HONOLULU – A Hawaii lawmaker who says she was pressured to give up her leadership post at the statehouse after criticizing President Donald Trump resigned Wednesday from the Republican Party.
Rep. Beth Fukumoto said members of the GOP refused to oppose racism and sexism including a suggestion by Trump to create a Muslim registry during his campaign.
"As a Japanese-American whose grandparents had to destroy all of their Japanese artifacts and items and bury them in the backyard to avoid getting taken and interned, how could I not have said anything?" Fukumoto asked. "And how could my party have not said anything?"
Fukumoto was voted out of her post as House Minority Leader in February after calling Trump a bully in a speech at the Women's March in Honolulu, saying many of his remarks were racist and sexist and had no place in the Republican Party.
Since then, she sought feedback from her constituents about leaving the GOP and said three-quarters of the more than 470 letters she received supported the move.
She said she agrees with many Democratic positions on affordable housing and equitable taxes, and hopes to join that party.
Hawaii Democratic Party leader Tim Vandeveer said Democrats will give Fukumoto a fair shake, but some members are concerned about her past voting record on civil rights and women's issues.
"Changing political parties is not like changing jackets, just because the weather's better on our side of the street," Vandeveer said.
Fukumoto voted against same-sex marriage when it came before the Legislature in 2013. She said Wednesday she voted that way to represent the majority of her constituents, but if she was voting on her own, she would have voted yes.
On reproductive rights, Fukumoto said she does not believe in abortion in all three trimesters but does not want to rescind individuals' rights once they have been granted.
"We have choice laws in Hawaii and I'm not looking to repeal those laws," she said.
Members of the Democratic Party on Oahu will ultimately decide whether to accept Fukumoto, but the process could take months, Vandeveer said.
Fukumoto said she's received letters of encouragement from Democrats and Republicans in nearly every state.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz welcomed her to the party in a tweet, saying he's proud of her courage.
Republican state Rep. Cynthia Thielen, a Fukumoto ally who voted against removing her from leadership, said, "the tiny party's brand is further weakened and its relevance to the wider, diverse constituency looks bleak."
With Fukumoto's departure, Hawaii has just five Republican state representatives and no Republican state senators.
Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Fritz Rohlfing declined to immediately comment because he had not yet reviewed Fukumoto's resignation letter.
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BTW, with apologies to our Hawaii residents, I do not consider Hawaii to be part of the United States. I just don't. If the Japanese had not bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, most Americans would have never heard of the place. We made it a state in order to be able put 50 stars on a flag, and because it was strategically advantageous, and that's all.
March 23, 2017, 07:35 AM
Shaql
Have you heard Ossoff’s campaign commercials here in the 6th district special election? He is trying to sound like a republican! Doesn't even mention, in his own adds mind you, that he's a democrat.
Hedley Lamarr: Wait, wait, wait. I'm unarmed. Bart: Alright, we'll settle this like men, with our fists. Hedley Lamarr: Sorry, I just remembered . . . I am armed.
March 23, 2017, 08:27 AM
chellim1
quote:
Republican state Rep. Cynthia Thielen, a Fukumoto ally who voted against removing her from leadership, said, "the tiny party's brand is further weakened and its relevance to the wider, diverse constituency looks bleak."
Sounds like another one needs to go as well.
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
March 23, 2017, 09:07 AM
bigdeal
quote:
Hawaii Democratic Party leader Tim Vandeveer said Democrats will give Fukumoto a fair shake, but some members are concerned about her past voting record on civil rights and women's issues.
"Changing political parties is not like changing jackets, just because the weather's better on our side of the street," Vandeveer said.
Must be a Hawaii thing because the Dem party nationally is circling the bowl, and continuing to row.
This woman sounds a bit, shall we say, 'confused'. Does however sound like she'd be a great fit in the Dem party.
----------------------------- Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter
March 23, 2017, 09:22 AM
darthfuster
She's been infected with PC. Now she thinks with knucklehead logic. Soon she will not think at all. Then she will be fully transformed into a Borgzombiedem.
You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier
March 23, 2017, 10:09 AM
sigmonkey
She needs a Lyft.
"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
March 23, 2017, 10:13 AM
Rightwire
Is anyone else afraid that Hawaii will sink if they add one more Democrat?
Seriously, a shift left could cause it to capsize
Pronoun: His Royal Highness and benevolent Majesty of all he surveys
343 - Never Forget
Its better to be Pavlov's dog than Schrodinger's cat
There are three types of mistakes; Those you learn from, those you suffer from, and those you don't survive.
March 23, 2017, 12:52 PM
Aquabird
Yes, there are states where the weather is good only on that side of the street...but not too many. Cal, N.Y.,and Washington to name just a few. I personally think Senator McCain should switch too.
NRA Life Endowment member Tri-State Gun collectors Life Member
March 23, 2017, 01:12 PM
bigdeal
quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
She needs a Lyft.
----------------------------- Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter
March 23, 2017, 05:01 PM
joel9507
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum: With Fukumoto's departure, Hawaii has just five Republican state representatives and no Republican state senators.
That's messed up.
Anyone know how Hawaiian politics became so tilted?
March 23, 2017, 06:33 PM
Sig209
Lived in Hawaii for eight years. There really isn't anyone there you would recognize as a Republican.
---------------------------------
Proverbs 27:17 - As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
March 23, 2017, 10:50 PM
flashguy
quote:
Originally posted by joel9507:
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum: With Fukumoto's departure, Hawaii has just five Republican state representatives and no Republican state senators.
That's messed up.
Anyone know how Hawaiian politics became so tilted?
I don't think it "became" tilted--I suspect it's always been Leftist. It may have something to do with the fact that there are hardly any living there who began life in the continental US--most inhabitants are Polynesian or from the Far East; another possibility is that it was a monarchy until just a few decades ago. I don't think the state of Hawaii ever had a tilt to the Right.
flashguy
Texan by choice, not accident of birth
March 24, 2017, 08:31 AM
chellim1
quote:
I don't think it "became" tilted--I suspect it's always been Leftist. It may have something to do with the fact that there are hardly any living there who began life in the continental US-
That's why the DEMS are pushing for Puerto Rico to become the 51st State. It's as close to Commie as a State could be. It would guarantee the Dems two more Senators and some electoral votes for the Presidency.
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
March 24, 2017, 10:15 AM
tanksoldier
quote:
With Fukumoto's departure, Hawaii has just five Republican state representatives and no Republican state senators.
...which is what the people of Hawaii want.
We get the government we deserve. Always.
"I am a Soldier. I fight where I'm told and I win where I fight." GEN George S. Patton, Jr.
March 24, 2017, 12:05 PM
Icabod
quote:
Originally posted by joel9507:
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum: With Fukumoto's departure, Hawaii has just five Republican state representatives and no Republican state senators.
That's messed up.
Anyone know how Hawaiian politics became so tilted?
It's always been demoncrat. The big landowners set it up when they ran things. When it came to statehood, Hawaii came in with Republican Alaska to balance things.
“ The work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation is slow, laborious and dull.
March 24, 2017, 12:13 PM
sigcrazy7
I support Hawaiian and Californian independence. What a wonderful world it would be.
Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus
March 24, 2017, 01:45 PM
oddball
I have family in Hawaii and one guy says that politics there is perhaps more corrupt than CA.
Fukumoto is not the first "Republican" to switch to the Goddamn Commies. Her predecessor House Minority Leader Aaron Johansson also resigned from the Republican Party in 2014. It's a joke; these RINOs have always been commies, getting elected as Republicans to help out Democrats.
Interesting video from last year detailing the RINOs in Hawaii.
"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965
