Sen. Daniel Akaka (D) Appointed May 1990, 2d term up 2006
Born:	Sept. 11, 1924, Honolulu
Home:	Honolulu
Education:	U. of HI, B.Ed. 1952, M.A. 1966
Religion:	Congregationalist
Marital Status:	married (Mary Mildred)
Elected  Office:	U.S. House of Reps., 1976-90.
Military Career:	Army Corps of Engineers, 1945-47 (WWII).
Professional Career:	Public schl. teacher, principal & admin., 1953-71; Dir., HI Office of Econ. Oppor., 1971-74; Asst., HI Gov. Ariyoshi, 1975-76; Dir., Progressive Neighborhoods Program, 1975-76.
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Daniel Akaka is the first senator of Native Hawaiian descent and the only senator of Chinese descent. Born four days after Daniel Inouye, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940s, went to college, taught school and became a principal. As he tells it, "People have asked me, 'When did you plan to run for the Senate?' I say, 'I never did.' As an educator, my goal was to be superintendent. That's it." In 1971, at 47, he became director of the Hawaii antipoverty program; in 1975, he became an assistant to Governor George Ariyoshi. The next year, when both of Hawaii's congressmen ran for the Senate, he was elected to the House, where he served quietly on the Appropriations Committee. In May 1990, after the death of Senator Spark Matsunaga, Governor John Waihee appointed Akaka to the Senate. He has thus been an integral part of the dominant Democratic organization and a quiet but diligent worker on Hawaii issues for nearly 30 years.

Akaka, though a member of Congress since 1976, is not well known in Washington. ''I do much of my work with members in committees,'' he said. ''I do it that way because it works, it's where you find out whether you have heavy opposition, which could cause you to change tactics or not even bring [the issue] up.'' In 1997, as a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee investigating Clinton-Gore campaign finances, Akaka charged that Clinton had dropped Asian-Americans from consideration for Cabinet posts because of the controversy and criticized the Democratic National Committee for having auditors ask Asian-Americans about ''whether they were citizens, how they earn their money, if they would provide their tax returns, and other intrusive questions.''

Akaka has a mostly liberal voting record, somewhat less so on foreign and defense issues; he and Inouye were two of the four Democrats supporting deployment of a ballistic missile defense system in 1998. Hawaii, out in the Pacific, is much more vulnerable to North Korean missiles than the U.S. mainland. Akaka also worked for a 1991 ban on German chemical weapons dumping on Johnston Island, 700 miles southwest of Hawaii, and in 1996 he opposed a proposed nuclear waste dump on Palmyra Island, 1,000 miles southwest. He vehemently opposed French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. He has sponsored bills to discourage sex trafficking and assure enforcement of immigration laws in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. He wrote a law giving home loan benefits for veterans of Chamorro, other Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian or American Indian ancestry in the U.S. Pacific islands.

Much of Akaka's time has been spent on the issue of Native Hawaiian sovereignty. He was the sponsor of the 1993 Apology Resolution, signed by Bill Clinton, in which the United States acknowledged as illegal the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893 and the denial of Native Hawaiians' right to self-determination. In 1998 and 1999 he pushed the Clinton administration to recognize Native Hawaiians as an aboriginal people with whom the U.S. has a special relationship, as it does with Indian tribes. But in February 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Hawaii Constitution provision limiting voting for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to those of Native Hawaiian descent was unconstitutional racial discrimination; the Clinton administration assertion of a special relationship was rejected. Other lawsuits were brought against OHA activities. In response, in July 2000 Akaka introduced a native recognition bill, which would recognize Native Hawaiians as an indigenous people with a right to self-determination and set up a process for formation of a Native Hawaiian governing body to have, as many Indian tribes do, a government-to-government relationship with the United States. Thanks to the energetic efforts of Congressman Neil Abercrombie, this passed the House in September 2000. But in the Senate some Republicans objected to unanimous consent, and it died there in December. Akaka brought the bill up again in 2001 and it was passed by Inouye's Indian Affairs Committee in July. It had passed the House committee in May 2001, but House Republican leaders refused to bring it to the floor. In the Senate, Akaka had lobbying help from Alaska Native and American Indian groups, but a hold was placed on the bill by a Republican perhaps influenced by the opposition of some Native Hawaiians, who argue that it would make them wards of the government. In August 2002 Inouye said it would not come to the floor during the rest of the year, and Akaka promised to try again and reintroduced the bill in 2003.

