Cecil Heftel - Political Career

Political Career

Upon returning to his business in Honolulu, Heftel decided to run for political office. He became a delegate to the 1972 Hawai'i State Democratic Convention. There, he was elected in caucus to become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Four years later, he was elected to Congress from the First District and was reelected four more times. While in Office, Heftel was part of the U.S. fact-finding mission to the Philippines, largely responsible for the forced ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Heftel resigned on July 19, 1986 to run for governor, but lost the Democratic primary to John Waihee. Heftel blamed the loss on a smear campaign against him.

In 1998, he briefly returned to the political realm, authoring a book, End Legalized Bribery, in which he attempted to prove that the current state of campaign finance corrupts politicians, prevents qualified individuals from running for office, and costs citizens billions of dollars in pork barrel spending and corporate welfare. The book also contained arguments in favor of a national Clean Elections law and mandatory free commercial airtime for political candidates.

After 18 years out of the spotlight, the 80-year-old Heftel made a successful return to elective politics by being elected in November 2004 to the state Board of Education for the Oahu-At Large seat.