Margaret Wille will represent Kohala on the County Council starting next month. Margaret Wille will represent Kohala on the County Council starting next month. ADVERTISING Wille, an attorney, defeated Sonny Shimaoka, a Waimea pastor, in Tuesday’s General Election race to
Margaret Wille will represent Kohala on the County Council starting next month.
Wille, an attorney, defeated Sonny Shimaoka, a Waimea pastor, in Tuesday’s General Election race to replace outgoing Councilman Pete Hoffmann, who was term-limited and could not seek re-election to the seat.
Wille received 3,447, votes, or 53 percent of votes cast in the district, which includes the North Kohala and South Kohala districts. Shimaoka received 3,047 votes, or 47 percent (not including blank votes). She grabbed an early lead of just 128 votes ahead of Shimaoka, and expanded the gap to 400 by the end of the evening.
“This is a phenomenal district, extraordinary talents and residents and spirit,” Wille said. “It’s going to be such a pleasure to work with everyone.”
She said she was looking forward to partnerships within the community.
“I feel very strongly about home rule and providing an opportunity for our community to have a meaningful say so through the community development plans,” she added.
Wille, in her campaign, highlighted her political and community activism over the years. She has brought lawsuits against the county, state and developers to force them to honor commitments for connector roads, and was involved in the South Kohala Community Development Plan process, among other groups.
She said she wants to do more to promote agriculture, as well as push the state to build a new high school in South Kohala and bring more vocational educational opportunities to the area. She said her strengths include her ability to work with people with diverse viewpoints and backgrounds.
Shimaoka said one of his top goals, if elected, would have been to create a unified County Council. He said he was tired of the county’s legislative branch splitting into factions, and said he would work for the entire island, not an East Hawaii or West Hawaii majority. He said his experiences as a pastor qualified him to be good at collaboration and cooperation.
The new council will need to be one with backbone, Shimaoka told attendees of a candidate forum in Waimea last month, particularly when the time comes to resolve the county’s impending landfill issues. He said the council has a responsibility to work with the administration on the issue.
Shimaoka said he was also focused on getting another full-fledged connector road from Waikoloa to Queen Kaahumanu Highway. In the event of an emergency, not all of the town’s residents will be able to traverse the existing, rough emergency access road, he said.
