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Frank Fasi

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Frank Fasi
9th Mayor of Honolulu
In office
January 2, 1985 – September 1994
Preceded byEileen Anderson
Succeeded byJeremy Harris
In office
January 2, 1969 – January 2, 1981
Preceded byNeal Blaisdell
Succeeded byEileen Anderson
Personal details
Born(1920-08-27)August 27, 1920
East Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedFebruary 3, 2010(2010-02-03) (aged 89)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (before 1984)
Republican (1984–1994)
Best Party (1994–1996)
Independent (1996–2010)
Spouse
Florence Ohama
​
(m. 1946⁠–⁠1957)​
Joyce Miyeku Kono
​
​
(m. 1958⁠–⁠2010)​
Children11
EducationTrinity College, Connecticut (BA)

Frank Francis Fasi (August 27, 1920 – February 3, 2010) was an American politician who was the longest-serving Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, serving for 22 years. He also served as a territorial senator and member of the Honolulu City Council. To date, he remains the last Republican Mayor of Honolulu.

Early life

[edit]

Frank Francis Fasi was born on 27 August 1920 in Hartford, Connecticut, to Sicilian immigrants Carmelo and Josephine Lupo Fasi.[1] Carmelo owned an ice business, and Frank began working for his father at age 11.[2] He finished 7th out of his class of 476 in high school, and graduated from Trinity College where he had been a history major on an academic scholarship.[3]

Fasi tried to join the United States Marine Corps after graduation from Trinity. The Marines turned him down because of his color blindness. On his second try, he hired a friend to take the eye test for him, and he became a Marine.[2] He served in the Pacific Theater of World War II and was briefly stationed on Kauai. He was discharged as a first lieutenant in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1946, and immediately returned to Hawaii. In 1956, he resigned his commission as captain in the Marine Corps Reserve.

Fasi settled in Honolulu, where he became an entrepreneur, opening his own contracting, building demolition and salvage company.[4]

Political career

[edit]
Fasi in 1959

In 1958, Fasi entered politics, winning his first race to represent his district in the senate of the Territory of Hawaii.[5] His term was cut short when Hawaii achieved statehood and the territorial legislature was dissolved in 1959.[5] After returning to his business, Fasi once again ran for office in 1965, winning a seat on the Honolulu City Council, where he served as a councilman through 1968.

Mayor of Honolulu

[edit]

By the late 1960s, Fasi had gained a colorful reputation. The Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspapers were using the words "firebrand," "trailblazer," and "maverick" to describe him. In 1969, Fasi was elected mayor of Honolulu as a Democrat and served through 1981 when he was defeated for the first time for re-election in the Democratic primary by Eileen Anderson.[6] He then joined the Republican Party to stage a comeback and defeated Anderson in the 1984 election, returning to Honolulu Hale once again and serving as mayor through 1994,[5] when he resigned to seek the Hawaii governorship. After losing his 2004 bid for the office of mayor, Fasi, then 84 years old, announced that he would not run for office again. As of 2020, he is the last Republican to have served as Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Fasi served 22 years as the mayor of Honolulu, the longest cumulative tenure of any Honolulu mayor.[4]

Best Party

[edit]

Fasi was a member of the Democratic Party in his early years. In 1984, he was persuaded by D. G. Anderson to quit and join the Republican Party. In 1994, both parties pushed him away in favor of younger, more popular candidates. In retaliation, Fasi established the Best Party of Hawaii and ran for Governor of Hawaii against Patricia F. Saiki and Benjamin J. Cayetano.[7] John P. Craven ran against Fasi in the party's primary. Fasi lost the general election, but his party lives on as the Aloha ʻĀina Party of Hawaiʻi, with which it merged in 1997.

Indictment for corruption

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Fasi was indicted for bribery in 1977 on charges of accepting $500,000 in bribes.[8] The charges were later dropped.[9]

Legacy

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Much of Honolulu retains reminders of the Fasi era. He opened the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, and established TheBus,[10][11] a public transportation system. Fasi also invented and built the Satellite City Hall system, established one of the nation's largest elected neighborhood board systems, and pushed for the construction of the H-POWER waste-to-energy plant. Fasi created the Summer Fun recreational program for children and the annual Honolulu City Lights winter festival.[12] Fasi popularized the shaka, a local hand gesture, when he ordered it to become the city's signature logo and printed on all city signs and publications. He is also credited with transforming the Capitol District by bulldozing massive parking structures near the Hawaii State Capitol, ʻIolani Palace and Kawaiahaʻo Church to create large parcels of green space known as the Honolulu Civic Center.[13] He also created a central office building for many of the city's departments.

