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Eileen Anderson (October 18, 1928 – November 3, 2021) was an American politician who served as
Mayor of Honolulu The mayor of Honolulu is the chief executive officer of the City and County of Honolulu. An office established in 1900 and modified in 1907, the mayor of Honolulu is elected by universal suffrage of residents of Honolulu to no more than two four ...
,
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...
from 1981 to 1985. She was the first woman to hold the office. A Democrat, Anderson served in various positions in the city and county and the
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...
. She was the first Hawaii State Director of Budget and Finance.


Early life

Anderson attended the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
and, after moving to Hawaii with her family, graduated from the
University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
in 1950 with a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
. Anderson married Clifford F. Anderson, a retired
Honolulu Police Department The Honolulu Police Department (HPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, headquartered in the Alapa'i Police Headquarters in Honolulu CDP. Officially recognized as a part of the government of t ...
major. She and her husband raised three children. After working for Hawaiian Telephone Company, the predecessor of the present-day Hawaiian Telcom, Anderson began public service in various state agencies. She found herself as the state's first budget and finance director under
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
George Ariyoshi.


Mayor of Honolulu

In 1980, Anderson defeated popular incumbent
Frank Fasi 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 ...
with seventy percent of the vote. With the unpredicted surprise landslide victory against Fasi and his notoriously powerful machine, that year Anderson was named '' Hawaii Business Magazine'' "Woman of the Year 1980". Anderson served a single term at Honolulu Hale, taking office on January 2, 1981 and leaving office in 1985. Anderson's tenure as mayor was highlighted by her promise to continue development of the island of
Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...
but with fiscal responsibility. Anderson was a member of the
United States Conference of Mayors The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayors or other chief elected officials. The organization was founded i ...
, an organization of mayors of United States cities with populations of 30,000 people or more.


Cabinet

Prominent members of Anderson's administration included Bob Awana as administrative director and chief of staff, later chief of staff to
Linda Lingle Linda Lingle (''née'' Cutter; June 4, 1953) is an American politician, who was the sixth governor of Hawaii from 2002 until 2010. She was the first Republican governor of Hawaii since 1962. Lingle was also the state's first female and first ...
, the first Hawaii Republican governor after forty years of Democrat dominance in the state. Awana helped run Anderson's failed re-election campaign against Fasi. Anderson appointed Andy Chang as managing director of Honolulu. Chang would continue to serve the city and county in various capacities after Anderson's departure from office.


Honolulu Area Rail Rapid Transit

Anderson's vow of fiscal responsibility was maintained in her cancellation of the Honolulu Area Rail Rapid Transit project, which was planned in the 1970s and close to construction approval. Popularly known as HART, the project in its original form would have built a heavy rail system with twenty-three miles of track featuring twenty-one stations from Pearl City in central Oahu to Hawaii Kai in East Oahu. In addition to millions to be invested by the city and county, millions of dollars in grants earmarked for HART were returned by Anderson. She declined US$5.75 million from the
Federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
saying, "Why spend five million dollars on a system that won't be built?" Achieving national attention, Anderson defended her position by arguing the long-term costs to taxpayers for such an expensive project, especially after U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced elimination of Federal public transit funding in the country and the ongoing need for more funding for
Interstate H-3 Interstate H-3 (abbreviated H-3) is an Interstate Highway located entirely within the U.S. state of Hawaii on the island of Oahu. H-3 is also known as the John A. Burns Freeway. It crosses the Ko'olau Range along several viaducts and through ...
construction. She rather argued in favor of smaller, incremental improvements to the bus system. With growing development leading to increased traffic congestion on Oahu, the city and county continued to make
public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...
a focus of public debate during Anderson and Fasi's tenures. On October 6, 1981, Anderson announced she hoped to study the
San Diego Trolley The San Diego Trolley is a light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego. It is known colloquially as "The Trolley". The Trolley's operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Tr ...
, a system funded with gas taxes. Both Anderson and Fasi continued to modernize TheBus but a rail system was never approved. It wasn't until the 2000s that Honolulu agreed to a similar, more expensive project under the leadership of the mayor,
Mufi Hannemann Muliufi Francis Hannemann (born July 16, 1954) is an American politician, businessman, and non-profit executive. He was elected twice as Mayor of Honolulu in 2004 and 2008. Hannemann has served as a special assistant in Washington, D.C., with ...
.


Political defeats

Anderson once again stood for election as mayor and was defeated by Fasi, who had switched his political affiliation from Democrat to Republican, so as to avoid being knocked out of the Democratic primary by Anderson. Anderson subsequently sought a political comeback by seeking the nomination of her party for
lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
in 1986. Anderson lost the primary election to
state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 ...
Ben Cayetano Benjamin Jerome Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) is an American politician and author who served as the fifth governor of the State of Hawaii from 1994 to 2002. He is the first Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United Stat ...
, who later served alongside Hawaii Governor John Waihee before becoming governor himself.


Popular culture


Perry and Price

In 1983,
KSSK-FM KSSK-FM (92.3 MHz) is an adult contemporary formatted commercial radio station serving the Honolulu media market. It is owned by and licensed to Waipahu, Hawaii. Studios are located in the Kalihi neighborhood of Honolulu, and the transmitter sit ...
reformatted its morning programming pairing Michael W. Perry and Larry Price, who became two of the most popular personalities and one of the most popular radio news programs in Hawaii. Anderson was a regular listener and, a sign of Perry and Price's growing influence, was the first major person to call the show during the broadcast, in effect signaling how relevant they were to local culture and politics. Anderson called the radio hosts, angry about their comments over a political issue. The ''
Honolulu Star-Bulletin The ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (after the ''Honolu ...
'' published the account on August 27, 1998: Since Anderson's initial call, every Mayor of Honolulu and Governor of Hawaii has appeared on the morning ''Perry and Price'' program via telephone to comment or discuss various cultural and political issues and current events.


Women in politics

Interested in her role as first woman to become Mayor of Honolulu, the ''Hawaii Kai Sun Press'' asked Anderson to comment on women in politics. Published on June 1, 1983, Anderson said, "There is no way that we're going to change some of the discriminatory activities that go on toward women unless we do get them involved".


Notes


External links


City and County of Honolulu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Eileen 1928 births 2021 deaths Mayors of Honolulu Women mayors of places in Hawaii State cabinet secretaries of Hawaii 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women