No, it's not time to chose who to vote FOR any more these days. It's 2018 and there are seemingly only candidates to vote against... and a handful that we will vote for by default.
So here's my ill-considered and uninformed list of what my- and I do hope your- ballot will look like in the upcoming primary/special election, ending August 11. Ballots are either in your mailbox now or, if you haven't signed up for permanent mail-in ballots (please do- it's really convenient), early voting will be available soon and you can now register and vote on "primary" election day, August 11.--------
We'll start at home in our "non-partisan" Mayoral and County Council races.
The race for KAUAI MAYOR has four candidates with a realistic shot and three are disgusting. Only JOANN YUKIMURA is worth voting for if we ever want to get a grip on our current, horrendous over-development. While she is not the same JoAnn she was back in the '80's and '90's, when compared to the rest, she shines. I would gladly vote FOR her even if the others were not so nauseating.
The other three are former KPD Sgt. Mel Rapozo of "The Lap Dancer at the Station House" fame and Derek "Mr Big Save" Kawakami, replete with silver spoon still lodged in his mouth and Lenny Rapozo who spent the Carvalho administration as Parks and Recreation head, which, if you've seen our parks, speaks for itself.
With 24 COUNTY COUNCIL candidates you'd think there would be more than three you might want to vote for... but of course you'd think wrong if you did. You get seven votes- DO NOT use them all. USE ONLY THREE
1) Vote for MASON CHOCK, who, as an incumbent has been the only fresh air blowing through the council chambers for the last two years now.
2) While it's hard to really pin down FELICIA COWDEN on very much she can be probably be trusted to make the right decisions. But if you make it, we'll be watching Felicia.
3) The third is ADAM ROVERSI who is a former farmer from Kilauea who went back to school and studied environmental law. He now works in the county attorney’s office. I've never met him but people I know and trust tell me we can't go wrong in voting for him. Google him and checkout his website.
Watch out though- there are some real pigs running. Among them are disgraced former prosecuting attorney Shaylene Iseri, Ross "Idiot Boy" Kagawa who causes actual pain in those who attempt to watch him think and corrupt former councilmember Kipukai Kualii.
All three voted to continue to allow the chemical companies to poison people, voting against "the bill" back in the day- among other horrific actions/inactions. Same goes for Grove Farm Vice President, former councilmember Arryl Kaneshiro. Chemical company Vice President, council incumbent Arthur Brun fills out the "basket of deplorables".
Which brings us to Luke Evslin.
I've known Luke since he was a little boy. He is bright, articulate and inquisitive but has one blind spot- he fully supports the chemical companies' experimental genetic modification operations on the West side. I can't bring myself to support someone who makes that kind of political decision over the health of his potential constituents. It indicates the types of votes he would cast in the future. Sorry Luke- no support from this direction.
The rest aren't worth a second look. Don't forget- you don't need to vote for seven and if you're voting for a person based on some kind of "feeling," a family tie or some other tenuous connection you could defeat the candidate(s) you really do want to see with your vote. "Plunking," as it's called, is a long-time tradition on Kaua`i where we can vote for all seven "at-large" candidates but usually don't. It's not hard to see why.
If anyone wants to research those I've mentioned above- or at least those with a record- I've written about many extensively in my "Got Windmills- the Daily Tilt" blog at http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/ where you can enter their names in the search box at the top of the page and you will get all the articles I've written about them. The same goes for those below.
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Next, to the state legislature
STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 16
These could be the two biggest races
on Kaua`i ballots. On the West side DEE MORIKAWA stuck her
neck out to pass the pesticide bill in the legislature- it wouldn't
have happened without her. Stephanie Iona is a lobbyist for the
chemical companies, sent to defeat Dee. I'm sure you know how
important this race is. I wish I could vote for Dee.
STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 15
Jimmy (James) Tokioka is THE wost
excuse for a human being- much less a legislator- that I've ever
seen. He is corrupt to the core. Yet he gets reelected every two
years. I wish I lived in the district. I don't know Elaine Daligdig
but she's GOT to be better than Jimmy. PLEASE vote for ELAINE
DALIGDIG.
