Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi has spent about $600,000 to ensure two-term Mayor Harry Kim doesn’t get his old job back, outspending him 30-to-1.
The once-polite tone between Kenoi, 43, and his 72-year-old former boss and childhood football coach has sharpened, turning acrimonious at times after their contest became a two-way race.
The face-to-face attacks intensified Oct. 11 on "Insights on PBS Hawaii."
"I was pretty taken aback," said Todd Belt, a University of Hawaii at Hilo associate professor and chairman of the Political Science Department. "Billy was saying stuff like, ‘Where have you been? … You only got concerned about this when you decided to run for re-election. You should have addressed it during your administration.’
"Harry took veiled swipes at Billy," he said. "It’s the first negative attacks."
Nine percentage points, or 3,589 votes, separated the two in the primary. Kenoi, at 43 percent, expressed confidence on primary night in winning the general election, and Kim, at 34 percent, said he’d have to work hard to close the gap.
"I don’t think Billy is necessarily scared, but he just wants to make sure he gets it done," said Belt. "It seems like Billy Kenoi has pulled out all the stops."
Kenoi got an infusion of $88,000 in contributions after the primary, according to reports filed with the Campaign Spending Commission, and has spent a total of about $600,000 for the primary and general.
He has flooded the airwaves with ads touting U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye’s endorsement and featuring kids thanking him for new parks.
Kim continues to insist on a $10 maximum donation limit, spending $20,000 on bumper stickers, simple radio spots and newspaper ads calling himself "applicant for mayor."
The only contribution larger than $10 was an unsolicited gift of 250 campaign signs valued at $725.98, and his own loans and contributions ($9,000) to himself.
In the primary, Kenoi spent $518,045 on his campaign while Kim spent $11,200. A Kim supporter calculated that Kim spent 75 cents for each of his 14,801 votes, while Kenoi spent $28 for each of his 18,390.
Their primary opponent, County Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, has endorsed Kim, as has the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter.
Kenoi has received endorsements from the United Public Workers, the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the police and firefighters unions, the ILWU and the Hawaii island and Japanese chambers of commerce, as well as the support of contractors, developers and businesses big and small.
But Belt said Kim cannot be discounted.
"Harry Kim runs a stealth campaign," he said. "You don’t know how big his support is going to be. … He’s a strong, quiet candidate."
Because of his years as Civil Defense administrator, "people associate him with integrity and honesty," Belt added.
Kenoi has a lot of support from the west side of the island, where he travels at least once a week and moved half his Cabinet.
He never fails to mention the Ane Keohokalole Highway, which is the third north-south corridor through Kona and was built with federal stimulus funds, among his accomplishments.
But Kim says he deserves the credit.
"Every single project as regards to roads that were built was started under our administration," he said.
Kim has strong support from Puna, where geothermal energy is a worry.
In fact, Kim said he entered the race because of his concern for the loss of county oversight over and community input into geothermal resources, and to ensure geothermal power generation is done safely.
Kim has also learned to use social media, engaging on Facebook with 1,183 friends at last count, and he uses email to get his message out as well.
In recent weeks Kenoi has received some negative attention. The Hawaii island mayor, who signed into law a bill that bans hand-held cellphone use while driving, was caught Sept. 20 and fined $269 for using a cellphone behind the wheel, and for failure to produce a driver’s license and insurance card.
West Hawaii Today reported Oct. 25 that he was driving on Nimitz Highway in Honolulu at the time.
Kenoi did not return calls from the Star-Advertiser.
