Hawaiian Shores House Dist. 4 Forum

[Rob Tucker]

The audience seemed small for the forum and it's location. The hosts had everything very nice arranged, a thoughtful effort. My complements to HSRE Board members and staff for a job well done.

All candidates were present: Fred Blas, Faye Hanohano, Anthony Marzi and Steve Sparks.

I don't know Faye Hanohano well but she seems somewhat blase about re-election. Her use of the word "whatever" may just be her way of speaking. It doesn't communicate energy or focus and I have to wonder what presence she has in Honolulu. It is more than a casual impression that Faye seems unconcerned with keeping this position.

Fred Blas had a large number of his Action Team present and they all have successful efforts to brag about. Fred does indeed get things done and is full of energy. I could picture him in the State House. Some of us could better picture him in County Council closer to home and wish he might have sought that seat. Fred is a human magnet that draws people into his enthusiasm.

Anthony Marzi keeps adding to his credibility and demonstrating his communication skills. I was not aware of his work at Lawrence Livermore which is a prestigious scientific base. When I say communication skills there is more there than just speaking clearly. Anthony shows an ability to empathize with his audience and speak directly to the interests of those in front of him. This is a political skill, rather rare in someone 23 years old, but extremely useful in Honolulu arm twisting.

Steve Sparks, who I have always liked and enjoyed, added to his stature with some clarity on issues. I have used the term "keen perception" with Steve before and I think that phrase well chosen.

Everyone seemed aware and agreed that to be effective in Honolulu, for Puna, the winner will need an ability to make friends and alliances, build effective coalitions with neighbor island allies and be careful in choosing and timing their (our) battles.

To summarize, without personal commitment to a candidate at this moment, we have a good slate of candidates for this job. Fortunate it is for us indeed because we really do need some effect in Honolulu. Half our troubles here are Honolulu based.

[JerryCarr]

Just a logistical note about this race. State Legislature elections are partisan elections, meaning that the first round of voting coming up is the primary. We will all have to pull a party ballot when we vote, and the way this is being done this time is different from past years when I seem to remember party races were on different parts of the same ballot.

Mssrs. Sparks and Marzi, along with Ms. Hanohano are running as Democrats, and those who choose to vote as Democrats will pick one of the three to go into the General Election. Whichever of the three get the most votes, majority or not, goes on the General Election. Mr. Blas is a Republican, and is guaranteed a place on the General Election ballot in November because he has no Republican opposition.

County races are non-partisan, and a candidate who gets 50% plus one is elected in the first round. If no candidate gets more than 50% in the first round, the General Election becomes a runoff for the top two candidates.

Most of y'all probably already know this, but I thought the info might be helpful to some.

Cheers,
Jerry

[Jon]

I wish I had know you were there, I would have said hello...

I spoke with all 4 candidates on 1 subject just to get a feel for them, I chose the Superferry. All 4 said they were for it, 3 of them had reservations and wanted to make sure this or that is done, of those 2 would be against it if certin things are not done. 1 said we had to have it and needed it now.

Faye, Nice lady, but seemed overwhelmed.

Anthony, Bright kid will go far is whatever he wished to do, but needs to get some real world experience under his belt before he jumps in with the sharks.

Steve, Great guy, knows a lot about the goings on in Hawaii, but I got the feeling that he might cave in on things if enough people push back on him.

Fred, well, Fred is Fred.

Right now, I am looking closely at Steve and Fred, I lean toward Fred, but I want to know more about Steve.



Transplanted Texan

[james weatherford]

Two leading edge issues for the State House:

1) ‘Good Character Law’.
Under a new kind of law in many U.S. states, a corporation's "culture" can become the basis for denying business opportunities. These new "bad boy" laws, or "good character" laws, give states the right to refuse licenses and permits to companies that have a history of violating the law. All states have the right to revoke a corporation's charter, effectively ending their existence as a legal entity, if they choose to.

See this link for discussion of Indiana legislation (the one that has been used and proven effective in denying business charters to companies and/or executives with criminal and other dishonest business conduct in their background) http://www.newrules.org/environment/ingo...acter.html

2) ‘Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Stewardship’ legislation

From the Institute for Local Self Reliance (www.ilsr.org)
“The Concepts of Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Stewardship
Extended producer responsibility (EPR), based on the "polluter pays" principle, entails making manufacturers responsible for the entire lifecycle of the products and packaging they produce. One aim of EPR policies is to internalize the environmental costs of products into their price. Another is to shift the economic burden of managing products that have reached the end of their useful life from local government and taxpayers to product producers and consumers.
...
Extended Producer Responsibility is an environmental protection strategy to reach an environmental objective of a decreased total environmental impact from a product, by making the manufacturer of the product responsible for the entire life-cycle of the product and especially for the take-back, recycling and final disposal of the product.
...
A related approach, Product Stewardship, is gaining in popularity because of its less regulatory nature and its recognition that other parties have a role to play.

