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Musician Willie K is the big draw for Big Island Democrats at their Election Eve festivities on Monday, Nov. 3 at Mooheau Bandstand in dRowntown Hilo. The Hawaii County Democratic Party's traditional Grand Rally will be preceded with a drumming circle under the banyans in Mooheau Park beginning at 3 p.m. and the drumming theme will be carried throughout the evening with Taiko drum performances, African drumming and Samba dancing. The Grand Rally will be broadcast live islandwide from 6-8 p.m. on KHBC Radio, 1060 AM/92.7 FM in Hilo and 92.1 FM in Kona.
Entertainer Desiree Cruz will emcee the official Grand Rally which will open at 6 p.m. with Willie K playing the Star Spangled Banner. Invited speakers include Hawaii's Congressional delegation, Senators Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye, Representatives Mazie Hirono and Neil Abercrombie as well as mayoral candidates Billy Kenoi and Angel Pilago, Rep. Faye Hanohano, County Council candidates Emily Naeole and Gary Safarik, and other Hawaii County Democratic Party candidates. Willie K's performance will follow the speechmaking.
The public is invited to bring their drums, other percussion and musical instruments and join in the free festivities drumming up support for your favorite Democratic Party candidates. Drummers will also be keeping the beat for campaign sign wavers along Kamehameha Avenue. Meanwhile, such pre-rally family-friendly activities as KidsVote, face painting, inflatable jumpers, picture-taking with Obama (a cutout), and Micicle the Balloon Guy will be featured from 4-6 p.m. The popcorn and shaved ice concessions are the only attractions that are not free of charge. Free chili, rice and hot dogs will be served beginning at 5 p.m. and continue until supplies run out.
So please spread the word and put the evening of Nov. 3 on your calendar for some family fun and rallying the vote in downtown Hilo. Remember, the bus service is free and there's no school the following day (Election Day FINALLY!!!) Hope to see you all there! Aloha, Frankie
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If Faye and Emily are running as NP why would they be at a Democratic function?
"Many dreams come true and some have silver linings, I look for my dreams and a pocket full of gold" Led Zeppelin
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....
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The Hawaii County Democratic Party helps promote the candidacies of ALL Democratic candidates in good standing as party members. Both Emily Naeole and Gary Safarik are Democrats in good standing with their party as are Tony Marzi, Steve Sparks. Both Billy Kenoi and Angel Pilago are Democrats in good standing with the party as are Lorraine Inouye, Stacey Higa, and Jasper Moore (altho' I learned too late to include him in the Primary Grand Rally. My apologies, Jasper. I kept deleting the party listing for MICHAEL Moore, thinking it was a mistaken listing ). Any candidate who signs a Democratic Party card prior to the candidacy filing deadline is included in the Dem's activities both before and after the election.
The elections for mayor, county prosecutor, council seats, Board of Education, and OHA are all non-partisan races but that doesn't mean the candidates themselves cannot be members of a particular political party. Bob Jacobson is a Green, Guy Enriques CLAIMED to be a Democrat but the Democratic Party does not have him signed up as a Dem. Kelly Greenwell was very briefly state chair of the Green Party but was a Democrat before that and is now a card-carrying Democrat while Debbie Hecht is a Green. Some Democratic Party candidates seem philosophically more aligned with Republicans but remember, the Dems are the Rainbow Coalition and viewpoints and politics can be 180 degrees apart, which would make them polar opposites.
And since I am a Democratic Party officer and organizer, I work to support all Democratic candidates equally. However, I do get my say in the voting booth! Aloha, Frankie
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Then why don't they run as democrats[?] Sounds like they are hidning something. They should be proud to be a Democrat, no?
"Many dreams come true and some have silver linings, I look for my dreams and a pocket full of gold" Led Zeppelin
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....
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Some do run as Democrats, others in nonpartisan races may or may not highlight their party affiliations...their choice, for their reasons. It is the ELECTION LAWS that state whether the election for specific posts are partisan or nonpartisan.
Big Island VOTERS elected to have nonpartisan elections for mayor and council seats within the last decade. Prior to that, the elections for mayor and council seats was partisan, just like the state and national elections.
