Burl Burlingame

Cec Heftel has also died, and for the superstitious in the news business, we’re waiting on Number Three.
Heftel was a smart fellow, and those in the radio business with him often spoke admiringly about his grasp of things. I had relatively little contact with him over the years, although I knew many people who worked with him. When we were trying desperately to find a buyer for the Star-Bulletin before Gannett’s corporate goons destroyed journalism is Honolulu, Heftel was one of the suitors, and our committee met with him a few times. It didn’t work out, although he was intrigued by the notion of launching a fourth career in the newspaper business. His questions were sharp and incisive, and he freely offered good advice. I liked him.

I first bumped into former Honolulu mayor Frank Fasi on a high-school field trip to Honolulu Hale. Fasi had revamped City Hall into a more statesmanlike structure, and his office had quite interesting accommodations. He got out his high-back chair to chat with the students, and it was such an interesting piece of furniture that I took a picture of it. The mayor got obviously annoyed. “Why aren’t you taking pictures of ME?” he said. I was about 15 years old at the time and unable to frame a logical answer. Probably still can’t.
Fasi was one of those old-school politicians who took care of his own, as long as they took care of him. He was good for the city, as he recognized that urban life is an extension of a family dwelling and the role of the godfather in charge is to take care of business. No bus system because HRT is out on strike? Well, Fasi just went out and bought busses and created a new system. And so he was also a control freak, which is an excellent philia for a city manager but not for a politician. He was never able to understand that newspapers are by nature independent and ornery and should never be house organs for politicians. And so both Honolulu dailies became enemies in his eyes, something that delighted the editors.
Fasi had heart problems in the ’80s, and he seemed to change after surgery. Instead of joisting with opponents, it became personal and rough. It was like he somehow became meaner and bitter. It was too bad. He really wanted to become governor, but that brass ring kept eluding him.
An example: Some time ago I did one of those goofy feature stories that readers like. The idea was simple. Drivers’ license photos were the great leveler. Everyone hates their drivers’ license photo. And so we copied the drivers’ license photos of as many Hawaii people as we could think of whose faces were familiar to the public. Every one of them immediately got the joke and pulled out their license. All except one, that is. Fasi started yelling about how the concept was a newspaper plot aimed against him.
And then, after the piece ran, Fasi complained that he wasn’t included.
Well, that was Frank F. Fasi for you. If he wasn’t in the mayoral drivers’ seat, nobody got to drive. But when he was in the drivers seat, he was generally a good driver.

I chose just one intoxicated drivers’ picture this week, but it should put to rest any notion that the Honolulu Police Department is using nice drivers-license images. This chap is likely unaware that his picture was even being taken, so he didn’t get to either smile or glower like the rest of Honolulu’s menaces behind the wheel. At any rate, if you see this guy in your rear view, get out of his way.
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Andy, aka Big Dog, doesn’t care for the smell of lacquer solvent in all the wood putty being splashed about. Don’t fret, Andy, next up is wood putty dust on everything.

This site got hacked today. I found some odd coding in the header theme and removed it, and that seemed to work. But let me know if the site either doesn’t come up, or comes up for a second and then jumps to some other site….

New York doesn’t want to host the Khalid Sheik Mohammed trial? We’ll take it! Hold it in Aloha Stadium and sell tickets and kosher hotdogs.

You never know who’s going to pop up in your local newspaper. Today, it was one of my daughters, fighting the good fight yesterday at the state capitol.