• Competency criteria determines cabinet • Implied endorsements • A man of commitment • Vote in OHA race, vote period • Big box as conquering missionaries Competency criteria determines cabinet This is in response to Mr. Rudy Sina’s congratulatory statement
• Competency criteria determines cabinet
• Implied endorsements
• A man of commitment
• Vote in OHA race, vote period
• Big box as conquering missionaries
Competency criteria determines cabinet
This is in response to Mr. Rudy Sina’s congratulatory statement (“Support Filipino candidates,” Letters, Nov. 2) about Gov. Linda Lingle’s appointments. For the benefit of all the people in the state of Hawai‘i I truly hope and must believe that Ms. Lingle uses competency criteria rather than racial preferences in her selection process to head various cabinet offices.
Kapa‘a
Implied endorsements
Rudy Sina’s letter acknowledging Gov. Linda Lingle for appointing “talented people of Filipino ancestry” is to be commended. However, the heading supplied by The Garden Island, “Support Filipino candidates,” distorts the meaning of the letter.
The letter does not mention candidates. The only person running for office who is noted in the letter is Governor Lingle and, the last time I heard, she was Caucasian.
If The Garden Island wants to support candidates of a certain ancestry, it has every right to do so. However, it should have the guts to make open endorsements instead of slipping them in on the Letters page.
Koloa
A man of commitment
Having run for office since 1998, one learns to understand the set of the political mind. In most cases it is a mindset of one that begins by wishing to serve the community yet rapidly changes to serving the few. This election we have an opportunity to elect a candidate that I feel will truly honor our island community by displaying his strong commitment toward his family, his community, our family’s and our children’s futures, by focusing upon his resolve to serve “We the people.”
Allow me to share a little known experience about Ron Agor, running for state representative in the 15th District.
In 2001, just weeks after 9-11, I founded and chaired a small program called Aloha Pax. On the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, down to the minute, community members at the Kekaha Community Center began packing small gifts of aloha, comprised of Kaua‘i products, to be sent to the troops fighting terrorism. From that time forward I worked with Ron Agor, Jose Bulatao and others to get Kaua‘i’s Aloha Pax out to our troops in the various branches of the service serving the Middle East. Ron was instrumental in getting this program started and sustained until we eventually ran out of funds.
Our last effort was a successful trip to New York City where, on the behalf of the community of Kaua‘i, Ron, Jose and I delivered over 400 Aloha Pax to the emergency services personnel families, firefighters, police, Port Authority and paramedics, who lost loved one’s as a result of the attack on our country on 9-11-01. I have never heard Ron mention this fact during this campaign simply because Ron works in a quiet way and gets things done.
Over these past years Ron has quietly committed his time, his effort and his money to helping our island. Both he and his wife Anne are committed to education and the effort to improving the futures for our children and grandchildren. I have seen the results of Ron’s and Anne’s efforts toward serving our community and country and highly recommend that we all vote for Ron Agor for state representative in the 15th District. Mahalo and aloha.
Lawa‘i
Vote in OHA race, vote period
Blossom Feiteira is a candidate for Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Maui seat. She is truly a grass roots candidate. In Blossom’s campaign, we lacked money to buy signs, so we recycled old campaign signs and hand painted the backs. We made a video and aired it for free on all the community television stations statewide. We asked people to download fliers from www.BlossomForOHA.com and distribute them, which they did.
Now it’s up to the voters. Election day is the one day of the year when each one of us has exactly the same power as the richest and the poorest among us. Each one of our votes counts. Look at this year’s mayoral race on Kaua‘i; it was decided by a single vote. Yes, your one vote can decide any race.
With Blossom, you can like her or dislike her, but one thing is indisputable: Blossom has worked in the Hawaiian community for many years empowering people with education and information. She has taught thousands of Hawaiians about financial management. She has helped more than 300 families move into their own homes. She will keep this up till the day she dies. She deserves our votes.
Please, everyone, go vote.
Kahului, Maui
Big box as conquering missionaries
Regarding the big box controversy, we live on an island and in choosing so, opt for an island way of life. I have enjoyed shopping at Wal-Mart here on Kaua‘i for many years, and yet their corporate attempt to impose a superstore on Kaua‘i smacks of the missionaries conquering the heathens because they believe it is the righteous thing to do. We live in a time when the voices of the people are raised in protest, a righteous one at that. We don’t need any more missionaries telling the islanders what is good for them.
I don’t profess to know the answers, and many here on Kaua‘i still want the big box option. Perhaps the mayor and the new county council in their wisdom can address this in a way to please the people. Could Wal-Mart’s grocery expansion be placed elsewhere on Kaua‘i rather than as an addition to the current store? It seems that if the people want these options that they should be located where they are needed. We don’t need any more of the same in the Lihu‘e-Kapa‘a corridor. Put medium to large boxes on the Westside and up in Princeville. Bring the shopping options to those residents and the added benefits will be less gas consumption and more quality family time. I personally think a building moratorium is long overdue, but if permits are to be approved they must benefit our entire community.
We are one island.
Kapa‘a
