
     popular Republican incumbent, but as always he showed his 
     resolve not to be cowed by the odds. He waged an aggressive 
     and tireless campaign from day one, the only difference being 
     that this time he lost.
       That he didn't lose in any of the 20 elections before this 
     one is both a tribute to the man Goro Hokama and a profit to 
     the County of Maui.
     

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