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Ben Cayetano
Cayetano in 2019
5thGovernor of Hawaii
In office December 2, 1994 – December 2, 2002
Lieutenant	Mazie Hirono
Preceded by	John Waiheʻe
Succeeded by	Linda Lingle
9thLieutenant Governor of Hawaii
In office December 2, 1986 – December 2, 1994
Governor	John Waiheʻe
Preceded by	John Waiheʻe
Succeeded by	Mazie Hirono
Personal details
Born	Benjamin Jerome Cayetano (1939-11-14)November 14, 1939 (age 86) Honolulu,Territory of Hawaii
Party	Democratic
Spouses	Lorraine Gueco ​ ​ (m. 1959; div. 1996)​ Vicky Tiu Liu ​ (m. 1997)​
Children	5
Education	Los Angeles Harbor College University of California, Los Angeles (BA) Loyola Marymount University (JD)
Signature

Benjamin Jerome Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) is an American politician and author who served as the fifthgovernor of Hawaii from 1994 to 2002. He is the first Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United States.

Born inHonolulu, Hawaii, Cayetano was estranged from his mother at a young age. Cayetano was raised by his father inKalihi, a Filipino-dominated neighborhood west ofdowntown Honolulu. He would grow up as alatchkey child. In Kalihi, he attended Wallace RiderFarrington High School, a public school aptly known locally as "Home of the Governors" as its buildings were named after several early Hawaiʻi statesmen. The school was only a few blocks from his home. Cayetano received poor grades throughout his years at Farrington and was often disciplined by his teachers and counselors. He barely made marks qualifying him to graduate.

Upon graduation Cayetano married Lorraine Gueco, his high school sweetheart. After the birth of his son Brandon in 1959, he worked a variety of entry-level jobs, such as a metal-packer in ajunkyard,truck driver,apprenticeelectrician, and finally as adraftsman. Frustrated by what he felt were racially motivated and politically unfair hiring practices, he and his family moved toLos Angeles, California in 1963 in pursuit of an education in law.

Cayetano attendedLos Angeles Harbor College and transferred to theUniversity of California, Los Angeles in 1966. In 1968, he graduated from UCLA with a major inpolitical science and minor in American history. In 1971, he earned hisJuris Doctor degree fromLoyola Law School at theLoyola Marymount University.^[1]

In 1972, Cayetano was appointed to the Hawaii Housing Authority by GovernorJohn A. Burns.^[2] In 1974, he was elected to thestate house as a Democrat representingPearl City.

Cayetano joined theJohn D. Waihe'e III gubernatorial ticket in1986 and became the first Filipino Americanlieutenant governor in the United States. The Waihee–Cayetano ticket was re-elected to a second term in1990. In his capacity as Hawaii's lieutenant governor, Cayetano established the A+ Program, a state-funded, universal, after-school care program with chartered organizations at each public elementary school in Hawaii.

Term limits forced Waihe'e into retirement and the Democratic Party nominated Cayetano to run for Governor of Hawaiʻi in1994. With attorneyMazie Hirono as his running mate, Cayetano was voted into office.

In1998,Mayor of MauiLinda Lingle was nominated by theRepublican Party to run against Cayetano on an agenda of government reform. For months leading into election day, Cayetano trailed Lingle in the major media polls. In the closest election inHawaii's history, Cayetano won a second term by a single percentage point validated by an official recount of ballots.

Throughout his tenure in office, Cayetano had to contend with economic uncertainty and serious fiscal problems. Declining tax revenues led to budget shortfalls, and the governor often found himself at odds with his fellow Democrats in the state legislature as he attempted to implement budget cuts to balance the state budget.

On education, the Cayetano administration built thirteen new schools, and he was able to persuade the teachers' union to extend the school year by seven days. Also under his administration, theUniversity of Hawaiʻi System gained autonomy over internal affairs. On the other hand, labor disputes with UH professors and public school teachers in April 2001 led to simultaneous strikes by both unions that crippled the state's entire educational system for three weeks.

Cayetano left office in December 2002. He was succeeded by former Republican challenger Lingle.

On January 19, 2012, Cayetano came out of retirement torun for the office of Honolulu Mayor.^[3] Cayetano's stated focus in hismayoral campaign was greater transparency in local government, but its core was ending theHonolulu Rail Transit Project, a plan to build a 20-mile elevated steel on steel rail system in the city. In the primary election on August 11, 2012, he received more votes than either of his pro-rail primary opponents,Kirk Caldwell andPeter Carlisle. He did not achieve the majority required to win the election outright, and faced Caldwell in the general election on November 6.^[4] Cayetano subsequently lost the mayoral election to Kirk Caldwell, in a vote that was widely viewed as a referendum on the rail project. He continued his opposition to the rail, in 2017 urging the Federal Transit Authority to terminate further funding for it. In an ad paid for by theAbigail Kapiolani Kawānanakoa Foundation, Cayetano asked PresidentDonald Trump and Transportation SecretaryElaine Chao to withhold $800 million for the project.^[5]

Cayetano and his first wife, Lorraine Cayetano (née Gueco), divorced in 1996, ending their 37-year marriage.^[6] He became the first sitting governor of Hawaii to divorce while in office.^[6]

Cayetano is married to his second wife,Vicky Cayetano (née Tiu), whom he married on May 5, 1997. Vicky was president of United Laundry Services at the time of their wedding.^[6] She played a major supporting role oppositeElvis Presley in themusical film,It Happened at the World's Fair.

Ben Cayetano has five children. He has three children from his first marriage to Lorraine Cayetano: Brandon, Janeen, and Samantha. Vicky Cayetano also has two children, Marissa and William, from a previous marriage.

He appeared as himself in an episode ofBaywatch Hawaii in 1999.

• List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States

• Cayetano, Benjamin J. (2009).Ben: A Memoir, from Street Kid to Governor. Watermark Publishing.ISBN 978-0-9790647-0-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBen Cayetano.

• Personal Website
• Feature story on Ben Cayetano on the UCLA website
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1939 births
• Living people
• 20th-century members of the Hawaii State Legislature
• 21st-century Hawaii politicians
• American people of Ilocano descent
• American state governors of Filipino descent
• Asian-American and Pacific Islander state legislators in Hawaii
• Democratic Party governors of Hawaii
• Democratic Party members of the Hawaii House of Representatives
• Hawaii politicians of Filipino descent
• Lieutenant governors of Hawaii
• Los Angeles Harbor College alumni
• Loyola Law School alumni
• Politicians from Honolulu
• Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines)
• UCLA College of Letters and Science alumni

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• BLP articles lacking sources from July 2024
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