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+--- Thread: Super PAC targets county council races (/showthread.php?tid=14102)
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Super PAC targets county council races - DaVinci - 08-01-2014
Is anybody else worried about this?
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/honolulu-super-pac-blitz-targets-local-council-candidates
Seems like a fairly blatant attempt to buy a favorable vote for big ticket projects. We let these guys win and in two years there will be a half dozen more super PACs spending their money and flexing their muscles.
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - missydog1 - 08-01-2014
Da Vinci, thanks for posting this. I don't read the Trib except for articles that I come across (my bad I know, but the paper isn't free and it doesn't impress me).
This is crazy logic about Super PACS. I don't understand the rules about this type of funding. So as long as the funders dump money into a candidate without "coordinating" with them, it is OK? How does one know, because the candidate disavows any connection?
Gonsalves is the District 9 candidate who doesn't properly reside in District 9, but who slipped by the challenge deadline. I don't know the District 6 person. TEH is supposedly running a shoestring budget grass roots campaign using home made signs of repurposed wood.
I would like to see Oahu money out of Big Island politics, if that is remotely realistic. (Likely not.)
It is weird that money can benefit candidates in a way where they can disavow the assistance. Especially when it is more money than all the money they have to work with through their own campaign fundraising. Jeez. Can they say no?
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - lo-ka-hi - 08-01-2014
I've received 3 flyers asking to vote for TEH while promoting solar-energy with these large, high-gloss, multi colored flyers which would make a good feed for the incinerator but nothing else in terms of the no-waste-goal of Hawai'i.
Very disturbing indeed.
Lokahi
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - DaVinci - 08-01-2014
I know. A month ago Tiffany is telling us all about her recycled wood hand painted sign campaign, and then we get two of these enormous glossy full color postcards in the mail, both sent to the same address. What a freakin' waste. I've already decided on who I'm (Fran) going to vote for, but this is making me crazy. Doesn't matter who these off-island interests are backing... we need to rise up as an island and send them home.
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - lo-ka-hi - 08-01-2014
You only got two? I've got 3!!! All send to my name.
Maybe we gotta return those things to the sender and send them home.
Meanwhile I think too that Frannie is our hope. Surely a caring woman, the only candidate who got off her chair and at least tried to pacify the energy between R.J. and Tiffany while all other candidates just looked on.
Lokahi
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - missydog1 - 08-01-2014
Frannie seems like the real deal. Raised here and instilled with wise principles.
Are you guys concerned about the 51% rule and splitting the vote? Is there any chance Frannie can achieve that majority? Just asking, not being argumentative.
ETA: no glossy cards to me. I guess the SuperPAC cares not about Hamakua coast.
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - DaVinci - 08-01-2014
I try not to worry about splitting-the-vote strategies. I find that sort of thinking cynical... i.e., encouraging people to rally behind the likely candidate, according to some arbitrary received wisdom, rather than voting for whom they think is best. I'm voting for Fran, and yet would not be surprised if Danny and Tiffany end up in a runoff. I would indeed be surprised if either of them actually pulled together a real majority and avoided a runoff. But hey, a lot of people thought Miami was a lock to three-peat. That's why we have to actually play the game... to see who wins. I'd be delighted and shocked if Fran ended up in the inevitable runoff. That said, I'm still gonna vote for her because I think she's the best choice we've got.
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - missydog1 - 08-01-2014
You should vote your convictions and as you wish, for sure.
I asked because for years in the primaries for presidential election, I have not hesitated to vote for the underdog that I believed in, but when it came to the general election, in a close race, then I wouldn't vote for a third party candidate who was taking votes from the Democrats but had not got a snowball's chance to win.
In spite of the fact I wish we had three or more viable parties. Not getting off into a national politics discussion -- point being I had the luxury of voting how I wanted in the primary because there was no risk of throwing the election to the Republican. But in this nonpartisan race, I wondered if people think there is a risk (which you answered and gave your take on, thanks).
My District's Council race will be decided in the primary, for sure. I realize District 5 has a high number of candidates vying for votes.
hey, I don't like that kind of thinking either, but I wouldn't call it cynical. It's pragmatic thinking. It's why candidates in larger races often drop out of the primary and throw their support when the polls tell them it's not happening this time around.
btw, I had a very hard time gleaning much about Paleka from the forum I watched, and don't know much about what he stands for.
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - DaVinci - 08-02-2014
Yeah, you're right... "cynical" is too strong. And you made a good point about not wanting to vote for, say, Ralph Nader in 2000, when Al Gore needed every vote he could get his hands on (since getting the most votes was apparently not good enough)... but it's a tricky business too. If the Dems had sorted out their differences way back in 1860, they wouldn't have split the vote and we'd have some other guy's face on our five spot.
Danny Paleka, at the forums, seemed like an honest man, but he also seemed to me to be the kind of guy that falls in line. I don't think he would oppose the mayor or the governor, if they made an argument that sounded reasonable to him. I don't think he'd do too well on the larger issues facing our island, like waste management or energy production in the coming years, and how public policy would affect everyday citizens. I think the nuances of the job would be beyond him. But we could do worse, I suppose. And bear in mind, I've only heard him speak twice. I haven't done any research into his background. So... big JMO on this one.
RE: Super PAC targets county council races - Kapohocat - 08-02-2014
quote:
Originally posted by DaVinci... But hey, a lot of people thought Miami was a lock to three-peat. That's why we have to actually play the game... to see who wins. I'd be delighted and shocked if Fran ended up in the inevitable runoff. That said, I'm still gonna vote for her because I think she's the best choice we've got.
Maybe the cubs will win this year.... [
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