hunterbishop.com

Now maybe we can concentrate on DUI, Ice, Heroin,and crack which cause anti social behavior.

Hunter, good to see you at the Mayoral Candidate forum last night.
My take on each candidate's showing at the forum:

Sam

Intelligent and compassionate kupuna.

Roger

The only time I have ever applauded The Reverend Christie.
Peace.

Jasper

All heart.

Randy

Why is he running? He’s got a good job with opportunity for advancement. Is the pay too low? Certainly gratitude would be lacking for his contribution at the County motor pool. We, the people, need Randy and others like him who give public service employment a good name and keep the place working no matter what the politics does.

Lorraine

Out of touch: 1992 was long ago and the State Capitol is far away.

She came very well prepared for the evening, with powerful persona and presence; and without a clue about actual community concerns -- nuclear weaponry and militarization, feeding ourselves safely, ceded lands, police brutality, and local self-reliance.
According to her, she is very clued in about the State Senate in Honolulu. Let’s hope so, she’s been there ten years -- and it shows.

The major issue and she did not get it: Home Rule.


Stacy

– egad! I found myself applauding what he had to say about getting County Parks to a top standard. Seriously!

Of course, the way to do this is to “…spend lots of money…”
(I was reminded of hearing the same voice once utter during a Council Committee meeting, “…there’ll be contracts in that …”)

In addition to demonstrating a genuine passion regarding the importance of our County Parks, he was the only one that seemed to have come to the forum having prepared to answer a question about ethics.

Billy

He cited the land area of this big island in square miles and I do not doubt it was a correct number.
If I was in bad trouble and needed a good lawyer, Billy Kenoi would be the one to call --
fast-talking, fact-filled, ambitious boy-scout counsel who will say anything – very convincingly with lots of pseudo-evidence to deliver the right decision for his client.
... who is Billy’$ client?...
(I was reminded of what Harry Kim said in mid-2005, shortly after Stacy Higa had become Council Chair and had expressed interest in the Mayor 2008 election. Harry said, with friendly political derision, “…in the Council only a few months and already talking about being Mayor…” which I took at the time to mean Harry was implying the Mayor’s job required more experience than a few months in the Council.)
What Council District does Billy live in?

Angel

His ability to cite actual achievements was unsurpassed.
He was familiar with the issues of concern, including having had real-world legal and legislative successes.
He was the only candidate who said, “Home Rule”.
As a candidate in his own right, my previously-held preference was strongly re-enforced.
In comparison to the other candidates, the choice was made even clearer.

Thanks to Big Island Weekly for putting the forum on.
Clearly, the panelists, who are also to be thanked for excellent questions, had a certain "progressive" bias.
Perhaps Hawaii Free Press, with its own choice of panelists could also put on a Mayoral Candidate Forum?

I found the BIW forum frustrating and mis-directed.

I thought we were interviewing these folks for the job of mayor...you know... County Government. Police, Fire, Parks, Roads, RPT, land use planning, multi-million dollar budget, thousands of employees. You know... a big job requiring someone with operational leadership skills and an ability to select and motivate others to use our taxes wisely.

Instead BIW questions were about military build up, ceded lands, education, GMO etc. Big buzz issues in portions of the community but largely unrelated to the elected position they are seeking. I doubt there were more than 30 undecided voters in the crowd of about 150.

This is how we teach candidates to blow bubbles.

In my view Angel, Stacy and Billy did about equally well with the "opportunity" but I have the sense that we would get much more accomplished for the broadest group of Hawaii County residents with Mr. Kenoi.

Howzit Hunter ~ Good to meet you last nite!

Just my little inside scoop - talked with Nita Pilago maybe two weeks ago and we discussed this issue. She said her husband, Angel, felt the huki-huki of the cannabis issue very much. On one side, the privacy issues and harrasment claimed by victims of Green Harvest, and on the other, his sworn oath to uphold the law.

Guess without the helicopter eradication, small time growers as well as the big commercial operations won't come under the survellience of the old eyes in the skies.

But to clarify, Peacful Skies' petition for a ballot initiative, which JasperMoore and Angel Pilago have signed, but which Kenoi, Inouye or Riley refused to sign on stage at the BIW forum, is only to make possession and growing of small amounts of cannabis for adult personal use the "lowest law enforcement priority," not for commercial marijuana cultivation.

shaka,
Shawn James Leavey

I didn't attend the candidates forum, but I'm inclined to agree with Jeff. It's fine to be a counterculture partisan, but a mayor is first and foremost a manager of county services. When Harry Kim came into office, the county operating budget was $174 million. Today, it's $403M and will likely go higher when the Council wraps up its budget amendments. All this represents an astounding growth in government. We have 500 more county employees. But we still have daily traffic jams in Kainaliu and Kamuela, no solution to our landfill problem, and a host of other problems. We've been through these boom and bust cycles before. We're on the cusp of hard times again. Those times call for a prudent manager with talented, motivated people. I don't who's the best of the lot, but I hope we get someone who's grounded. When Hawaii's economy went south in the 90's, we lost 100,000+ people who departed for the mainland. Last year, the state lost 10,000 people. If we don't speak up for these people, they'll vote with their feet. And Hawaii will seem, progressively, a lot less like Hawaii.

