August 8, 2026 Primary Election Results

[ironyak]

Sure, but which of the candidates for County office that lost their primary on Saturday said they were going to fix any of this? Did someone actually have "More Commercial Zoning and Development in Puna" as their County Council campaign pledge (and if so, can we check if kalakoa is doing some political consulting from the mainland? ;)

I mean Matt Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder did get some pavement put down recently on those private substandard roads, using County funds and in the Libertarian wilds of the Acres no less, via Bill 82, so maybe some things do change?
https://www.facebook.com/reel/785534631299788

Anyone tried to request via their Community Association some shiny new pavement on the County's dime for their substandard subdivision roads?

[HiloJulie]

HiloJulie - Well, it looks like Greggor has found what will no doubt end up being his lifelong career sucking the taxpayer teat
Or Tam could, you know, run for County Council and prove he has more than big AI generated ideas and can actually get things done on a local level before running for state office again. You know, prove you can be a team player and help win at the local games before thinking you're minor league material.

I guess in order to be a career politician, of which, I just don't see in Tam, but, hey when you are right Yak, you're right, it worked and works for Greggor. Start at the bottom rung, make some friends, run for the next higher office, get elected to that and then become as quiet as a church mouse and BINGO, get reelected! And reelected. And reelected.

While I am sure you and a few others enjoyed ripping on Tam and holding him to a much higher bar that has to be about 20 miles higher than the highest bar Greggor ever had to pass under in his life, well, it worked. For you AND Greggor.

Name one position, outside of his well repeated, handler prepared text statement of being "pro geo" as "long as it's done right" that Greggor has ever made. I won't bother waiting for a reply on that, as there simply is no reply that can be made. But for Tam, no, you and others, had to try and make Tam separate the fly shit from the pepper, over and over and over. 

And then, voter turnout. In as much as I can't think of ANYTHING I'd ever agree with Brenton Awa on, but, again, when someone is right, they are right - I have to agree with him 100% with this comment:

Facebook

"Currently, about 1 in 5 people choose the winner in a lot of these higher office seats. So essentially a few of us is making the decisions for all of us and it doesn't have to be this way."

Could it be that maybe, as Rob says "Meanwhile the CoH Planning Department keeps Puna kinda barefoot and pregnant..." is because the 2,466 people who voted for Greggor (out of the 40ish thousand residents) want to keep Puna barefoot and pregnant?

[MyManao]

the 2,466 people who voted for Greggor (out of the 40ish thousand residents)

Seriously, you're saying out of the 134,573 residence registered to vote island wide, 40,000 of them live in little ol' state house district 4?

That's lolo..

You're also off your rocker when you suggest that Greggor sucks on the taxpayers teat as if were Tam elected he wouldn't. For god's sake he was running for the chance to suck on that buggah... or are you saying he was gonna work for free?

And, as to what's Greggor's done or not done.. you really should let it go. You're not willing to even listen when others point some of his efforts out. Obie has pointed to several.. and all you can do is whine.. you don't read.. you don't remember.. you don't comprehend. You whine.

Really Jules.. it's all complaints with you. But never with facts, never with the truth.. just bitching about your make believe nonsense.

[HiloJulie]

...here's a suggestion for you to consider.

Next time you hear someone making a statement that you disagree with and you feel compelled to say something try this response.

Say, "good idea".

I'm taking Rob's advice MM!

"Good idea!"

[MyManao]

An ode to Jerry Rothstein..

Sometimes I think the same ol’ same ol’ is better than upsetting the apple cart and all the apples falling away.

I liked Tam’s concerns, and his zeal, and from the get go was cautious of his unrealistic expectations that he could have any effect at all in a body such as the state house of representatives. Please, remember, it takes a consensus of 26 people to move anything along in the house, and then still has to get a majority in the senate, and the governor as well, to agree to anything. Because of such a structure, imo, the real job is to form consensus, to scratch each other’s back, to give your vote for the other guy’s projects so when your’s come up he’ll give his to you. And Tam didn’t impress me as that kind of guy. 

For Tam it was all now.. he himself said things are too urgent to play along to get along. But if you and your buddies were all getting together and some new guy came along and told you about an urgency you all don’t feel you’d laugh at him. It don’t matter what kine group.. any new comer gotta bide his time.. but Tam promised otherwise and so pretty much shot himself in the foot methinks.

Some here, without any proof at all vehemently accuse Greggor of doing absolutely nothing, except “sucking teat” when in fact I suspect they have no idea what he has or hasn’t done. They just thrive on making crass remarks. Whereas Obie at least has posted several instances where Greggor has done things. But still he’s mud to a mud slinger. And I would bet my first born el muddo never spent one once of energy trying to learn the truth about any of it.

My, personal, interactions through life suggesting the ideas I want put forth, the bills I wanted supported etc., has been almost exclusively on the County Council level. And in all instances I have found my representatives responsive. Willing to meet, to listen, and explain their own perspectives. I’ve put forth ideas that got to the group meeting levels, and seen bills evolve from them. But I never dealt on the state level. Although I have to assume our representatives at state are people too. If you have an idea, and are willing to maturely pursue it, you can get an audience, you can advance it. But still it has to be something 26 representatives and 13 senators could agree to in order to gain the traction needed to get to the governor's desk. And saying you can get things done on day one, in 120 days, before the cows come home, is just nonsense.

So, what I am saying is, going along to get along has the potential for a lot more return than throwing monkey wrenches, One person said it takes visionaries to upset the order of things and let the chips fall where they may, but in the long run changes happen because of it. I can agree with that, but will point out the odds aren’t in their favor.