Faye Hanohano runs as a Democrat and faces Republican Fred Blas in the general election because state law makes that a partisan race. She defeated fellow Democrats Tony Marzi and Steve Sparks to be the Democratic candidate in the general election. So Faye is not even in a nonpartisan election as you originally stated.
And Rep. Hanohano was written up sometime earlier this year for having the best attendance and voting record of any of the Big Island legislators by none other than Stephens Media. She was recently endorsed for reelection by the Honolulu Advertiser for the funds she has garnered for Pahoa schools and other Puna needs. She strongly opposed (in a losing state legislative battle) GMO taro and voted for and supported all the AARP issues at the legislature. Yes, she is a strong union person but her Hawaiian and Puna roots take priority over her union background, from what I've observed.
Meanwhile, Fred Blas is one of the Republican candidates the Lingle administration is pushing to get LINGLE'S agendas stronger support in the legislator. Listening to his campaign promises, he doesn't even understand the basic differences between state and county governance. And Lingle's whole slate (which includes Guy Enriques and Andy Smith) has a strong fundamentalist religious base.
So take your pick. Just be educated about it.
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EDITED VERSION:
Some do run as Democrats, others in nonpartisan races may or may not highlight their party affiliations...their choice, for their reasons. It is the ELECTION LAWS that state whether the election for specific posts are partisan or nonpartisan.
Big Island VOTERS elected to have nonpartisan elections for mayor and council seats within the last decade. Prior to that, the elections for mayor and council seats were partisan, just like the state and national elections.
Faye Hanohano runs as a Democrat and faces Republican Fred Blas in the general election for the state legislature because state law makes that a partisan race. She defeated fellow Democrats Tony Marzi and Steve Sparks to be the Democratic candidate in the general election. So Faye is not even in a nonpartisan election as you originally stated.
And Rep. Hanohano was written up sometime earlier this year for having the best attendance and voting record of any of the Big Island legislators by none other than Stephens Media. She was recently endorsed for reelection by the Honolulu Advertiser for the funds she has garnered for Pahoa schools and other Puna needs. She strongly opposed (in a losing state legislative battle) GMO taro and voted for and supported all the AARP issues at the legislature. Yes, she is a strong union person but her Hawaiian and Puna roots take priority over her union background, from what I've observed.
Meanwhile, Fred Blas is one of the Republican candidates the Lingle administration is pushing to get LINGLE'S agendas stronger support in the legislature. Listening to his campaign promises, he doesn't even understand the basic differences between state and county governance. And Lingle's whole slate (which includes Guy Enriques and Andy Smith) has a strong fundamentalist religious base.
So take your pick. Just be educated about it.
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Frankie, if you had been at the Kalani candidate forum, you would have cringed at Faye Hanohano's performance. When asked why she had not accomplished more, she said it was hard for her to get things past the "Leadership" in Honolulu. She did not display any inclination whatsoever to stand up and fight that leadership or even make a noise for Puna. She didn't even express any passion for the job, saying that she really didn't want it that much, but wanted to "give back." Very inspiring. What good is showing up every day if you don't do anything?
There is, however, a much bigger problem with the Democratic Party in Hawaii than Faye Hanohano. It is called the "good old boy network," and wresting control of the party from said network should be priority one for Democrats. You can complain all you want about Linda Lingle (and I am not an avid fan,) but she got elected for a reason. People were tired of the GOBN and its methods of governance. Like so many others, I voted for Lingle to send a message and not necessarily because I like all her policies. (Though I do like some of them.)
For another example, one need only look at the howls of indignation and "wait your turn" that went up when Ed Case ran against Senator Akaka. I didn't like some of his policies, but I voted for him to send another message. Shortly before the 2006 election, I stumbled into an event at Nanimau Gardens where Sen. Akaka was appearing. He got away from his handlers in the corridor for a few minutes and I spoke to him. I don't think he really knew why he was there or what the event was really about, because he couldn't clearly tell me when I asked. He did, however, have a prepared text to work from. I never did find out exactly what the event was, but there were a lot of cars with realtor signs on them in the parking lot. Senator Akaka got voted one of the two least effective Senators of the last 50 years by Time Magazine, hardly a pro-Republican organ.