Other Akaka causes include the 1995 law for a review of service records in World War II with a view to awarding higher medals to deserving Asian Americans (under this, Senator Daniel Inouye was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2000), a law making permanent the waiver of visa requirements from certain countries including Japan (2 million Japanese visit Hawaii every year), laws expanding (and renaming) the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and requiring the FAA and the National Park Service to negotiate limits on air tours over Haleakala and a five-year study of the energy potential of methane hydrates. He pushed through a doubling of Pu1uhonua O Honaunay National Historical Park on the Big Island. He has taken a lead role on the 1989 and 1994 laws to protect whistleblowers in government and in June 2001 co-sponsored another to overturn what he thought were incorrect court decisions. He was one of the nine senators (Inouye was another) voting against the homeland security bill in November 2002, arguing that it gave the government too much power to compile information about citizens and failed to protect the rights of whistleblowers. "The threat of a Big Brother new department cannot be overemphasized." He supported oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, perhaps out of solidarity with colleagues from Alaska, who like Hawaiians often feel resentment that policy is made for their states by mainlanders who have little knowledge and understanding of their needs. On becoming a subcommittee chairman in June 2001 he started working before September 11 to strengthen responses to bioterrorism.

Akaka had one tough election in 1990--indeed the only Senate election in Hawaii that has generated any suspense since 1976. His opponent, Republican Congresswoman Pat Saiki, conceded that Akaka was congenial, but suggested he was ineffective and not too bright. Akaka struck back with ads attacking drugs and his work to end the use of the island of Kahoolawe as a target range. The Democratic organization worked hard and Akaka won 54%-45%, carrying not just the Democratic Neighbor Islands and poorer areas of Honolulu, but most of Oahu as well. In 1994 Akaka was easily re-elected, 72%-24%. In 2000, his Republican opponent campaigned against the native recognition bill, and lost 73%-25%. Akaka has not said whether he will run again in 2006, when he turns 82.

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DC Office
141 HSOB 20510, 202-224-6361; Fax: 202-224-2126; Web site: akaka.senate.gov

State Offices
Hilo, 808-935-1114; Honolulu,808-522-8970.

Committees

• Armed Services: Airland; Emerging Threats & Capabilities; Readiness & Management Support (RMM).
• Energy & Natural Resources: Energy; National Parks (RMM); Public Lands & Forests.
• Ethics (Select).
• Governmental Affairs: Financial Management, Budget & International Security (RMM); Government Management, Federal Workforce & the District of Columbia; Investigations (Permanent).
• Indian Affairs.
• Veterans' Affairs.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	80	60	100	59	20	38	17	53	0	0	--
2001	95	--	100	75	--	--	6	54	13	--	0

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	71%	--	27%		68%	--	31%
Social	81%	--	8%		82%	--	0%
Foreign	74%	--	14%		92%	--	7%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 2. Expand Patients' Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Permit ANWR Development Y 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG N 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts N		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution Y  8. Overseas Military Abortions Y  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court N 10. Trade Promotion Authority N 11. Authorize Force in Iraq N 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2000 general	Daniel Akaka (D)	251,215	73%	$428,516
	John Carroll (R)	84,701	25%	$97,407
	Other	9,707	3%
2000 primary	Daniel Akaka (D)	13,857	91%
	Art P. Reyes (D)	1,317	9%
1994 general	Daniel Akaka (D)	256,189	72%	$1,017,872
	Maria M. Hustace (R)	86,320	24%	$29,293
	Richard O. Rowland (Lib)	14,393	4%
Prior winning percentages: 1990 (54%); 1988 House (89%); 1986 House (76%); 1984 House (82%); 1982 House (89%); 1980 House (90%); 1978 House (86%); 1976 House (80%)