HILO — The slate of finalists sent to the governor to pick a replacement for the late state Rep. Clift Tsuji was already decided before the public interviews and votes, according to a screen-shot of a text message obtained by the newspaper prior to Saturday’s voting.
The text message between Democratic Party District 2 Chairman Micah Alameda and Vice Chairman Derek Inaba named the winning candidate in each of three rounds. The message, bearing a 9:02 p.m. time-stamp, was obtained by West Hawaii Today from several sources early Saturday morning, before the voting began.
“Yes we are all set and good to go. Our entire crew is locked and ready. We have 9,” Alameda said in the text.
“Ok. So Moana round 1 Stacy round 2 and Chris round 3?” Inaba asks.
“Yes. All 9 have agreed!” Alameda answers.
The 13 Democratic Party officials of the district subsequently voted Moana Kelii, Stacy Higa and Christopher Todd finalists in the order outlined in the text message.
Still, both Alameda and Inaba told the newspaper Monday they considered the process “transparent.”
“This is not new. This is just lobbying,” Alameda said. “It’s just the process.”
Hawaii County Democratic Party Chairman Phil Barnes said discussing candidates in advance of the vote is within the party rules. Still, he said, he hadn’t heard of a time where the votes were locked-in in advance.
“It took me completely by surprise,” he said. “This is something that definitely needs to be discussed.”
Barnes said he’ll bring the topic up at the party’s county committee meeting next month. He said the county chairman isn’t involved in filling House district vacancies, unlike Senate vacancies that are coordinated by the chairman because they overlap House districts.
“There’s nothing illegal about people talking about who they’re going to vote for,” Barnes said, adding, “Someone coming in that day should be ready to see what the candidates have to say and make a decision based on that.”
The county party changed its rules in 2014 to require the vote to take place in public after a grievance was filed by a losing candidate in a West Hawaii House District 5 election of candidates to replace retiring Rep. Denny Coffman. Even the county party chairman had been barred from witnessing that vote.
The text message making the rounds before the latest vote was enough to convince two seasoned former County Council members — J Yoshimoto and Dennis “Fresh” Onishi — to skip the interviews altogether.
“Why should we attend when it’s already a done deal?” said Onishi, who was term-limited and left his council office Monday. “This was already set up days before the interviews.”
Yoshimoto, an attorney who was term-limited in 2014 after serving two stints as council chairman, said family commitments were his primary reason for withdrawing his candidacy early Saturday morning. The rumors circulating that he wasn’t to be a finalist was a secondary reason, he said.
“There were reports of officials meeting ahead of time to determine who to vote for,” Yoshimoto said. “I made some calls to party officials and didn’t get a response. It just didn’t feel right at the time. But I respect the process, and that’s what it is.”
Alameda said the portion of the text message in the screen-shot was taken “completely out of context.” He declined to provide more of the message to show it in context, however.
Still, some political observers found it unusual that two eight-year council members, one of whom served twice as chairman, weren’t even considered in the process.
“It sounds like someone got a bit personal, and they’re trying to make something out of nothing,” Alameda said. “It sounds to me like there may be sore loser.”
He later called Onishi “a disgruntled candidate trying to slander the process.”
There’s a bitter history between Onishi and Alameda, who once was Onishi’s council aide. Alameda had planned to run for Onishi’s seat, but after Alameda’s sudden departure from the council office, Onishi endorsed Sue Lee Loy to run for his vacant seat.
Then Onishi ran this year against Sen. Kai Kahele, for whom Alameda is campaign co-chairman. Onishi lost in the primary.
Kelii, who ran unsuccessfully this year for Onishi’s open council seat, was a clear favorite for the House seat, according to representatives of both the ruling and the progressive factions involved in the vote. She took 12 votes.
After her, the two sides differed.
Higa, a former two-term County Council member who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2008, had seven votes to Jonathan Wong’s five. Wong, who lost in the Democratic primary to Tsuji, was the progressive faction’s favorite.
Todd, a political newcomer and son of longtime Democratic Party stalwart Bobby Jean Leithead Todd, eked out the third spot over Wong, 6-5. Laura Acasio, another progressive candidate, was the other losing candidate.
Kelii and Wong are both precinct officers, so they participated as selectors and candidates. Candidates are allowed under the rules to vote for themselves, although in the past they have recused themselves from the vote.
Neither Kelii nor Wong returned phone messages by press-time Monday.
Alameda questioned why the final two rounds didn’t show any candidates with nine votes, if the results were predetermined.
“A lot of people make guesses,” he said.
Precinct 2 Chairman Charles Tuttle, one of the progressive faction, didn’t see anything wrong with the process. His group was lobbying for their favorites, too, he said.
“We went in with a similar game plan,” Tuttle said. “They just had more votes.”