Honolulu's mayor revisits his heritage

HONOLULU -- On Monday, at a private ceremony to swear him in as mayor, Mufi Hannemann fought to keep his emotions in check. On Wednesday, he got ''goosebumps" at a public inauguration function.

The Harvard-educated Hannemann is the first Samoan-American mayor of a major US city, and has experienced naysayers for most of his 50 years. ''They say Samoans make excellent athletes, musicians, excellent doormen, or we do a good job of wiping down your car at McKinley Car Wash," Hannemann said. ''But the next level is kind of like, 'hmm?' "

''There were people who said a Samoan would never be elected mayor of Honolulu," he said after his narrow victory last year over Duke Bainum, a white physician who was born in Arkansas. ''Now a young kid can say, 'If Mufi can do it, so can I.' "

Only .025 percent of the US population claims Samoan ancestry, according to figures derived from US Census data. In the city and county of Honolulu, less than 3 percent of the mostly Asian and white population of 876,156 is reported to be Samoan.

But Hannemann estimates that less than 1 percent of Samoans in Honolulu are eligible to vote because many are transplanted American Samoans and not naturalized US citizens.

Hannemann's election was always in doubt. He trailed Bainum by 17 percentage points in a poll as late as one week before the voting. A former city councilor, Hannemann entered the race after two terms on the City Council, two unsuccessful runs for Congress, and one for mayor.

''Hannemann's negatives were very high going into the campaign," said Ira Rohter, a political science professor of the University of Hawaii. ''He'd run several times and lost, and he had one campaign in which he came out looking very bad. He had been perceived as a bully." After a vitriol-filled race, Hannemann lost to incumbent Representative Neil Abercrombie in 1986.

But Rohter said Hannemann, who underwent triple bypass surgery in 2001, charmed his way to the mayor's office. He said Hannemann used an easy manner and comfortable smile to convince enough people that a locally born mayor was better than one who moved here.

The message on all of Hannemann's signs suggested the outcome: ''Our home, our mayor."

Neal Milner, another University of Hawaii political science professor, said high turnout and Hannemann's appeal to blue-collar voters in the heavily Democratic state were critical in determining the outcome. The margin of victory in the nation's 11th largest municipality was a little more than 1,300 votes out of nearly 300,000 cast. (Bainum did not request a recount.)

One of Hannemann's first acts as mayor was to suspend repair work on a World War I memorial in Waikiki, freeing more than $6 million for other purposes. Hannemann has said he wants to improve traffic by building a light rail system and combat growing homelessness and illegal use of crystal methamphetamine.

Born the sixth of seven children in the tough Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hannemann excelled in academics and athletics. A 1976 graduate of Harvard, the 6-foot 7-inch Hannemann started for the basketball team in his senior year.

He earned a Fulbright scholarship and attended Victoria University in New Zealand before taking on a series of state and federal government positions. After the election, Hannemann visited his father's grave on Oahu. Gustav Hannemann came from Samoa (formerly called Western Samoa), a former German colony.

Then Hannemann flew 2,600 miles into the South Pacific to visit the grave of his mother, Faiaso, in American Samoa. He wanted a peaceful 48-hour visit. But territorial officials greeted him at the airport, and his mother's village threw a feast for him with traditional Samoan blessings. He was showered with gifts, and was stopped on the street everywhere he walked. Countless drivers spotted the towering figure and honked at him. ''It was just overwhelming," he said. ''I was exhausted and I was looking for some quiet time. But I understood and I wasn't going to deny them the opportunity to meet me."

Hannemann first revisited his heritage at Harvard. ''One day I went into the bowels of the Widener Library at Harvard, borrowing books about the Pacific and Polynesia, my roots," Hannemann said. ''I stumbled across a copy of the deed that ceded Eastern Samoa to the United States" in 1900.

''And lo and behold, one of the chiefs who signed that treaty was paramount chief Muliufi Soliai, my great-grandfather."

Hannemann called home with the news.

''I finally understood that this was the guy who had the foresight and wisdom along with the other chiefs to have Eastern Samoa link up with the greatest country in the world."