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+--- Thread: Island Sun newspaper endorses Angel Pilago (/showthread.php?tid=3661)
Island Sun newspaper endorses Angel Pilago - Rob Tucker - 08-21-2008
"When the federal and state governments fail to do the right thing for the people,
it is the responsibility of local government to step in and act." Angel Pilago
Island Sun newspaper endorses Angel Pilago for the next Mayor of Hawaii County. We urge our readers to vote for Pilago in the upcoming elections.
Our island home is facing huge changes. The economy is undergoing dramatic shifts that will leave us in a totally new situation within a very few years. Tourism is in decline, and big agriculture is no longer our economic mainstay. Fuel costs will be changing much more than our driving habits. Food costs and the prices of almost everything else we import will continue to rise. We must learn, and quickly, to rely much more on our own efforts.
We all know that a fundamental restructuring of our way of life here is underway. The old ways of doing politics are no longer serving us well. The old boy network, based private influence over local government, and on spending our way out of hard times, is over, whether the "old boys" know it or not. More roads, more development in far flung areas, more money into the same full pockets – these methods of operation will only dig us in deeper.
Of all the fine candidates running for mayor, only Angel Pilago has a plan for a different way of coming at our problems. Pilago plans to open local government to real, meaningful participation by ordinary Hawaii Island citizens. Under Pilago, business as usual will change. The deep-seated system of private influence that keeps certain contractors and lawyers on the inside of planning decisions and the rest of us on the outside has to end.
No other candidate brings that promise to the table. Some of the other candidates are entirely about continuing the present "insider system. You know who they are, the ones with the big campaign funds and all that meaningless "name recognition." Other candidates bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the political arena but, if elected, will not be able to pull it off, due to lack of experience or administrative skill.
Angle Pilago is different. Angel has the experience, and Angel is a warrior, the kind of gentle and extremely thoughtful warrior we need as Mayor now – right now – if we expect to see county government do anything differently than in the past. Angel is that kind of warrior, "whose strength is not to fight." (Dylan – Chimes of Freedom).
Ask anyone who has spent time talking with Angel. They will tell you straight – this man has strength, he is calm and centered. He has thought deeply about our problems and our direction into the future.
Angel Pilago, like you, knows we must try do things very differently if we are to have any chance of sustaining our quality of life here in Hawai'i. So we support Angel for Mayor, and we hope you do too.
Elect Angel Pilago Mayor