Product Stewardship means that all parties - designers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, consumers, recyclers, and disposers - involved in producing, selling, or using a product take responsibility for the full environmental and economic impacts of that product.”


James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park

[Ricky]

I forgot my last PunaWeb password, so I'll have to start this account from scratch. Does anyone know if its possible to retrieve a password? I didn't have much posted with that account, so I guess it's no real loss.

The State House of Representatives forum was put together very well. The Hawaiian Shores association did a great job.

As usual, I wasn't impressed by Faye. she's a sweet woman, but I don't think she can fulfill the responsibilities of Puna's Representative. We haven't seen anything come back to us this past session, which is a clear indicator that the position must be filled by someone else.

Anthony was articulate and sincere. I was impressed by his intelligence- his young age sure didn't prevent him from outshining the rest. I think he'll really earn Puna some respect in Honolulu. Imagine how astonished the other state Representatives will be to learn that what they considered a 'backwards district' produced this 'whiz kid'!

Steve has some great energy and ideas, although he seemed to have trouble articulating them. He dispensed some wrong statistics on food taxes during one of his responses (None of the other candidates corrected him, which probably means that they also had it wrong!) He does seem to be gaining some momentum, and I do believe that he would serve Puna better than Hanohano has.

Fred Blas seems to be a sharp and experienced guy, but he came across as slightly antagonistic in his speech (and at one point in the forum, he actually fell asleep in his chair.) I appreciated his energy (when he was not sleeping), although I was unimpressed by the group of supporters he brought. I'm always wary of candidates who feel the need to bring their own cheering sections with them.

Well, that was my humble old-fogey opinion. Do with it what you will.

[Jon]

LOL

I did not see Fred fall asleep, but I know he starts his day at 4am and runs hard all day.
From listening to him it sounded like he was busy all day getting ready more more bus stops...



Transplanted Texan

[roseroo14]

Very interesting meeting last night and got to see many old friends. Before going there I thought that it would be a piece of cake to pick the person for state rep after hearing all four in the same place. Now I’m not so sure.[?]

Fred Blass was his energetic self as usual, and all that know Fred know that he will do his best to help Puna. If there is something physical to be done in the community you don’t even have to ask Fred. Probability is that he will already have plans to take care of it, but is he equipped for the state’s hornets nest? If he is elected I believe that the state house is going to have a surprise. Knowing Fred he will probably be out mowing the state capital lawn before and after of his scheduled meetings.[]

Faye Hanohano actually was present and it was a pleasure to see her. She made no reference to the last two years of what she has accomplished. That speaks for itself.[]

Anthony Marzi was quite impressive to say the least. This young man has the making for a great politician. He is highly polished for such a young age and his future in politic is assured if he stays the coarse. I found his ideas bright and his manor of delivery to be admired. I believe that he will be the Democratic choice when all the dust of this primary settles.[]

Steve Sparks is a very interesting man with strong convictions and it is my option he would fill the position as state rep to actually try and make some changes. I’m not sure if he will be capable enough to buck the state machine being a Democrat. Most state reps are Democrats and want new bodies to just go along with their existing policies. Much like Faye has done and accomplished nothing for Puna so far.[8D]

If I were Fred’s campaign manager I would try and advise to his people to vote for the person in the primary that Fred feels he has the best chance against in the general election. In my humble option that would be Faye Hanohano. Steve or Anthony may be too strong for him to run against.[^]

The Lack

[Ricky]

Tom, I'm not sure if your campaign suggestion for Fred is illegal, but it is surely unethical. If that is Fred's gameplan to secure the seat, then I'm definitely crossing him off of the consideration list.

With all of his talk of 'honesty and integrity,' it would be quite hypocritical of him to take such action.

I quickly looked over the video of the event, and it sure looks like Mr. Blas was nodding off into his chair to me. In any case, I'll try to get the video submitted to the Public Access Channel so everyone can decide for themselves.

[Rob Tucker]

Ricky I don't think you can attribute Tom Lackey's statement to Fred. Fred will speak for himself. Tom can too. Tom was simply giving his observations.

Punaweb moderator

[Guest]

Ricky, you might try submitting it to dave corrigan over at http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/ if you have no luck with the public access stations.

Often times the Public access stations can't get things aired in a timely manner.

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Glob