Good news is no more ‘canoeing’ Koloa and Wailua are cut in half where proposed new state House of Representatives districts are shown on maps. The new district currently served by state Rep. Mina Morita covers the entire north shore
Good news is no more ‘canoeing’
Koloa and Wailua are cut in half where proposed new state House of Representatives districts are shown on maps.
The new district currently served by state Rep. Mina Morita covers the entire north shore down to the Wailua River, except for parts of Wailua Homesteads.
The new district currently served by state Rep. Ezra Kanoho includes portions of Wailua Homesteads, down to portions of Koloa.
The new district currently served by state Rep. Bertha Kawakami encompasses portions of Koloa, all of Po’ipu, but not ‘Oma’o, which falls into the district currently represented by Kanoho.
State Sen. Jonathan Chun would truly become Kauai’s senator under a new redistricting plan. His district would become all of Kaua’i and Ni’ihau.
The new redistricting, or reapportionment plan, the subject of a public hearing scheduled for Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at Historic County Building in Lihu’e, has eliminated “canoe districts,” which the state has lived with for two decades and which cross vast ocean mileage and county lines.
During the time of canoe districts, portions of Kaua’i (mainly the north shore and parts of the east side) have been represented at the state Legislature by elected officials who lived along the Waianae Coast of O’ahu, or (currently) the west side of Maui.
By the same token, Hanalei resident Morita’s district currently includes north Kaua’i and west Maui, allowing her if nothing else to wrack up some substantial frequent-flyer mileage trying to serve diverse constituencies hundreds of miles apart.
Needless to say, hers was one of the louder voices calling on the state Reapportionment Commission to do everything in its power to eliminate canoe districts.
“The current reapportionment proposal is much improved and better serves the neighbor islands and small rural communities in particular,” Morita said about the current proposal.
“The only downside for Kaua’i is losing the approximately one-third (state) senatorial seat,” Morita said, “but I believe the east and north shore voters will feel more confident in participating in a process where their votes can influence an outcome.
“In the past, Maui had the controlling votes for the Senate seat” now held by Avery Chumbley, a Maui resident, and it was unlikely that the Kaua’i votes “had a significant impact.”
Morita plans on running for re-election to the state House, from whatever district is finally drawn to include her Hanalei home.
She is “just starting to make a real impact on my energy plan and would “hate to lose the momentum,” she said about her re-election plans.
“It is one of the most significant areas to address sustainability and self-sufficiency issues, and economic and energy security issues, especially after the September 11 tragedies,” she added.
Chumbley earlier lamented the difficulties both for citizens and representatives in canoe districts, and hoped they would be done away with.
Kawakami also said she is happy the canoe districts have vanished.
“I know how much a problem Mina had. It was difficult for her to cover two,” and the same was true of elected officials who had to cover one district on two islands in two different counties, and then serve those varied constituencies on another island, when the Legislature is in session in Honolulu, Kawakami observed.
“I think most people are pleased that you don’t have canoe districts,” she continued.
A Hanapepe resident, Kawakami said she will run for re-election, from whatever district is finally determined to include her home.
No Kaua’i Republican candidates for any of the new state House and Senate districts have surfaced yet, and the island’s GOP chairwoman, Rosie Holt, said none will tip their hats until the final districts have been determined.
There is no pressure from the state Republican party organization to field candidates in each of the state House and Senate races up for bid during next year’s elections, Holt added.
She said she is also pleased about the proposed elimination of canoe districts, saying especially voters on the north shore of Kaua’i have for years complained about people serving them but living on another island.
After a series of public hearings across the state this month, the statewide plan is scheduled to be adopted by the 2001 Reapportionment Commission at the end of November, then sent to the state chief elections officer by Dec. 14.
At a public informational meeting attended by nobody late last month, the Kaua’i Apportionment Advisory Council said it would encourage the 2001 Reapportionment Commission to modify the Kaua’i district boundaries for state House of Representatives seats to have all of Koloa fall into the district currently served by Kawakami, and have an area near the Wailua River be included in the district currently served by Kanoho.
The U.S. Census conducted every 10 years shows shifts in population areas across the state, and from those numbers districts are redrawn for U.S. House of Representatives and state House and Senate districts, as well as county council districts in counties where councilmembers are elected by district.
The idea is to draw districts which for each elected body have roughly the same number of citizens, to ensure that every citizen’s vote will mean the same as every other citizen’s.
On Kaua’i, candidates for the seven County Council seats, mayor’s office and prosecuting attorney all run at-large, meaning the entire island votes for the county elected officials.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
