Free and fair elections are the hallmark of great democracies. The open, rigorous exchange of ideas and approaches between candidates and campaigns, when truthful and transparent, makes for better decision-making by voters. But that’s not what’s happening now in the races for lieutenant governor and for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional seat.

Nearly $2 million has been spent against candidates Sylvia Luke and Jill Tokuda by political action committees who are using half-truths and misrepresentations to further questionable objectives.

We’ve reached an all-time low in Hawaii politics and it must stop.

The attacks on Luke come from Be Change Now, the Hawaii Carpenters Union’s political action arm. We take no issue with the political activism. But when that action devolves to maligning an individual’s character with ugly, unfounded claims of wrongdoing, we cannot remain silent. Sadly, this makes all of us in the labor movement suspect.

The campaign against Tokuda involves groups from outside Hawaii. They have spent a staggering $1 million to distort her record.

The one sure way to stop these distasteful, alarming, unacceptable behaviors is for all of us to cast our votes based on facts, records of achievement and political discourse that is constructive and transparent.

Bobby Lee

President, Hawaii Fire Fighters Assn.

Damien Kim

Business manager and financial secretary, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 1186

Christian Fern

Executive director, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly

Randy Perreira

Executive director, Hawaii Government Employees Assn.

(Editor’s note: Luke and Tokuda have been endorsed by the co-authors’ four unions.)

Elderly need drug plan to get needed medicine

At 75, I was looking forward to retiring. Now, not so much. As a cancer survivor, my spouse requires daily medications — medications we no longer will be able to afford.

Roughly 17% of Hawaii residents are 62 and older. Daily drugs are a major part of their lives. The problem? No Medicare or Medicaid coverage is available for medications. You have to have supplemental medical coverage. And on a fixed income, it could be the difference between mortgage or meals.

So, Hawaii senatorial and congressional candidates, how about looking out for your constituents for a change? Spend some of that tax money on a drug plan for the elderly. Just a suggestion, from a voter.

James Pritchett

Pahoa, Hawaii island

Townhouse owners get bad break from DPP

In 2018, the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting inexplicably moved individual townhouse permit processing from the single-family classification to commercial.

Now townhouse owners face costs of $8,000 to $10,000 per permit instead of $2,000. Applications are handled just like those for a $500 million high-rise, with a year or more in extra delays and ridiculously overburdening the department for no good reason, after years of routing townhouse permits wisely.

What’s more, neither DPP nor numerous townhouse associations kept overall floor plans and other records, so everything must be redone from scratch.

Now it’s not good enough, as it is for single-family permits, for a licensed plumber to file an online permit application for less than $500. Now these owners are required to hire a plumbing engineer for about $3,000.

Auwe. This wasteful, costly injustice and DPP slowdown craziness is happening right in front of their own eyes.

DPP’s director, Dean Uchida, deserves smarter subordinates.

Gerry Peters

Kailua

Wildlife encounters can trigger long-term trauma

The dear lady who was attacked by Rocky, the monk seal, struck a chord with me (“City increases lifeguard patrols after monk seal encounter,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 2). She said she was not able to sleep, and that every time she closed her eyes she saw the seal’s mouth.

More than 60 years ago, while riding through the northern forests of Ontario, I was in the front passenger seat of our family Rambler. A cow moose jumped on to the road ahead of us and, suddenly terrified, she fled down the highway center line. We had no choice but to stay on the road and prepare for the impact. No one was injured, but the moose was in very bad shape.

From that time on, every time I closed my eyes, the moose came through the windshield again. There was no name for it then, but I know now I had post traumatic stress disorder. It has never really abated completely. I must pass along my experience because I would not want anyone else to repeat the aftermath of the trauma as I did. It gets better. It really does. Avoid stress. We care.

Beverly Kai

Kakaako

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