I have voted Democratic over 80% of the time up to now, but that percentage is dropping since I moved to Hawaii. Many of us here on Punaweb consider ourselves progressive, meaning we want positive change and more direct popular input into policy making. Where I lived before, voting Democratic was the progressive thing to do. Here in Hawaii, sometimes voting Republican (or Green, or Libertarian, or anything else) is the progressive thing to do. Most Democratic officials in Hawaii fall into the conservative mold, meaning against any real change in the status quo. So by all means go to the Grand Rally and see all the fossils and the self-congratulatory back-slapping.
In the case of Fred Blas, I am not voting to send a message, but to elect a candidate who will get up and fight for the constituency. He is clearly the best person for the job. I voted in the Democratic Primary to support Anthony Marzi and to try to get some Reform Democrats on the November ballot. Since that didn't work out too well, I will be voting for at least one Republican this time. I strongly suggest it. It's the progressive thing to do.
Cheers,
Jerry
Jerry - I was at the Kalani forum and I was cringing at some of her answers.
HOWEVER, I have sat in the capitol rotunda and watched her in action amongst other State Representatives.
She is very well received and very respected at the capitol level.
She is the first Hawaiian to actually use the Hawaiian Language when providing testimony, (while handing out English transcriptions).
To have a strong Hawaiian Lady in office that will represent all of us no matter where we are from or what ethnicity we are... is a good thing.
She may seemed laid back in her run for office, however, she does have a side of her that I don't believe many of us will ever know until you see the lady at work at the Capitol.
P.S. I would not classify Hanohano as a "Good Ole Boy - Big Island Democrat either"
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Damon, my last post was mainly a commentary on the Democratic Party in Hawaii. Ms. Hanohano is just a small, but locally important, part of that issue. I concede that I have not seen Ms. Hanohano at work in the Capitol, but the fact that she is "well received and very respected" by the powers that be in Honolulu is not a recommendation. I would rather they be pissed off at her for rocking their cozy boat, especially since they won't be sending any significant resources to Puna anyway. As far as her not being a "good old boy," take a look at her endorsements and see if they are any different from the "usual suspects." Your family loyalty is commendable, especially for an in-law, but it clouds objectivity.
Cheers,
Jerry
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Somehow this topic got hijacked. But I don’t mind a good discussion.
Jerry, you make several points I’d really prefer to respond to in private but, against my better judgment, will try to answer here. I read the comments that came out follow the Kalani candidate forum and wondered again why people were so willing to give breaks to Emily Naeole for being a novice legislator (on the county level) but not so for her cousin, Faye, who was also a novice legislator but on the state level.
So the Kalani forum was not her best “performance.” She has not had the focus on her elected life that Ms. Naeole has but in the months leading up to this election, I have seen her put herself forward more and more as she learns to “perform.” She has a very different personal style from her cousin and, IMHO, a more traditional Hawaiian approach and style which inhibits her ability to “promote” herself the way we expect politicians to do (similar to Sen. Akaka, I might add). She also has health concerns and I think she felt very uncomfortable (possibly in “foreign” territory) at the Kalani forum. So what? Does one forum make or break a candidate? Apparently in this site’s eyes, it does.
Faye Hanohano did not have pundits to advise and help her navigate the travails of the State Legislature. How do you know she didn’t “even make a noise for Puna?” Even Russell Kokubun got shot down in the end by the “good old boy network” in Honolulu during the last session.
And who in HNL is going to listen to Fred Blas, besides the Contractors Association who endorsed him? Not the Democratic majority. And, certainly, his benefactoress Linda Lingle won’t be listening…she’s too busy running for the U.S. Senate! While Aiona is running for gov.
Actually, Rep. Hanohano did make noise for Puna through her support of taro as the state plant, a tactic she’d hoped would keep that culturally vital plant free of GMO but a move that got her publicly scorned by Puna bloggers. And keeping taro GMO-free got derailed by her fellow Big Island legislator Clifton Tsuji. But the County Council, which actually doesn’t have the power over such issues as the state does, unanimously passed the GMO ban for taro. Go figure!
Yes, Rep. Hanohano needs to learn better how to communicate with her constituency and to foster transparency in her legislative agenda, and she needs help with that. But she has made good alliances to help further her legislative aims and I believe her votes have accurately reflected the needs and goals of her Puna constituents.
