LIHU’E—The Green Party has been active on Kaua’i since 1990. But in this year’s elections, the left-of-center, environment-friendly group won’t be sponsoring any genuine Greens for local offices. Ed Coll, former co-chairman of the Kaua’i Green Party, said that although
LIHU’E—The Green Party has been active on Kaua’i since 1990. But in this
year’s elections, the left-of-center, environment-friendly group won’t be
sponsoring any genuine Greens for local offices.
Ed Coll, former
co-chairman of the Kaua’i Green Party, said that although candidates pop up
occasionally calling themselves Greens, this year the local party is
concentrating on the campaign of Ralph Nader for president.
Nader, whose
appearance in Honolulu in May made him the only semi-major presidential
candidate to come to Hawai’i so far this year, is garnering 10 to 12 percent
support in some states, according to pollsters.
There are no Green
candidates for local office because “the time is just too short. There could be
somebody who files as a Green, but they won’t be members of the party,” Coll
said.
Coll said a comedian on O’ahu ran as a Green in a previous election
in a campaign that originated in a lockdown mental facility.
“He wasn’t
officially a Green,” Coll said, laughing.
Statewide,the Green Party has
been most successful on the Big Island. Green Keiko Bonk was elected to the
county council there and became its chairman.
Another Green, Julie
Jacobson, is on the Hawai’i County Council, according to Coll.
Coll said
Bonk lost a close race for mayor on Hawai’i in the last election, being
defeated by only 3,000 votes.
“We’ve been most successful there because
that’s where we put most of our organizational energies. We’re going really
strong there. We’re non-partisan and we don’t have any districts,” Coll
said.
He noted that more information about the Greens is available on the
Hawaiian party’s website at greenhawaii.org.
Staff writer Dennis
Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252).
