HILO — Pete Hoffmann. Harry Kim. Wally Lau.
The three, all former top public officials in Hawaii County, are probably the most recognizable names in the crowded field of 13 running for mayor.
Hoffmann served eight years representing North Kohala on the County Council, where he was also chairman. Kim was the mayor for eight years, after serving a decade before that as the voice of Hawaii County Civil Defense on the radio. Lau most recently served as the county’s managing director, Mayor Billy Kenoi’s right-hand man.
It gets less certain after that.
Marlene Hapai, a science educator and former member of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, wife of former GOP state Rep. Archie Hapai, is also near the top in name recognition. Wendell Kaehuaea may be well-recognized if only because he’s appeared on 21 previous ballots.
Then there’s Alvin Akin Jr., Paul W. Bryant, Daniel Howard Cunningham, Helen Olena Luta, Shannon K.K. McCandless, Gene Tamashiro, Timothy Waugh and Eric Drake Weinert.
All filed the proper paperwork by the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday deadline and all are official candidates on the Aug. 13 primary election ballot.
“I see this as a positive thing,” Hoffmann said Tuesday. “People are participating in county government and want to express their thoughts and ideas for the community.”
Lau said the number of candidates isn’t affecting his campaign style as he’s mainly going door-to-door and meeting with community groups to listen to their concerns.
Hoffmann predicted the crowded field almost guarantees a runoff in November. Kim could not be reached by press-time Tuesday.
It’s no surprise to see such a big field with Kenoi term-limited and an open nonpartisan seat available, noted University of Hawaii-Hilo political science professor Todd Belt. Still, this year’s crop is even more bountiful than mayoral open seats in the recent past.
The popularity of the office has left business and civic groups scrambling to decide how to cram as many major candidates as possible into the limited time and limited space onstage during planned candidate forums. To borrow a term from former President George W. Bush, who gets to be the decider?
Organizers agonize over it. On the one hand, they say, in a democracy every qualified candidate should get an equal shot. On the other hand, one-issue candidates and candidates who don’t seem serious about the office eat up valuable time that could go to learning more about the serious candidates.
“It’s not easy and no matter what you do, someone will complain,” said Patti Cook, who works on candidate events in Waimea. “If you have too many, you don’t get enough time with the main candidates … (but) sometimes people will emerge as candidates who you don’t expect.”
It doesn’t make Kaehuaea very happy. He’s been involved in his share of forums over the past years, and he doesn’t like being shut out of many of them this year. Challengers don’t get much of a chance unless they’re part of the status quo, said Kaehuaea, who’s running on a platform of auditing and downsizing county government.
“We’re going to have the same old bunch of clowns,’ he said. ‘These organizations are going to say, ‘want him, not her.’ They’re worse than the unions.”
The Waimea Community Association candidate forum, which Cook is helping organize, will feature mayoral candidates Hoffmann, Kim and Lau, as well as political newcomer Shannon McCandless, because she’s from Waimea. The forum, scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. July 7 at Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Taylor Commons, also includes Council Districts 1 and 9 and state House District 7.
The Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce has a mayoral forum scheduled for July 14 at Sangha Hall in Hilo. That one features the Hoffmann-Kim-Lau trio plus Hapai.
The Kohala-Kona Chamber of Commerce, sponsoring a forum with the nonprofit Community Enterprises, is taking a more nuanced approach for its June 22 mayoral forum. It has sent out questionnaires to the mayoral candidates and will select finalists to take the stage based on the answers. So far, Hoffmann, Kim and Lau have been selected. The forum is from 6 p.m. to 8 pm. at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria.
“We mailed each (candidate) a letter with a request to respond to a few questions to determine whether the candidate possessed knowledge of the issues affecting the county, their philosophy and views on governing,” said Executive Director Kirstin Kahaloa.
A July 27 forum sponsored by the Hawaii County League of Women Voters and American Association of University Women appears to be including all the mayoral candidates, according to a flier on the league’s website. A telephone message seeking clarification wasn’t returned by press-time Tuesday. That event is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. at Aunty Sally Kaleohano’s Luau Hale in Hilo.
A Kohala event scheduled for June 29 will also include all the mayoral candidates, some candidates said. Sponsors of all the events stress they are open to the public, including other candidates.
It’s a tough line to walk, agrees Sherry Bracken of Mahalo Multimedia, who moderates most of the political forums on the island.
She believes it’s important to give serious candidates as much time in front of the public as possible, even if it means the also-rans don’t get a chance to speak up. Some candidates on the ballot are single-issue candidates who simply don’t have the experience to run what in the mayoral race amounts to a $463 million corporation with more than 2,700 employees, she said.
