Russell Ruderman's fund raiser

[HiloPuna]

If I may...."the powers that be" at that time would have been the outgoing Yamashiro administration and the standard union/business interests that were not specifically supportive of that administration. In my memory none of them wanted Harry Kim to be the Mayor to succeed Yamashiro. He ran on his own, with no visible financial or manpower support, solely on name/voice recognition. After all the TH/WHT headlines and radio repeats of CD messages it was more of a coronation than an election. As far as the last minute submarining of Keikos candidacy Harry did the same thing to Billy in 2012, that's just his "style". Harry is noted for being capricious so a "misdirection" to Keiko Bonk is just as in character. Finally, there was never any chance of the Green Party to "take over the County". Seriously.... Keiko is intelligent and well educated but her career was founded on her fathers political savvy, his connections, and a receptive home district. She didn't "scale". She served as Chair at the whim of others, as most Chairs do. We haven't had many strong Chairs in the last 30 years, perhaps just Yamashiro and Arakaki. Maybe Brian DeLima for a short time. Term limits and single member districts preclude strong Chairs from arising.

While this post is not relevant to Senator Ruderman, his fundraiser, or any of the issues he is noted for, as my "Moderated" post was, it is relevant to the last dozen posts or so...