Ben Cayetano
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| Benjamin J. Cayetano | |
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| In office December 2, 1994 – December 2, 2002 |
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| Lieutenant | Mazie Hirono - D |
| Preceded by | John Waihee - D |
| Succeeded by | Linda Lingle - R |
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| Born | November 14, 1939 Honolulu, Hawaiʻi |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Vicky Tiu Liu |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Benjamin Jerome "Ben" Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) served as the fifth Governor of the State of Hawaiʻi from 1994 to 2002. He is the first Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United States.
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[edit] Early years
Born in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Cayetano was estranged from his mother at a young age. Cayetano was raised by his father in Kalihi, an ethnic Filipino neighborhood west of Downtown Honolulu. He would grow up as a latchkey child. In Kalihi, he attended Wallace Rider Farrington High School, a public school aptly known locally as "Home of the Governors" as its buildings were named after several early Hawaiʻi statesmen. The school was only a few blocks from his home. Cayetano received poor grades throughout his years at Farrington and was often disciplined by his teachers and counselors. He barely made marks qualifying him to graduate.
Upon graduation Cayetano married Lorraine Gueco, his high school sweetheart. After the birth of his son Brandon in 1959, he worked a variety of menial jobs, such as a metal-packer in a junkyard, truck driver, apprentice electrician, and finally as a draftsman. Frustrated by what he felt were racially motivated and politically unfair hiring practices, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1963 in pursuit of an education in law.
Cayetano attended Los Angeles Harbor College and eventually transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles in 1966. In 1968, he graduated from UCLA with a major in political science and minor in American history. In 1971, he earned his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School.
[edit] Lieutenant Governor
Cayetano joined the John D. Waihee III gubernatorial ticket in 1986 and became the first Filipino American Lieutenant Governor in the United States. The Waihee/Cayetano ticket was re-elected to a second term in 1990. In his capacity as Lieutenant Governor, Cayetano established the A+ Program, an ambitious state-funded, universal, after-school care program with chartered organizations at each public elementary school in Hawaiʻi. In creating the program, Cayetano was mindful of his own latchkey child background growing up in Kalihi. The A+ Program became a model for other school boards across the country to create similar projects.
[edit] Cayetano administration
Term limits forced Waihee into retirement and the Democratic Party nominated Cayetano to run for Governor of Hawaiʻi in 1994. With attorney Mazie K. Hirono as his running mate, Cayetano was swept into office having defeated Congresswoman Patricia Saiki and former Mayor of Honolulu Frank F. Fasi.
In 1998, Cayetano would face one of the toughest challenges to the Democratic Party's stronghold over the Office of the Governor. Popular Mayor of Maui Linda Lingle was nominated by the Republican Party to run against Cayetano on an agenda of government reform. For months leading into election day, Cayetano trailed Lingle in the major media polls. In the closest election in Hawaii's history, Cayetano won a second term by a single percentage point validated by an official recount of ballots.
Cayetano left office in December 2002 barred by law from seeking a third term. He was succeeded by former Republican challenger Lingle who beat Hirono in another tight race.
Throughout his tenure in office, Cayetano had to contend with economic uncertainty and serious fiscal problems. Declining tax revenues led to budget shortfalls that had to be addressed, and the fiscally conservative governor often found himself at odds with his fellow Democrats in the state legislature as he attempted to implement budget cuts to balance the state budget. Cayetano gets most of the credit, however, for passing large cuts in the state income tax to stimulate the state's economy.
On education, the Cayetano administration built thirteen new schools, and he was able to persuade the teacher's union to extend the school year by seven days. Also under his administration, the University of Hawaiʻi system gained autonomy over internal affairs. On the other hand, labor disputes with UH professors and public school teachers in April 2001 led to simultaneous strikes by both unions that crippled the state's entire educational system for three weeks.
Although his policy decisions may not have made him the most popular governor in Hawaiʻi, most observers credit the governor with having the courage to make tough decisions in difficult times.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Cayetano is currently married to the former Vicky Tiu Liu [1], whom he married on May 5, 1997, over thirty years after she had played a major supporting role opposite Elvis Presley in the musical film It Happened at the World's Fair.
He has three children from his first marriage: Brandon, Janeen, and Samantha.
He appeared as himself in an episode of Baywatch Hawaii in 1999.
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
- Benjamin J. Cayetano's published biography is forthcoming from Watermark Publishing (due out in early 2007)
- Ben: A Memoir, From Street Kid to Governor by Benjamin J. Cayetano. ISBN 978-0-9790647-0-8.
| Preceded by John D. Waihee III - D |
Lieutenant Governor of Hawai‘i 1986 - 1994 |
Succeeded by Mazie Hirono - D |
| Governor of Hawai‘i 1994 - 2002 |
Succeeded by Linda Lingle - R |
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