Political veterans line up to try out City Council seat

When congressional nominee Tulsi Gabbard announced that she would kindly save Oahu taxpayers some money by resigning from the City Council in time for her substitute to be chosen in the general election, she opened the floodgates to politicians new and old.

With another stool jammed into the tight circle of elective musical chairs,  prospective candidates, some still reeling from primary losses, were checking out Gabbard’s digs at Honolulu Hale.

Pay for the job isn’t bad — a little over $50,000 a year, more for the chairman — and it comes with benefits like office and personal allowances, parking, medical insurance and a comfortable government pension when vested.

For some, a Council seat would mean a new lease on political life.

Carol Fukunaga, a reapportionment refugee who spent two decades in the state Senate before she was set against, then ousted by a fellow lawmaker, would just have to cross Punchbowl Street.

Erstwhile legislators like Dennis Nakasato and Sam Aiona, who both served in the last century, could get civic blood back in their veins.

A couple of state House members appear to want a change of venue, understandable because the Council deals with the fundamentals in the state’s dominant and revenue-heavy county.

Rep. Karl Rhoads, who won his post outright in the primary, was thinking of running, but would have had to resign from the office he just gained. That would have been a pesky technical difficulty, but he avoided that problem by staying with what he has.

Rep. John Mizuno, meanwhile, wants a twofer. He would like to be on the ballot twice, for re-election to his House seat and as a Council candidate. The state elections office, however, has said no to such greed.

From the lame-duck Peter Carlisle unemployment line comes two of the outgoing mayor’s administrators. Their campaigns could boast insider knowledge of City Hall operations, though there would be a new sheriff in town.

From the redemption file emerges Jon Yoshimura, a former councilman who ran his career into a parked car and was punished for lying about drinking before the hit-and-run accident. Through the generosity of political kinship, he found work in U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka’s Washington office, then moved into the private sector. Yoshimura, frankly acknowledging the shameful episode, formally declared his candidacy last week.

Though there is a measure of notoriety attached, his name recognition could give him an advantage in the abbreviated campaign period.

The general election is less than 11 weeks away and though the term of office is only for Gabbard’s remaining two years, the newest Council member can have significant influence on the fate of the city for far longer than that.

Voters will have to consider who will give them the voice largely muted by the narrow interests of power brokers. They will have to decide who will make the right choices to assure that Oahu is economically inclusive, its people and the environment protected from further harm, and to restore its energy as a great livable city.

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Cynthia Oi can be reached at coi@staradvertiser.com.