Ed Case
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Image:Edcaseofficial.jpg Edward Espenett "Ed" Case (born September 27, 1952) is a politician from Hawai'i in the United States. He currently serves the residents of the Hawai'i Second Congressional District (map) in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat. He was first elected in 2002 in a special election to fill the seat of the deceased Patsy T. Mink, who died of pneumonia.
Case first gained popularity in Hawai'i as majority leader of the Hawai'i State Legislature and for his reform campaign for Governor of Hawai'i in 2002.
On January 19, 2006, Case announced that he will challenge Sen. Daniel Akaka in the primary for his US Senate seat.
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Early years
He was born on September 27 1952 in Hilo on the island of Hawai'i, the eldest of six children. On the Big Island, he attended Waiakea-Kai and Keaukaha Elementary Schools through the sixth grade. In 1970, Case graduated from Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Kamuela. After high school, Case traveled for a year in Australia, where he worked as a jackeroo on a New South Wales sheep station, and New Zealand. Case then attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in psychology in 1975. In 1981, Case graduated from the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco with a juris doctor, following in the footsteps of earlier generations of Case attorneys.
From 1981 to 1982, Case served as law clerk to Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice William S. Richardson. From 1983 to 2002, Case worked at the law firm Carlsmith Ball in Honolulu where he became a partner in 1989, and served as managing partner from 1992 to 1994, when he was first elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives. He resigned his partnership upon winning election to Congress.
Political life
Case got his first taste of political life as Legislative Assistant to Congressman and then Senator Spark Matsunaga in Washington, D.C. from 1975 to 1978. In 1985, Case won his first election, to the Manoa Neighborhood Board of Honolulu. He became its chairman in 1987, a position he held until retirement from the board in 1989.
Case served four two-year terms in the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002, focusing on basic change in Hawaii governance. In 1999, after Case led an effort to replace the leadership of the State House, his Democratic peers elected him Majority Leader. But as Majority Leader, Case butted heads with influential senior members of the Democratic Party who were wedded to the status quo and resistant to change. Case led a fierce battle to reform the way state government operated and repeatedly warned that Hawai'i was not addressing long-term fiscal challenges. On the last legislative day of 2000, Case said in a floor speech: "If you cannot make those choices, please get out of the way, because you are just making it harder for the rest of us." Many scholars and analysts view this event as the opening salvo that would end Democratic rule over Hawai'i for the first time in 40 years, with the election of a Republican governor in 2002. Case was seen as a hero by residents while senior Democrats looked at him with dismay.
2002 Gubernatorial Campaign
Image:2002hawaiidemocraticdebate.jpg
In early 2001, at the beginning of his fourth term in the Hawaii State House, Case chose not to continue as Majority Leader so that he could speak out independently on the changes he believed Hawaii needed to make in its political and other systems. In October 2001, Case announced his candidacy for Governor of Hawai'i in 2002. Riding on public anger over the status quo under the leadership of what was collectively known as the "Old Boys' Network" of Hawai'i politics, Case's initial opponent was the early favorite in the race, Mayor of Honolulu Jeremy Harris. Case supporters were discontent with the Hawai'i Democratic Party machine which had ruled the state for 40 years and left the economy stagnant, a machine to which Harris was closely tied and which he sought to inherit.
Hawai'i residents were shocked, considering his high polling numbers, when Harris abruptly dropped from the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in May 2002 because of ongoing campaign spending investigations. Case sought the support of potential Harris voters as Lieutenant Governor Mazie K. Hirono dropped out of her race for Mayor of Honolulu to challenge Case for the ticket. A later entrant into the Democratic primary was D. G. "Andy" Anderson, the former Republican state chair and aide to former Honolulu Mayor Frank F. Fasi. Case appealed to Hawai'i voters that his campaign was one of government reform and the future as opposed to Hirono and Anderson who represented the "Old Boys' Network" and a status-quo past.
In one of the closest primary elections for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Hawaii history, Hirono beat Case, with Anderson a distant third. Hirono went on in the general election to run against former Republican Mayor of Maui, Linda Lingle in the general election. Lingle's own campaign of reform, called Agenda for New Beginnings appealed to her own and former Case voters and elected her governor.
2002 Special Election
U.S. Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink died on September 28, 2002, one week after the primary election, leaving her 107th Congress (2001-2002) seat vacant. She was subsequently posthumously reelected to the 108th Congress (2003-2004) in November of the same year. On November 30, 2002, Case was elected in a special election to fill her vacancy in the remaining weeks of the 107th Congress, gaining over 50% of the vote in a field of over forty. Case immediately ran for reelection in a second special election in early January 2003 for Mink's 108th Congress seat, going up against more than three dozen other candidates, among them Democrats Matt Matsunaga and Colleen Hanabusa, and Republicans Barbara Marumoto, Bob McDermott, and Frank Fasi. Case won that election with 43 percent of the vote.
2004 Congressional Campaign
In 2004, Case was challenged by Republican Mike Gabbard, a social conservative focused almost exclusively on anti-homosexual issues. Case won the election with 63% of the vote, and is currently serving his third term in the United States House of Representatives. [1]
2006 Senatorial campaign
Template:Main Case has announced a challenge to Sen. Daniel Akaka in the primary election to be held on September 23, 2006.
Case has stated that although he has the deepest respect for Akaka, Hawaii is in a time of transition with regard to the state's representation in Congress and especially in the Senate. This transition requires that Hawaii phases in the next generation to provide continuity in that service. Case warned the state would lose all clout in Washington if the state's two US Senators, both of whom are over 80 years old, leave office within a short time of each other.
Hawaii's other Representative and Senator - Rep. Neil Abercrombie and Sen. Daniel Inouye have already pledged their support to Sen. Akaka.[2]
Senator Barack Obama, popularly known as Hawaii's "third senator", also endorsed Akaka.
Family life
Case's first marriage, from 1988 to 1998, produced two children, James (b. 1988) and David (b.1990). In 2001 Case married Audrey Nakamura, a former classmate from Hawai'i Preparatory Academy with whom he became reacquainted during their 30th Class Reunion. "I was in a definite, major-league crush with her for two years back in seventh and eighth grade," Case said in an interview on the campaign trail. Audrey had two children of her own, David (b. 1983) and Megan (b. 1986), from a previous marriage. Today, Audrey, a flight attendant with United Airlines, maintains their Kaneohe, Oahu home while Case commutes between Congress and Hawaii. During his spare time, Case reportedly enjoys hiking, camping, bodysurfing, sailing, reading biography and history. His cousin Steve Case is the founder of America Online.
Electoral history
- 2004 Race for U.S. House of Representatives - 2nd District
- Ed Case (D) (inc.), 63%
- Mike Gabbard (R), 37%
- 2003 Race for U.S. House of Representatives - 2nd District (Special Election)
- Ed Case (D) (inc.), 43%
- Matt Matsunaga (D), 30%
- Colleen Hanabusa (D), 8%
- Barbara Marumoto (R), 6%
- Bob McDermott (R), 6%
- 2002 Race for U.S. House of Representatives - 2nd District (Special Election)
- Ed Case (D), 51%
- John Mink (D), 36%
- John Carroll (R), 4%
- 2002 Race for Governor (Democratic Primary)
- Mazie Hirono (D), 41%
- Ed Case (D), 39%
External links
- Ed Case Official Campaign Site
- Ed Case Official Congressional Site
- Hawai'i Democratic Party
- Midweek article on Ed Case