AFTER MATH

AFTER MATH: There were few if any surprises in the results of the first round Kaua`i County Council election although actually seeing an “8th” next to Chair Kaipo Asing’s name in black and white was, though not unexpected, mind-numbing, as was his statement- once again- that “this campaign will be his last”.

If only....

But looking down the rankings we couldn’t help but get a sense of deja vu. Now let’s see- where did we see that list in that order recently?

How about last Monday when we reported the list- in almost the same order- of campaign contributions.

Top seven in cash?

1) Nadine Nakamura $50,218.56
2) Derek Kawakami $46,393.71
3) JoAnn Yukimura $45,925.00
4) Jay Furfaro $21,040.00
5) Mel Rapozo $19,394.20
6) Dickie Chang $17,870.00
7) Tim Bynum $16,477.99

Top seven in votes?

1) Kawakami, Derek S.K. 10,088 8.6%
2) Nakamura, Nadine K. 9,266 7.9%
3) Yukimura, Joann A. 8,719 7.4%
4) Furfaro, Jay 8,432 7.2%
5) Bynum, Tim 7,620 6.5%
6) Rapozo, Mel 7,383 6.3%
7) Chang, Dickie (Walaau) 6,430 5.5%

If you flip numbers one and two and push Tim Bynum to number 5 it’s the same order.

And, look at the order of the only other candidates who raised money:

8) Kipukai Kualii $16,361.92
9) Ted Daligdig $3,700.0010)
10) Ed Justus $1,760.0011)
(11) Dennis Fowler $100.00

you’ll find them in the same order they appear in the polls:

9) Kualii, Kipukai Les P. 4,877 4.1%
10) Daligdig, Ted III 4,427 3.8%
11) Justus, Ed 3,010 2.6%
14) Fowler, Dennis M. 1,118 0.9%

We like to think that the “same old faces” keep getting re-elected because people vote based on name recognition or who’s whose auntie or who’s a nice guy/gal or any of a dozen reasons that denigrate other voters’ motives. But in reality all we do is just keep electing those who raise the most money while complaining about all the money in politics.

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Kaua`i has always had it’s “perennial” candidates. This year we really miss Bob Carriffe who used to campaign for council on the “getting rid of the mosquitoes” platform while picking up trash by the side of the road, saying he was really running so his wife would take him back.

Many used to vote for him just to say to other more prominent candidates “see? I’d rather vote for Bob Carriffe than you.”

One of our favorites was John Phillip Sousa (he claimed to be a direct descendant) who ran for mayor as a Republican, election after election, throughout the 70’s and 80’s.

Long after the election had been decided in the Democratic primary, Sousa could be found prowling shopping centers asking you to “pull a recipe” out of his shirt pocket “because they won’t let me hand them out”.

In the late 90’s and early ‘00’s, after we changed to non-partisan council election, there was Deborah “JoB’ Spence who championed aliens and UFOs among other issues.

We bring her up because, after moving to the Big Island, she turned up this year on the “Free Energy” party ticket, running for lt. governor.

We also being it up because the “Free Energy Party” provided one of the biggest head-scratcher of Saturday’s primary.

They only ran two candidate- Daniel H. Cunningham for Governor and JoB.

But the results were that, of those who chose Free Energy ballot, 54 people in Cunningham’s case and 76 in Spence’s case left their votes blank.

Who are these people who shunned the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Green primaries to vote in the Free Energy primary but then didn’t vote for one of their unopposed candidates?

There must be some explanation. But then again when it comes to people’s voting habits it’s better not to question anything if you ever want a good night’s sleep again.