“You can’t really spend the time you need to get at the heart of the matter,” Bracken said of a crowded stage. “The job is not just one issue.”
Candidates running for office:
U.S. SENATE
(C) Allison, Joy J.
(R) Carroll, John Stanley
(D) Christensen, Makani
(A) Giuffre, John M. Raghu
(R) Gottschalk, Karla
(D) Honeychurch, Tutz
(L) Kokoski, Michael A.
(R) Pirkowski, Eddie
(D) Reyes, Arturo P.
(R) Roco, John P.
(D) Schatz, Brian E
(D) Shiratori, Miles F.
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 2
(D) Chan Hodges, Shay
(D) Gabbard, Tulsi
(R) Hafner, Eric
(R) Kaaihue, Angela Aulani
(N) Turner, Richard L.
STATE SENATE
DISTRICT 1 VACANCY
(L) Arianoff, Kimberly Anne
(D) Kahele, Kaialii
(D) Onishi, Dennis Fresh
(D) Robinson, Kaloa R.N.
DISTRICT 2
(L) Fogel, Frederick F
(D) Ilagan, Greggor Johanson P.
(D) Ruderman, Russell E.
STATE HOUSE
DISTRICT 1
(D) Kimball, Heather L.
(D) Nakashima, Mark M.
(R) Young, Byron Keith
District 2
(D) Cowser, Janis E
(N) Larson, Grace Del
(D) Tsuji, Clifton K.
(D) Wong, Jonathan B.
DISTRICT 3
(L) Arianoff, Gregory
(D) Naniole, Ainoa Alexander
(D) Onishu, Richard Hiroyuki Keala
(G) Pisciotta, Kimberly Kealoha
DISTRICT 4
(N) Jones, Luana
(D) San Buenaventura, Joy A.
(C) Stephens, Aaron Moke
DISTRICT 5
(D) Creagan, Richard P.
(L) Last, Michael L.
DISTRICT 6
(D) Kossow, Bronsten-Glenn K.
(D) Lowen, Nicole E.
(D) Mann, Thomas F.
(R) Pratt, Bruce Charles
DISTRICT 7
(R) Coakley, Jeffrey K.
(D) Evans, Cynthia Frances Wood
(D) Tarnas, David A.
OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS (nonpartisan)
(Candidates elected statewide)
OHA HAWAII RESIDENT TRUSTEE
Kahui, Craig
Lindsey, Robert K. Jr.
Trsk, Mililani B.
OHA MOLOKAI RESIDENT TRUSTEE
Flowers, Jerry W., Jr.
Hanapi, Alapai
Machado, Colette Y.
OHA KAUAI RESIDENT TRUSTEE
Ahuna, Daniel C. III
OHA AT-LARGE TRUSTEE
Akina, William Kelii
Anthony, Daniel K.
Apoliona, Suzanne Haunani
Crum, Douglas E.
Kalima, Leona Mapuana
Makekau, Kealii J.
Mossman, Paul Ledwith
HAWAII COUNTY MAYOR (nonpartisan)
Akina, Alvin A., Jr.
Bryant, Paul W.
Cunningham, Daniel Howard
Hapai, Marlene Marie
Hoffmann, Peter S.
Kaehuaea, Wendell
Kim, Harry
Lau, Walter K.M.
Luta, Helen Olena
Mccandless, Shannon K.K.
Tamashiro, Gene S.
Waugh, Timothy R.
Weinert, Eric Drake, Jr.
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY (nonpartisan)
Kagami, Michael S.
Roth, Mitchell David
HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL (nonpartisan)
DISTRICT 1
Poindexter, Valerie T.
DISTRICT 2
Chung, Aaron S.Y.
Halversen, William J.
Hopkins, Margarita L.
DISTRICT 3
Castillo, Grace M.
Kelii, Moana M.
Lee Loy, Susan L.K.
DISTRICT 4
Bernard, Michael R.
Greene, Madeline K
O’Hara, M. Eileen
DISTRICT 5
Paleka, Daniel Kapo’o Jr.
Ruggles, Jennifer Lorri
DISTRICT 6
David, Maile P.
Whiting, Kendall Raina
DISTRICT 7
Domingo, Nestorio L.
Kanuha, Dru M.
DISTRICT 8
Citron, Jeffery M.
Eoff, Karen S.
DISTRICT 9
Richards, Herbert Montague III
Wille, Margaret D
A = American Shopping
C = Constitution
D = Democratic
G = Green
I = Independent
L = Libertarian
N = Nonpartisan
R = Republican
Source: Hawaii Office of Elections