Some drank to celebrate; others to drown their sorrows. From the Rapozo family home on Elua Street to the Lihu‘e Neighborhood Center, to Kukui Grove, Lihu‘e was buzzing with campaign parties last night. Ironically enough, though, while the results were
Some drank to celebrate; others to drown their sorrows.
From the Rapozo family home on Elua Street to the Lihu‘e Neighborhood Center, to Kukui Grove, Lihu‘e was buzzing with campaign parties last night.
Ironically enough, though, while the results were about the future of Kaua‘i, some of the candidates said the parties were about the recent past — and showing appreciation for the sign-wavers, door-knockers, money-givers, not to mention the voters who supported them over the past few months.
Both State District 15 Representative Ezra Kanoho and a representative of State Senate Challenger Maryanne Kusaka said they spent most of their days driving around yesterday, thanking supporters who were out waving signs near polling places.
“I’m very much appreciative of the trust and confidence of the people of Kaua‘i,” Kanoho said.
And other politicians agreed that the parties were for their friends, not necessarily themselves.
The excitement was contagious at Lihu‘e Neighborhood Center, where the newest County Councilmember Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and her big family celebrated with the Papa‘a Bay Boys and a lot of home cooking.
While her orange-clad supporters had a bright orange Ford Mustang parked outside, Iseri-Carvalho hugged every single person in the room, even folks she didn’t know.
“It’s almost like a family thing,” said Iseri-Carvalho supporter and Kaua‘i High baseball Coach Hank Ibia. “This is a big family with a lot of friends.”
Ibia and other members of the Iseri-Carvalho extended family were cooking up some serious grinds behind the community center, with a couple of grills going.
“All the friends brought the food over,” Ibia said. “These are just all our good friends.”
Iseri-Carvalho, who had tears in her eyes as she addressed over a hundred supporters, said she was surprised by her third-place finish in the council race, not to mention her friends who showed up to party.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “There are tons of people here, and it was just word-of-mouth.”
On the party circuit, many were surprised to learn of Iseri-Carvalho’s strong showing, but no one disagreed it was because of her supporters’ hard work.
Kanoho said he voted for the council race’s eight-place finisher, Maurice “Joe” Munechika because he figured it would come down to Iseri-Carvalho and Munechika.
“I had to vote for Joe,” Kanoho said outside State Senator Gary Hooser’s party at his Kuhio Highway re-election office. “But I thanked (Iseri-Carvalho supporters) for supporting (their) candidate” when he was out on the road Tuesday.
“For me, it’s about doing the right thing,” Kanoho continued.
He also said he would head over to the community center party to give his congratulations.
“She worked harder than just about everybody,” said Dan Mackey, owner of Kuhio Motors and Councilmember Jimmy Tokioka’s campaign manager, from their party at the Rice Street/Kapule Highway auto dealership. “She had a good showing.”
Mackey said that, besides Iseri-Carvalho, the other Kaua‘i elections had gone “true to form.”
By ten o’clock, fifth-place finisher Tokioka and his supporters were confident, happy, and the party was “winding down,” Mackey said.
The night wasn’t all that much of a celebration for others.
Kusaka had the biggest bash of the night, with a catered affair, three bands and an inflatable castle for the keiki at Kukui Grove.
But the first printout seemed to take some wind out of the party’s sails.
When the first results of the race flicked on the big-screen television, the crowd went completely silent, seeming to take a collective punch to the chest.
“That’s not good,” Kusaka said. “That’s huge.”
Her campaign representative, though, Marilyn Allen, remained upbeat, saying “we’re keeping optimistic on this.”
But the crowd fell silent, munching on the food as the second band set up.
“I remember my first election. I lost.” It was horrible, said Hooser, when told of the reaction at the Kusaka camp. “You’re there with all your family and your supporters, and you don’t want to talk to anybody.”
Hooser, whose party was crammed into his office, had a subdued affair, with many folks sitting in small circles munching on the catered food and ample desserts or watching the results on television.
As the politicians waited for the second printout of election results, many started making their way around to other parties to congratulate or console.
JoAnn Yukimura, who had a birthday cake a day late at her party at a family home on Luina Street, was gone from her party by 9 p.m., making the rounds about town. Followers of hers headed to Hooser’s office to meet up with her there.
The Papa‘a Bay Boys were busy too, hitting both the Kusaka and Iseri-Carvalho events before 9 p.m.
“I don’t know where we’re off to next,” one band member said. “We just put it together today.”
Meanwhile, much of Kaua‘i’s media were camped out at the Historic County building, waiting to get the election results first-hand. As they waited, councilmember Mel Rapozo arrived from his Elua Street party on a mountain bike, with a neck full of leis. When he found out no results were posted, he invited the small group back to the party.
“It’s a Kaua‘i thing,” one of them said.