I'll have to agree with Jeff on this one. I missed the first half hour, but the questions and many of the responses seemed to have no relevance to the actual responsibilities of the mayor.

More money for education? It's a sure-fire applause line, but that's why we have an election for the Board of Education. No telescopes on Mauna Kea? The county government has no formal role in the development of Mauna Kea. The ceded lands issue? Again, something for the state to resolve, not the county. Candidates talked about funding various issues without indicating how the county would pay for it, or the role of the County Council in fiscal matters. As a private citizen, I wanted to ask a question about how they would increase or decrease the budget, but time ran out because the candidates were promising voters that they had ethics.

I am just learning about the candidates for mayor. I have heard about Stacy Higa's problems with having the county pay tax money for a sexual harrassment law suit and wonder how that qualifies him to be the mayor.

The green harvest effort is a big waste of resources due to the fact that police officers use their "off time" to work it, and that means double time pay too. The fuel to power the choppers and the equipment too all to find some pot plants in citizen's backyards can only be called what it is...A BIG WASTE OF MONEY" and resources. I am happy that some of the council members finally came to their senses on that one.

If memory serves me, Mayor Kim was in charge of Civil Defense before he became mayor, so he too had NO EXPERIENCE running the county, and as a Kona resident, I can say it shows. At least some of the candidates have served on the council which is a good starting place to learn the ins and outs of how funds are allocated and who is in charge of administering them, the cycles of the budget and etc.

I hope to get to know each of the candidates positions regarding solutions to traffic, waste/recycling, recreational facilities, and economic opportunity for the citizens on this island as the months go by before the election. But one thing is for certain, I will not vote for anyone who is not really a resident of the island.

Hunter -

Well for being some untrained young rascal posing as a reporter, I've been pretty good about not violating the old rule of "not revieling your sources."

But, the person I mentioned wants her name taken off my posting.

Would it be possible for you to replace the first paragraph of my post with this?

"Just my little inside scoop - talked with some folks close to the situation at the council. They said the members who switched their votes were really feeling the huki-huki of the cannabis issue. On one side, the privacy violations and harrasment claimed by victims of Green Harvest, and on the other, their sworn oaths to uphold the law."

thanks much, Hunter,
Shawn

Sorry Shawn, I won't change what's already published. It's a disservice to readers and generally confusing to "unpublish" what's already in print. My understanding from talking to you is that there was no agreement for confidentiality, but even if there was I have to assume that all comments submitted are ready for publication and that any source issues have already been worked out. Allowing a source to remove his or her name after the fact is like granting an on-the-record interviewee permission to edit out of a story what they don't like. Nether practice is good, sound policy in this business. I guess I also don't understand how such an honest assessment of the candidate's angst over the issue is harmful in any way but I also suppose that's not for me to determine. I hope your source in this case understands.

Tell Nita no need worry. The West Hawaii Today did a good job of explaining Pilago's vote. It just now occurred to me that the reason why the feds and state want to kill the waiwi is so that they can find the pakalolo in the forest from the air. Jerks.

Finally, local government takes a stand for what is right. Thanks Roger, for the years of work you have put into bringing this issue into the public eye. And to those who cast this historic vote for the people of Hawaii.

Would "The Real Local Government Issue" please stand up?

According to tradition, there are three local political issues: roads, roads, and roads.
And, of course, there is the famous quote, "all politics is local."

I, like otherswho posted above, have tended to subscribe to a strict and static view of the role of local government -- roads, police, fire, zoning...
My formal education in the operations of government and some years of professional experience in local and state government agencies contribute to my narrow view.
Certainly, with the exception of the (over-performing and under-appreciated) Fire Department, Hawaii County has a lot of improvement to do in terms of basic services -- parks; roads; water; law enforcement regarding violent crime, traffic safety, littering and dumping ...
Nevertheless, in recent months as I have listened (as an observer only) while citizens advocated (pleaded?) for our local government to respond to threats from beyond our island, it has occurred to me that the role of local government can need to change -- depleted uranium, C-17 training flights, Superferry, GMO, Mauna Kea telescopes, and others: all brought by institutions/forces over which the local community has nil control. Decisions on these very high-impact issues are being made in distant boardrooms, backrooms, and bureaucracies where local folks don't get considered. The last line of defense local residents are left with is local government. The Mayor and Council must be willing to stand with the people in these matters.
It is about community self-determination, or, in traditional jargon: Home Rule.
Maybe we all need to re-think our local government's relationship with the global community in which we are immersed.