WHO DAT MAN?

WHO DAT MAN?: Now that deputy county attorney in charge of Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) matters Justin Kollar has made his run for County Prosecutor official- opposing current Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho who had been thought to be mulling a run for her former county council seat but recently said she will stand for re-election- it's only fair to ask Kollar... "what are you nuckin' futz?".

While it appears that his work with KPD has Chief Darryl Perry gushing and Iseri has the community up in arms over her use of the office as a weapon of vindictiveness and race-based retribution, three year resident Kollar has about 17 strikes against him going in to the 2012 race.

Much as many would like to deny it, "running while white" still puts any candidate at a distinct disadvantage on Kaua`i even for well known long time denizens. But in a battle against Iseri- whose ethnicity-based hiring in the prosecutor's office is anything but a secret- the issue of race will inform the race more than any other.

And on Kaua`i that's still a losing proposition for any "haole."

Even though Kollar promises to "walk to every house on this island, if that’s what it takes"- and of course that, minimally, is what it would take- the long-awaited "changing demographics" on Kaua`i is still a futuristic paradigm that FOB candidates believe in at their peril.

But even if the majority of the voting populace were to be suddenly blanched, Kollar has pretty much cooked his goose with his rabid anti-marijuana activities this past legislative session when he participated in Iseri's rally to block medical marijuana reform, cutting into any possible widespread support from progressive Caucasian voter.

It harkens back to the time when local attorney William Feldhacker thought the demographics had changed enough for him to challenge them-prosecutor Ryan Jimenez a couple of eons ago. Despite the fact that many saw Jimenez as lackluster in his performance, Feldhacker- then the preeminent criminal defense attorney on the island- came up way short, after taking an "how can I possibly lose to this guy" approach to the race.

It isn't even just the medical marijuana issue as far as drugs go. Kollar seems to be a nut for interdiction in an age when there have been so many families touched by their kids' drug problems that most see the fact that scarce dollars go to a "lock 'em up and throw away the key" approach to hard drugs like methamphetamine and not to treatment, as a failure of public policy that, in many cases, has destroyed their family as much as the drug abuse itself.

The shame is that the scourge that Iseri represents begs for change at the ballot box next year. But the reality is that it's hard enough to get someone to challenge an incumbent prosecutor without having to deal with a three-way race where they'd have to split the anti-Iseri vote with Kollar.

One thing we can count on- given that Kollar was among those fired by Iseri for "practicing law while white" this race will get ugly. Which, while great for a curmudgeonly columnist, is anything but for a community that sorely needs a justice-based office of the prosecutor.