Scout’s Honor
The Aloha Council, Boy Scouts of America honors Mayor Mufi Hannemann as its Distinguished Citizen of 2009. Pictured clockwise from center are good Scouts Hannemann, Alexander Coker, Natahli Mills, Kekoa Farleigh, Eric Rivera, Mark Ishizu, Ko’olina Mills and Brandon Holmes. Fast-forward 55 years and the kid with the odd moniker - Muliufi Francis Hannemann - is making a name for himself. He is the mayor of the nation’s 13th-largest city, tackles tough issues and thrives on leading a multi-cultural citizenry to the promise of tomorrow.
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The Aloha Council, Boy Scouts of America names Mayor Mufi Hannemann Hawaii’s Distinguished Citizen of 2009
He didn’t like his first name.
Muliufi.
He didn’t like his middle name.
Francis.
Every Francis he knew growing up in Kalihi was a girl.
“It’s embarrassing,” he told his parents.
Fast-forward 55 years and the kid with the odd moniker - Muliufi Francis Hannemann - is making a name for himself.
He is the mayor of the nation’s 13th-largest city, tackles tough issues and thrives on leading a multi-cultural citizenry to the promise of tomorrow. He is a composite of impressive credentials, including being a Harvard cum laude graduate, White House Fellow, Fulbright scholar, basketball letterman and champion of many community causes.
Perhaps it’s hereditary. Hannemann is named after his great-grandfather, Muliufi Soliai, a Samoan high chief.
It took Mayor Hannemann many years to realize that it was his mother’s wish to have one of her seven children carry on the chief’s name and legacy.
The nickname “Mufi” came from Honolulu Star-Bulletin sportswriter Jim Easterwood, and it’s stuck ever since.
That’s the way the man of the hour was called to stage at the recent Aloha Council, Boy Scouts of America recognition dinner at Sheraton Waikiki. Event chairman Rick Blangiardi and U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye delivered a dignified and heart-warming introduction of Mufi Hannemann as Hawaii’s Distinguished Citizen of 2009.
In this town, it’s the ultimate merit badge.
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Past honorees are iconic leaders in Hawaii: Inouye, Akaka, Matsunaga, Waihee, Cayetano, Fasi, Dods and Paty, among others.
“I’m honored to be in such august company,” Hannemann says. “It’s humbling to be among these pillars of our community.”
As a room full of 750 well-wishers applaud him, he acknowledges the honor but deflects the spotlight to the Boy Scouts organization, “a training camp for tomorrow’s leaders.”
Hours before, he was sitting on the lawn at City Hall with several Scouts, asking about their interests and ambitions. As photographers record the moment, we realize we are seeing the softer side of Hannemann. Sitting with his long legs crossed and eyes focused on the young people, it was a fireside chat, island-style.
“Where are you from?” he asks one young man.
“Pearl City,” the chap replies. “I’m Eric Rivera.”
“You e-mailed me,” the mayor says, remembering the Scout’s message to him four nights before. Rivera wrote to the mayor on the Internet as part of a Cub Scout task to earn a communicator badge.
The 9-year-old is delighted and amazed that the busy city official recalls his message from the many missives that reach public officials every day. The mayor has more than 685,000 followers on Twitter, for instance.
But that’s Hannemann. In addition to a ubiquitous presence at public events, from Waianae to Waialae, he has an uncanny sense of recall for names, faces and details. He knows how to work a crowd and greets ladies with a kiss, bowing down to embrace them.
A “true politician,” some observers say. “Charisma,” others claim.
It could also be Hannemann just following one of his own “Mufi’s Maxims” for leadership that says: “Avoid the Pretty Boy and Prom Queen syndrome.”
Cabinet members carry a card printed with 20 Mufiisms. It’s like the Boy Scout code of core values, such as trustworthy, loyal, helpful, etc.
Mufi’s Maxims include pointers such as “Be bold, be decisive, be flexible. Never base decisions on fear. Public money is not to be viewed as a personal piggy bank. Check your ego at the door. Leave this place better than you found it.”
Will he follow these maxims as governor of the state of Hawaii?
Hannemann laughs, catching this reporter’s backhanded pitch for a news scoop.
“I use these traits as mayor of Honolulu,” he asserts. “But we have to be reminded.”
He adroitly returns the interview to the Boy Scouts occasion.
“It’s not about me,” he says. “These types of events rekindle in us the desire to be a good person. That’s why I spend a lot of time on things outside of government.”
Citizen Hannemann started a basketball jamboree for college women in 1994 and is assistant coach for Team Aloha, girls basketball prep all-stars organized last May. His 21st Century Ahupua`a youth ambassadors program is directed at supporting the city’s strategic plan for sustainability and climate production.
He founded the Pacific Century Fellows leadership program in 1998, based on his own experience as a White House Fellow in the Reagan administration. Among the program’s graduates are Big Island Mayor
Billy Kanoi, Hawaii High School Sports Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya, and noted endocrinolo-gist Dr. Laurie Tom.
His grassroots involvements have earned the Easter Seals National Outstanding Advocate Award, Fellow of the Pacific by Hawaii Pacific University, Iolani School Alumni Service Award, and induction into the Farrington High School Governors’Hall of Fame.
“I associate the Boy Scouts with young people being trained, educat-
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