And, even if Tam were elected, unless there was a ground swell of like minded elected folks from all over the islands elected along side of him he ran the risk of losing Puna what otherwise we might get by alienating folks with his urgency. By not doing the good ol' go along to get along half step he ran the risk of being alienated himself. So maybe ’Tang’s right, we need to break things if we want change… break ground to plant seeds.. but damn those seeds may take a long time to sprout. Can we afford the time?

There is one thing I think people can do if they want real change. One thing that a lobbyist, or better a group of lobbyists can do that would seriously give power to even the folks on the lowest end of the totem pole. Give people the power to effect change in short order. And that is to get the state to agree to give the constituents the right of referendum. The right for the people, if we agree by popular vote, to ourselves write law. With that right someone with the zeal of Tam could do something. Whereas even if he were elected he would have had a hard row to hoe. With referendum he could focus his energy and cause movement that very well could result in change. You could, I could, any of us could have an idea, put it out there, get some traction, and cause real change. But to get the right to have a referendum we would have to get 26 representatives and 13 senators and the governor to agree to give it to us.

And still, that one right, that one law, is, by my measure far more likely than Tam barnstorming the status quo and getting even a morsel of the promises he got AI to write so voluminously about. But hey, if he channelled that energy into something as possible as the referendum..

[HiloJulie]

An ode to MyManao:

It appears to me that you are a seeming expert at virtually every topic posted on PunaWeb. Be it the volcano, you know more about it than the lifelong volcanologists. Telescopes - hell, there you at every turn professing your vast scientific knowledge - about the telescopes themselves as well as Mauna Kea, as well as having far more knowledge than our own vacationing telescope scientist operator. Weather - you know more than NOAA, Durgin (only in for the clicks) and all the metrologists combined. AI? - hell there you are again, professing your vast AI knowledge. Geothermal - again, and endless vast deeper than a blown-out geo well - comes YOU. And who else knows more about the Hawaiian culture than YOU?

No matter the topic, you, and only you, know all about it. Your vast expert knowledge of all things is truly an amazing gift. As my father would say about someone like you, "hell, he knows everything, just ask him!" 

So, here is what I think - YOU need to run for political office. Put YOUR money where your (often times) wide open mouth always is. 

And being really clear here, I DO NOT CARE what Greggor HAS DONE, I wanted to hear what Greggor WILL DO. We never got that. Not a peep. Lots of daily pics of him sucking green smoothies, however.

So being the sheer expert you have convinced me you are, I suggest you run for HIGH political office right here in Hawaii. I can imagine you would be elected in a landslide. Maybe even get the Yak to be your legislative aide - or hell, Lieutenant Gov? But then I'm thinking BJ Penn might be the number 2 guy for you. His muscle can back up your mouth.

[Obie]

"And being really clear here, I DO NOT CARE what Greggor HAS DONE, I wanted to hear what Greggor WILL DO. We never got that. Not a peep. Lots of daily pics of him sucking green smoothies, however."

He had 12 days of town halls in May. He explained what he was going to do if re-elected. I guess you missed it !

He had already announced that he was planning a town hall in December, he has now released the schedule.
https://repilagan.com/townhalls/

[ironyak]

HiloJulie - it worked and works for Greggor. Start at the bottom rung, make some friends, run for the next higher office, get elected to that and then become as quiet as a church mouse ... Name one position, outside of his well repeated, handler prepared text statement of being "pro geo" as "long as it's done right" that Greggor has ever made. I won't bother waiting for a reply on that, as there simply is no reply that can be made.
...
Lots of daily pics of him sucking green smoothies, however.

I really had no idea what you're going on about with the daily pics of his green smoothies, or a lack of position statements from Ilagan, until I went looking. Apparently, you're spending all your time trolling his personal page on Facebook instead of his State Representative page? Maybe you should seek some help, tech and otherwise?

As repeatedly pointed out, politics is all about working with others and as Obie noted there are plenty of opportunities to engage with Greggor, both online and in person. For whatever complaints one might have, a lack of him talking about what he is up to is not one of them for anyone paying the least attention. Here he is at HEC last month talking about simplifying permitting and creating pre-approved Individual Wastewater Systems for those who really want to dive into the plumbing of doing the exciting work of local political bureaucracy.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

as Obie noted there are plenty of opportunities to engage with Greggor, both online and in person.

I emailed Greggor last year for info about the consultant for the latest PMAR, within a day he sent me the name and contact details.

To be fair, Tam also responded quickly to an email I sent him.

[HiloJulie]

Maybe you should seek some help, tech and otherwise?

No help needed Yakity Yak Yak!

After viewing his official State Rep Facebook page, numerous times during the campaign, where I was hoping to find something, ANYTHING, about his vision for his next term and found a majority of his posts there are all about WHAT HE HAS DONE with virtually nothing about what his vision for another term will be, I went to his personal page and saw the 8 or 9 in a row daily postings of the green smoothie sucking as I was trying to find an explanation from Greggor as to why he felt it unnecessary to attend, or even have his office send a rep to attend all the other numerous town halls that were being held with the combined candidates for Council, State Reps and State Senators. 

At any event, I need no help in tech support, or otherwise. I, just as a few others here on PunaWeb think Greggor has been an ineffective State Rep. And I, just as a few others here on PunaWeb supported Tam for that role. This has nothing to do with me, as just as you and a few others who pointed out your issues with Tam, I simply pointed out what my issues with Greggor are.

I also wish Greggor well in his future next term. I am also quite confident that we have not heard the last from Tam.