Would it be too much to hope for a clean fight this election year? We know, we’re dreaming, but we can’t help but hope the candidates actually practice what they preach, like living aloha and setting a good moral example.
Would it be too much to hope for a clean fight this election year?
We know, we’re dreaming, but we can’t help but hope the candidates actually practice what they preach, like living aloha and setting a good moral example.
More than seven months out from the election, the gubernatorial hopefuls are already trading barbs.
Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who has yet to definitively say he is a candidate for governor, continues to raise money for the anticipated run while sparring in the press with former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie.
This week Hannemann criticized Abercrombie for resigning from Congress to run for governor before his term ended, leaving the state searching for a million bucks to pay for a special May election to fill his seat.
Abercrombie’s camp naturally jabbed back by pointing out that Hannemann would be legally required to quit his job as mayor to run for governor, leaving the mayor’s signature $5.3 billion rail transit project in serious jeopardy.
And back and forth they’ll go.
Maybe the candidates — yes, we’re going to go ahead and make that leap and call Mufi a candidate — should spend more time sharing with potential voters how they plan to lead this great state and less time attacking each other.
Hannemann should also publicly announce his intent before holding another “grassroots rally” like the one Friday on Kaua‘i. And our mayor, Bernard Carvalho Jr., should plant himself on the sidelines instead of appearing at these campaign fundraisers and having Mufi at our State of the County address.
As these candidates scramble to ascend our state’s throne, the queen currently ruling the land has decided it would be a good idea to use Neighbor Island school-repair funds to pay for the special congressional election. Which reminds us, whatever happened to the $1.3 million found in the state audit? It was our understanding that money was going to conveniently cover the cost of the election.
Regardless of whether the transfer will actually impact the repair work of our aging school facilities, as officials have stressed it will not, that money was clearly not for the purpose of holding an election. Why budget anything anywhere if it’s just going to be yanked for something else?
Unfortunately, Lingle and the Ledge have leached the funding from the state elections office budget, leaving its already unstable leadership empty-handed to carry out its duties.
And so we found ourselves in another 10-round political fight with a handicapped referee keeping tabs on boxers who may or may not actually be the real contenders. It probably won’t matter until the people quit buying into their games.
We get it. We just lament the reality of politics.
The voters deserve better. The finger-pointing exhausts us. But worse, these antics erode our faith in the system we depend on.
