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[Wirick] thinks Hawaii Volcanoes National Park should be managed for pigs, not endangered species.
“This is Hawaii,” he said. “This is the middle of the Pacific. It’s not the Endangered Species Act that was written for the mainland U.S … Conservation for what? Not the people? Conservation for what? A plant? A bird? I think the Sierra Club today has way too much power.”
https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/07/big-is...ncil-race/
WTF? Hawaii is a global center of diversity and our native species are more in danger of extinction than anywhere else in the country. Screw this jerk.
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[Wirick] thinks Hawaii Volcanoes National Park should be managed for pigs, not endangered species.
"WTF? Hawaii is a global center of diversity and our native species are more in danger of extinction than anywhere else in the country. Screw this jerk."
Ditto!
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[Wirick] thinks Hawaii Volcanoes National Park should be managed for pigs, not endangered species.
Thanks for pointing out that comment by Wiruck, Midnight Rambler. By not voting for him I hope I'll provide him with all the time he needs for private sector pig management. There was more news today about the Federal government reducing protections for endangered species, so we don't need our local representative making the situation even worse. It's an important issue here:
Hawaii has less than 0.2 percent of U.S. land area... yet more than 25 percent of all federally endangered species are found there.
I'm voting for Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder.
A bird flies home across the sky. It appears to be tired, it had a difficult day. It returns from the hunt, it was hunted. - Laszlo Krasznahorkai
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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I am so disappointed that Jen dropped out. Not in her, because I'm sure she had some very compelling reasons (you don't want to hear my speculation on that). I don't like either of the remaining choices. Wirick for the reasons stated above, and Kleinfelder because I have yet to see anything from him other than say nothing, take no position political rhetoric which leads me to believe the people who say that he is the old boy candidate. Sad times for our district.
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I'm not a single issue guy, but that does seem both dumb and politically naive.
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I too am disappointed Jen dropped out. She really seemed to have a good heart, which can be difficult in politics.
As for Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder. He is in the solar business and is very much into alternative energy, with experience at the ground level. With geothermal shut down it may well pay to have someone who understands what's coming in our energy future. If we don't honestly prepare it won't be pretty.
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Just got a card from "Friends of Frederic (Ric) Wirick" which states that Ric is the "Only County Council candidate calling for a 50% reduction in County Administration salaries" which would (according to the card) "put millions of your tax dollars back into the general fund." He doesn't define what he means by "County Administration salaries," but most County manager-level and below salaries are union-negotiated at the State level, so I doubt he'd realize the savings he projects ("savings" that he would return to the general fund, by the way - and we all know how scrupulously those funds are administered...). Also, I find it hard to believe we would attract more qualified, more competent administration officials by offering them salaries that are 50% of current levels. As it is, numerous county positions go unfilled because there is a lack of job-specific skills on island, and salaries are too low to attract off islanders.
The positions Ric has proposed to date seem simplistic and overly generalized to me, and unfortunately, his opponent's positions are even more vague (at least from what I've seen so far...). It looks to me like once again our basis for selecting a Council representative will be "Which candidate will I be less embarrassed by?"
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Seems like Puna has a long history of being forced to vote for bad/weak candidates in order to block catastrophically bad ones. Kanealii-Kleinfelder sounds a lot better than Wirick, but also a lot like Zendo Kern and Greggor Ilagan.
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Many administrative jobs I see posted are $15/hr or less, which you then subtract a large percentage for taxes, union dues, mandatory retirement plan, health care, etc... Good luck reducing those, I think you'd have to resort to conscription or slavery.
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i too am sorry jen dropped out. although i didn't vote for her, i came to respect her and felt she tried her best for puna. that said, she waited until the very last moment which didn't give other candidates time to enter the field. ( can't help but feel this was deliberate) with the heavy hitters coming out and endorsing for KK, i too feel like maybe we have another choice for the good old boys club. Wirick certainly isn't "polished" but neither was danny and i always thought he was a work horse for puna, always getting things done without the gift of gab. after that last debate, after careful thought, at this time i am giving wwirick my vote. not ideal, i think this revolving door is not a good thing and would have voted jen in a heartbeat but now we are left with these two choices...