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 1
First let me say I don't live in
District 1. No one on Kaua`i does. But it's rare to find such a long
list of candidates to "vote against."
But one stands out as one of the worst turds Hawai`i has ever sent to DC, Ed Case. He managed to slip into a seat in a plurality election where the two popular candidates split the vote and he slipped into an the "interim" seat when the Sainted Patsy Mink passed away just before an election. Get a history book- it hurts too much to have to remember that fiasco.
One problem is that Kaniela Ing is a
great candidate, according to those on Maui that know him. But he
also got into some trouble over "misreporting" campaign
contributions and was severely fined for it. If I lived there I'd
vote for him. Bu he might not have a shot to stop Case because he's
really outspoken- in a good way.
Doug Chin needs to beat Case because the rest of the field is just that disgusting. Making it easier is that Chin hates Trump and, when he was our attorney general, he led the national effort to block the infamous "Muslim Ban" in court.
Doug Chin needs to beat Case because the rest of the field is just that disgusting. Making it easier is that Chin hates Trump and, when he was our attorney general, he led the national effort to block the infamous "Muslim Ban" in court.
I'm glad I don't have to vote in this
one.
I do have to vote in this one. And I
feel kind of queasy over having to vote for Tulsi Gabbard and so will
be voting for Sherry Alu Campagna who, some say, has really good
progressive credentials (Her web site is kind of wishy-washy).
Gabbard will win no matter what I do.
Gabbard kind of gets all "Stepford
Wives" when you ask her about her childhood- and apparently
current- guru Cris Butler and while I don't care what religion/cult
someone might be/join unless it gets in the way of governing, there's
something about Tulsi's reaction to being asked about it that's
really really creepy (and I don't often use two "reallys."
Really.
But she's also an early Bernie
supporter and says and does some great stuff in congress and that's
probably what counts.
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LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Oh Goodie, goodie. We get to vote FOR
someone.
KIM COCO IWAMOTO is a "true
progressive" (I'd say democratic socialist but my Democratic
Party friends would have a conniption fit) and, although I've never
met her she appears to be the real deal. It's too bad Josh Green is
running for Lt. Governor also.
If you play all those tic-tac-toe political games you're probably, to mix a metaphor, still twiddling your thumbs. But if you like voting with integrity like I do and you'll be voting for "Kim Coco."
If you play all those tic-tac-toe political games you're probably, to mix a metaphor, still twiddling your thumbs. But if you like voting with integrity like I do and you'll be voting for "Kim Coco."
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We'd run out of arm before we run out of candidates on the list for governor. But since everyone I know will be "pulling" a Democratic ballot we are told that "if you want your vote to count" you'd better choose between former Chief Cook and Bottle Washer (along with every other political position imaginable) Colleen Hanabusa and David "Wow, how the heck did I get here" Ige (D).
The problem is choosing which one nauseates us more- or less as the case may be. Many had already tentatively made up our minds not to vote for Ige, based on four years of getting our faces slapped by him- especially through his Dept of Ag lackey Scott Enright who has allowed multi-national chemical companies to engage in school, home and road-side poisonings under the "jobs, jobs, jobs" banner for those who survive the daily toxic deluge.
But just as we were about to accept anybody- repeat ANYBODY- to get rid of him and Enright we looked up and saw- ARRGGGH, the ghost of elections past- the Hanabusa machine.
Who makes us sicker, who makes us sicker... all summer was gonna be spent measuring who made us sicker.
But a last minute a "here's your damn bill-choke on it" effort on the part of Ige and his Legislative 76 Stooges gave us a watered down but acceptable law, banning one of the worst of the restricted use chemicals, stopping poison spraying within 7 millimeters of a school, oh let's say 150 years from now (something like that) and, the one substantive measures, a complete list of "What the Heck Are They Spraying?" which was how this who thing got started in the first place.
So, although I've promised myself I'm
too old to vote for this worst evil crap and I should be choosing a
Green Party ballot to vote for candidate Jim Brewer since there's a
Green on the ballot. But he'll be there in November. So you have my
permission to make sure we don't have to look at Colleen on the news
every night but rather listen to the nasal stylings of Ige and the
Indecisive-tones.
Vote Early- And Often.
