10-25-2012, 07:47 AM
I'm voting for Harry Kim, and what few reservations I had have disappeared in the last stages of the campaign. Here are some reasons:
First and foremost, all that union and outside money Billy Kenoi has spent for a local government job is troubling. Don't think for a minute that those donations won't get some sort of return on the investment. It doesn't work that way, especially in Hawaii County. Harry Kim will not enter office indebted to anyone but the voters.
Second, there is the fact that Billy Kenoi is the annointed candidate of the "good old boy and girl" Hawaii political establishment. Late in the race he received an endorsement of Sen. Inouye, the ultimate power broker and good old boy in chief.
Third, and closely related to the second point, Billy is very ambitious for higher office. I fully believe that he will begin campaigning for either a U.S. Representative seat or some statewide office shortly after taking office for a second term as mayor. He has been groomed for this by Inouye and Company, and I think being mayor is just "doing time" to get into higher office. Harry Kim will have one focus, being the best Mayor that he can.
Fourth, as Rob notes, Billy doesn't seem to want to help communities or groups that are not in line with his support system. Here in HPP, he has been promising us bus service for nearly two and a half years. He first promised this in a public meeting in June, 2010 when his cousin Emily was trying to ge re-elected. I reminded him of this promise at a forum in the same room in July, 2012, and he had no recollection of the promise. He did dramatically get on the phone to the Transit Director on the spot and insist that she get something started right away and get back to HPP. Contact information for HPP was provided, and three months later we have not had so much as a phone call. This may sound trivial, but this matters to a community of 12,000 badly underserved citizens.
So it's really simple. Vote for the guy who is only interested in serving all the people of this island without strings attached. Vote for Harry Kim. He won't be perfect, but he's way better than the alternative.
First and foremost, all that union and outside money Billy Kenoi has spent for a local government job is troubling. Don't think for a minute that those donations won't get some sort of return on the investment. It doesn't work that way, especially in Hawaii County. Harry Kim will not enter office indebted to anyone but the voters.
Second, there is the fact that Billy Kenoi is the annointed candidate of the "good old boy and girl" Hawaii political establishment. Late in the race he received an endorsement of Sen. Inouye, the ultimate power broker and good old boy in chief.
Third, and closely related to the second point, Billy is very ambitious for higher office. I fully believe that he will begin campaigning for either a U.S. Representative seat or some statewide office shortly after taking office for a second term as mayor. He has been groomed for this by Inouye and Company, and I think being mayor is just "doing time" to get into higher office. Harry Kim will have one focus, being the best Mayor that he can.
Fourth, as Rob notes, Billy doesn't seem to want to help communities or groups that are not in line with his support system. Here in HPP, he has been promising us bus service for nearly two and a half years. He first promised this in a public meeting in June, 2010 when his cousin Emily was trying to ge re-elected. I reminded him of this promise at a forum in the same room in July, 2012, and he had no recollection of the promise. He did dramatically get on the phone to the Transit Director on the spot and insist that she get something started right away and get back to HPP. Contact information for HPP was provided, and three months later we have not had so much as a phone call. This may sound trivial, but this matters to a community of 12,000 badly underserved citizens.
So it's really simple. Vote for the guy who is only interested in serving all the people of this island without strings attached. Vote for Harry Kim. He won't be perfect, but he's way better than the alternative.