Peshawar Lancers Redux: Kingdom of Hawaii Revised
- Thread starter chris N
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The election of 1896 would see a new candidate put forward by the National Conservative Party. Charles Bishop had announced that he would be retiring from public life and his choice of successor was William Kamehameha. It was expected that the current Secretary of State would resign from his government post to lead the Liberal Party in the election.
William Kamehameha had traveled a great deal over the next year. His time as head of the Royal Hawaiian Intelligence Agency and as Deputy Prime Minister had prepared him for the oncoming job. By the Fall of the Next Year the former Deputy Prime Minister began to take on more of the responsibilities of a job that Charles Bishop was sure would be his. In 1895 Prime Minister Bishop announced his retirement from office and the National Conservative Party named William Kamehameha as the new leader insureing that he became Prime Minister, The Secretary of State announced his resignation an return as the leader of the Liberal Party Opposition. The Secretary of State Position being vacant the Prime Minister appointed William Lajovey to it William was not a member of the House but had served as Hawaii's Ambassador to the Central American Republic and latter as Consulate General to Japan.
Prime Minister William Kamehameha now assumed the office and began to make some changes. He put forward the Education Standards act of 1895. This act set forward the uniform requirements for education within the Kingdom. Also put forward was the Immigration Reform Act of 1895 it now limited immigration within the kingdom. It also set up the legal procedures by which a citizen might be strip of citizenship. Set up was the Charles Bishop Scholarship fund. The fund consisted of Money donated by the former Prime Minister and it set up a board of trustees to administer the fund. The number of Members of the Hawaiian House of Representatives was revisited according to the last census and was adjusted. a cap was put on pensions for all people who worked for the Kingdom of Hawaii. A commission was set up to study the salary of elected and appointed members of government.
The new Hawaiian Prime Minister first foreign Visitor was the British Foreign Minister. He was followed by the newly elected Canadian Prime Minister . The Hawaii received the first Ambassador from the Empire of the Rising Sun. The Prime Minister Met with the former Secretary of State and current Head of the Liberal Party fo Confirm Hawaii's Ambassador to the Empire of the Rising Sun.. The New Kingdom Of Ireland sent its first Ambassador to Hawaii.
The Most Important visitor to Arrive in Hawaii arrived in July 1896 it was the Crown Prince of the Brazilian Empire. He stayed as the guest of the King and Queen of Hawaii at the Palace. There was a state dinner in his honor. He had a meeting with the Prime Minister and had another private dinner at Charles Bishop's estate.
It soon became clear that Hawaii was an ally of considerable strength. It had a series of visitors from key players in the world. The Empire of the Rising Sun's crown prince arrived in Hawaii for a week long stay to promote good relations between the Empire and Hawaii. The Empire knew that Hawaii was a key player in the finding and production of oil. It had partnered with the Dutch and British in developing oil fields in the Far East and it had developed field in Latin America and Canada.
The Prime Minister offered the leader of the opposition post the position of Ambassador to Portugal or the same post with the Empire of Brazil. Having served as Secretary of State and with his family having come from Portugal he was tempted to take the post. He asked the Prime Minster for a few days to discuss the matter with his wife. He had a brother and sister who both were considering entering politics and might run for his seat. Four days latter he accepted the Post of Ambassador to Portugal and was confirmed by the legislature.He resigned his post as a member of the house.
Thomas De Otero sought the nomination of the Liberal Party for his brothers seat> He was a graduate of the Royal College of Hawaii Class of 1890. He had served 2 years in the Army and worked in the family store.
Also running for the seat was his sister Maria De Otero. She was a 1895 graduate of the University of Hawaii class of 1895. She was a teacher in the school and to the astonishment of her brothers and the rest of the family was running as the candidate
of the National Conservative Party.
Also running for the seat was his sister Maria De Otero. She was a 1895 graduate of the University of Hawaii class of 1895. She was a teacher in the school and to the astonishment of her brothers and the rest of the family was running as the candidate
of the National Conservative Party.
The Battle for the seat formerly held by their brother James was a bitter battle between the two family members Maria was respectful but would not give any ground. Polling showed that the Brother had support from 42 % of the voters but his sister was drawing 40 %. This was a district that had re-elected James with 85% of the vote. It was disturbing the Liberal Party's leadership that in a normally safe seat their candidate had only a tiny lead. Maria asked the Prime Minister to campaign with her and the Polls a week before the Special Election showed her with 46% and her Brother with 45%. Two days before the election the race was 49 to 49 with 2 percent undecided.
Maria now on election Day stood ready to accept the election results. The race was super tight. She had really done an incredible job as no National Conservative Party Candidate had every come this far. The final Poll results showed her with 49.5% and her Brother at 49.45%. Finally the election was upon the district. The Liberal Party pulled out all of the stops and it was barely enough to give them a win. Thomas got 50.1% of the vote and Maria 49.9%. Thomas had barely won but he had won. However and attack on the place where Maria was living brought in the Royal Hawaiian Constabulary into he case. The Attorney General ordered an investigation into the election and the result was a recount. It was found that some members of the Liberal Party had destroyed Ballots favoring Maria and replaced them with forged ones for Thomas. Upon finding this out Thomas Conceded the election to his sister. Twelve people were arrested on charges of voter fraud, destruction of Private property. Maria was sworn in as the newest member of the house.
Frank Cardenas became the new head of the Liberal Party and he proceeded to carry out a massive shake up of the party. There would be no attempt to steal elections and anyone attempting that would be kicked out of the party and their name turned over to the Attorney General office of Elections. Frank was a lawyer who believed that all elections must be fair and that whatever party must accept the results of the election even if the loss was painful. The attorney Generals Inestigation spread to several other election ranging from local seats on town councils to another house seat. Charges were pressed and the cases went to court.
Frank Cardenas: The new leader of the Liberal Party was a 32 year old, His family had come from Spain and Greece and had arrived in Hawaii around 1864. He had been born in Hawaii and had attended school there. H had started in a Mission school but had attended a Catholic Elementary School and had latter graduated from a Catholic High School. He had entered the Royal College of Hawaii and had graduated. He attended law school at night while working as a letter carrier and latter rose to a supervisory position. He joined the Liberal Party and served as a aide to one of the members. He latter rose to the rank becoming Chief aid to the Leader of the Liberal Party and was elected to the legislative body. He served on the Judiciary Committee becoming the ranking member for his party. He was the Asst Minority Leader and when the leader left to take the post of Ambassador he managed to win a three way election for the post of Minority leader.