As for the Democrats’ “good old boy network,” it is in disarray throughout the state. The plantation system, which dominated the politics of Hawaii for more than a hundred years, is truly DEAD! Locally, Lorraine Inouye and Stacy Higa lost their bids for mayor and they were more representative of the “GOBN” than any of the other candidates.
It took the repercussions of the Feb. 19 Democratic caucuses for me to see there was a leadership vacuum in the statewide Democratic Party. Yes, Senators Akaka and Inouye are aged, and aging. And, as one very highly placed individual in HNL told me recently, there are 72 people a day taking the pulse of the 2 senators, looking for their opportunity to jump in and claim new territory.
Think about it…Mufi’s running for gov, not mayor, and he’s just one faction. Then there’s Colleen Hanabusa, who got Anne Kobayashi to run against Mufi for mayor, so that’s another faction with a better Hawaiian pedigree (Mufi’s the Samoan faction). There’s Ed Case, who like his wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing Democratic Party affiliation, is using the Con-Con issue (which he knows is going to lose) to keep his name before the public as he is also running for gov. Then there’s both Abercrombie and Hirono who would both, I’m sure, prefer to run for office every 6 years instead of every 2 years. That’s just the most obvious pulse-takers.
So when the Feb. caucus tripled the Democratic Party membership in this state overnight, there was no apparatus in place in HNL to input all the data. So a bunch of people, including myself, volunteered to do data entry for the Dem. Party and that’s when I started attending precinct and county party meetings and started making my observations that the old Democratic Party machine (the GOBN) is currently on life-support. And the HNL cats just don’t get the sustainability issue, which has taken on even greater urgency with the world economy in the state it’s in!
I’ve had a unique frontseat observation post to modern Hawaiian history for the past 30 years, beginning with my journalism studies at UH-Manoa in the early 1970s, and continuing with my job as assignment editor at KITV News in 1974 and 1975. That was the beginning of the “Hawaiian renaissance” and when the Protect Kahoolawe Ohana and the Hawaiian movement began to demand just compensation for public use of their lands, etc. And it was also the heyday of the state Democratic Party machine, something I’d never witnessed before.
Well, with the demise of the plantation era (and their weakened unions) that machine no longer exists here. Brian Schatz (former HNL legislator and defeated US Rep candidate) and Andy Winer (Obama’s campaign manager for Hawaii) jumped in and grabbed the reins of the state party this past spring but I don’t think their support is widespread. It’s also surmised that both Brian and Andy have higher aspirations and the party posts are just stepping stones.
So this really is the best time for grass-roots supporters to step in and fashion the Democratic Party to their liking. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. So please come out to the Grand Rally featuring Willie K next Monday and help us take Hawaii’s Democratic Party out of the hands of the “good ole boys” and into the 21st Century! Then come to the local Dem. meetings and help our state leadership see that sustainability is the key to our future!
And, Jerry, could I please ask you to check Sen. Akaka’s voting record in the Senate? I think you would be amazed at how differently he votes from Sen. Inouye (the ultimate GOB). When I read of our congressional delegation’s votes in the HNL Advertiser, Sen. Akaka’s votes represent much more of my feelings on national and international issues…he was one of the few senators to consistently oppose U.S. war in Iraq from the beginning. Last week, he scored 100 percent in the rankings of the League of Conservation Voters, a top environmental group. Yes, he’s old and hard of hearing. But he has a top-notch staff and seniority counts in Washington D.C. It counts A LOT!
I have several friends, mostly newcomers to the state, who are impressed by Ed Case. He is much more Republican in philosophy than Democrat which is his perogative, and Democratic Party views do range a full 180 degrees. But I really question the candidacy of anyone whose campaign is sponsored primarily by the National Realtors Association, which Ed’s was. There was not one mailing, not one TV commercial for Ed that did not have the Natl Realtors listed as the group paying for that promotion. I know; I looked!
Well, that’s it for me…I’m sure I’ll regret spilling my guts like this but WTH! Please, everyone, rather than bitch about the good old boy network, let’s get together and create a better Hawaii from the grass roots up. Aloha and malama pono, Frankie
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