Cut off date for election lineup nears

Tuesday is the deadline for candidates to file for the upcoming county, state and federal elections.

A filing flurry is expected come Monday.

So far, five incumbent Kaua‘i County Council members and incumbent state House Reps. Ezra Kanoho, Bertha Kawakami and Mina Morita are among 17 Kaua‘i candidates who have filed nomination papers to run.

The five council members in the running for new two-year terms are vice chairman James Tokioka, and members Daryl Kaneshiro, Joe Munechika, Mel Rapozo and Jay Furfaro.

Kaipo Asing, the chairman of the council, and JoAnn Yukimura, a former mayor of Kaua‘i, were the only two incumbents on the council who took out papers to run but as of Friday had not filed papers.

Altogether, 17 candidates have filed papers, while 38 have taken out papers to run for Kaua‘i public offices as of 4:30 p.m. Friday, when the Kaua‘i County Elections Division office closed for the weekend.

With the Kaua‘i mayoral race still two years off, the hottest race according to political pundits should be the state senate race pitting incumbent Democrat Sen. Gary Hooser against Republican challenger and former Kaua‘i Mayor Maryanne Kusaka. Kusaka has close ties to the administration of Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.

Candidates for Kaua‘i public office have until 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 20 to file their nomination papers, county election officials said.

Fewer candidates are running for seats on the seven-member council this time around, in part because all seven incumbents are expected to seek re-election.

In 2002, former council members Ron Kouchi — a longtime-chairman of the council — unsuccessfully ran against then Councilman Bryan Baptiste in the Kaua‘i mayoral race, while Randal Valenciano and Hooser decided to pursue higher office, attracting a slew of new candidates hoping to fill the vacant seats. Among them was Furfaro, a retired hotel executive who has pushed for fiscal responsibility in government during his first, two-year term.

Kouchi is now a member of the board of the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative and took out papers in June for Kaua‘i’s seat on the Board of Education, but later decided not to run. Incumbent Sherwood Hara has also decided not to run for the school board position. Valenciano has returned to his private practice as an attorney.

Along with the five incumbent legislators who are seeking reelection to the council, Bob Cariffe, who has run twice before, and Westside community activist Rhoda Libre have filed papers to run again.

Libre failed in her attempt to win a council seat in the 2002 election.

In the 14th House District race, Morita, D-North Kaua‘i, filed nomination papers to run for re-election.

Morita, a strong environmentalist who has worked on legislation to help the state become more energy-self-sufficient, is running against Republican challenger Mamo Cummings, who also filed papers in her bid to bounce Morita. Cummings is resigning as head of the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce.

In the 15th House District race, state Rep. Ezra Kanoho, a Democrat who has held his post for 18 years, also has filed nomination papers and said he expects this to be his last run for office. He is going up against Republican challenger John Hoff.

Hoff has worked for many years as a contractor and, in recent years, has worked as a substitute teacher in public schools.

In the 16th House District race, Kawakami, D-West Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau, also filed papers, along with Republican challenger JoAnne S. Georgi of Kalaheo.

In the race for County Prosecutor, First Deputy County Prosecutor Craig De Costa has filed nomination papers to become Kaua‘i’s next county prosecutor. Deputy Prosecutor Shaylene C.L. Iseri-Carvalho has taken out papers for that office and papers for a council seat, but has not filed papers to run for either post.

Seven Kaua‘i residents have taken out papers to run for the Kaua‘i seat on state Department of Education representing Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau. Don Cataluna also filed election papers to seek another term as the Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau representative on the Board of Trustees of the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang @pulitzer.net.