In recognition of Fasi's service to Honolulu, Mayor Mufi Hannemann renamed both the Civic Center and the Municipal Building in July 2006. In order to do so, the Honolulu City Council amended its charter with the passage of Bill 76 (2005) CD 1, FD 1, which bypassed a ban on naming city and county sites in honor of living persons. The Mayor Frank F. Fasi Civic Center and Mayor Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building now stand as memorials to him.[14]

Death

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Fasi died at his home of natural causes on February 3, 2010.[15][16] He was 89.

Organization membership

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Frank Fasi was a member[1] of the following organizations:

Electoral history

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Frank F. Fasi Election Summary
Year Race Election Party Outcome
1958 Territorial Senator General Democrat Won
1959 Congress Class 1 Senator Special Democrat Lost
1965 Honolulu City Councilman General Democrat Won
1967 Honolulu City Councilman General Democrat Won
1968 Mayor of Honolulu General Democrat Won
1972 Mayor of Honolulu General Democrat Won
1974 Governor of Hawaii Primary Democrat Lost to George R. Ariyoshi (D)
1976 Mayor of Honolulu General Democrat Won
1978 Governor of Hawaii Primary Democrat Lost to George R. Ariyoshi (D)
1980 Mayor of Honolulu Primary Democrat Lost to Eileen Anderson (D)
1982 Governor of Hawaii General Independent Democrat Lost to George R. Ariyoshi (D)
1984 Mayor of Honolulu General Republican Won
1988 Mayor of Honolulu General Republican Won
1992 Mayor of Honolulu General Republican Won
1994 Governor of Hawaii General Best Lost to Benjamin J. Cayetano (D)
1996 Mayor of Honolulu General Nonpartisan Lost to Jeremy Harris (N-P)
2000 Mayor of Honolulu General Nonpartisan Lost to Jeremy Harris (N-P)
2003 Congress 2nd District Special Nonpartisan Lost to Ed Case (D)
2004 Mayor of Honolulu General Nonpartisan Lost to Mufi Hannemann (N-P)

References

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  1. ^ a b Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "Fasi, Frank Francis". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b Tswei, Suzanne (20 September 2000). "Flamboyant and Combative". Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
  3. ^ "Frank Fasi Dies". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 4 February 2010. Archived from the original on 8 February 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  4. ^ a b Martin, Douglas (14 February 2010). "Frank F. Fasi, 89, Six-Term Mayor of Honolulu". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  5. ^ a b c Dye, Bob (1997). Hawai'i Chronicles II: Contemporary Island History from the Pages of Honolulu Magazine. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 276–281. ISBN 978-0-8248-1984-2.
  6. ^ Essoyan, Susan; Borreca, Richard (5 February 2010). "Hizzoner Was One of a Kind". Honolulu Star-bulletin. Archived from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  7. ^ Martin, Douglas (15 February 2010). "Frank Fasi; led Honolulu for six terms as mayor; 89". The Boston Globe.
  8. ^ Times, Wallace Turner Special to The New York (July 5, 1978). "Grudges and Corruption Inquiry Color Governorship Race in Hawaii". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Martin, Douglas (February 13, 2010). "Frank F. Fasi, 89, Six-Term Mayor of Honolulu". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "Hawaii Eyes Tourist-Tax Subsidy". Spokane Daily Chronicle. 4 September 1970.
  11. ^ Adamski, Mary (24 August 2003). "1971 Strike Prompted City to Create Public Fleet". Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
  12. ^ Munatones, Steve (6 February 2010). "The Can-do Spirit of Mayor Frank Fasi". The Water is Open.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "Frank Fasi: Through the Years". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 6 February 2010. Archived from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  14. ^ Hannemann, Mufi (8 February 2006). "Hanneman Proposes Renaming Civic Center, Municipal Center in Honor of Former Mayor Frank Fasi". Press release. City and County of Honolulu. Archived from the original on 1 June 2010.
  15. ^ "Former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi Dies". KITV. 4 February 2010. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012.
  16. ^ Advertiser Staff (4 February 2010). "Former Mayor F Fasi Dies". Honolulu Advertiser.
Party political offices
New seat Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Hawaii
(Class 1)
1959 		Succeeded by
New political party Best Party nominee for Governor of Hawaii
1994 		Succeeded by
None
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Honolulu
1969–1981 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Mayor of Honolulu
1985–1994 		Succeeded by
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