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minutes 12-04-99Page 9 of 39
<br />SANTANGELO: Anyway, if it works well, and you can’t always be a Marni Herkes and go to anybody.
<br />HERKES: Oh yes you can.
<br />SANTANGELO: In Marni’s world you can, but many people that aren’t familiar with government can’t, necessarily, and if
<br />we maintain a strong Mayor position, are we not, in some way, building towards, at least, people that have to address island-
<br />wide issues and work that way. I’d just like to see this debated on the merit of it. Is it good government or not, and, then what
<br />I brought up before is, are we going to be perceived by the public as moving an agenda forward that is good to the public, and
<br />that’s where I struggle with that.
<br />RAY: Other comments? George.
<br />MARTIN: John, what you just said about being a role model, per se, if it works someplace else. It’s good to look into it and
<br />get information from wherever we can to address the situation, but this is Hawaii, and it’s the County of Hawaii, not the State
<br />of Hawaii. Let’s get our minds down to this position, and say what’s the best for the County. Will it work, and if it does, fine.
<br />If it doesn’t, then so be it, but at least we’re trying, and that’s what we’re supposed to be doing right here, is making
<br />adjustments that would better our government, and I think it’s a great idea.
<br />RAY: Roland.
<br />HIGASHI: Before I call for the vote. I think that we’ve -
<br />RAY: I want to make a comment before you call for the vote yet.
<br />HIGASHI: We had two extremes. We had a six-three that ran all at-large. Now we have a system that’s single member
<br />districts, and I don’t think we’re going to find this electorate satisfied 100% with what we’ve got now. May be the
<br />personality, may be not the system, but I sure think that sort of a compromise of what we had before and what we have now,
<br />would probably be something worthwhile for us to pursue.
<br />RAY: Okay. Somebody that hadn’t spoken. I’d like everybody that would like to speak that hasn’t spoken to go ahead. Steve.
<br />BESS: I just appreciate having the comments of the other Commission members with regard to these at-large positions. To
<br />what extent do at-large Council members provide for people who have an island-wide vision rather than a very provincial,
<br />just district, emphasis? Because we’ve heard about having more than one person to talk to, but do they have island-wide
<br />vision?
<br />SANTANGELO: Which one? The single member?
<br />BESS: The at-large. The three at-large people.
<br />SANTANGELO: That’s what drives it.
<br />BESS: Well, I just hadn’t heard that expressed. I heard it in terms of you have more people to talk to, and that’s the one thing
<br />that I would speak in favor of, Council at-large, because you do have people whose constituency is the entire island, and as
<br />such, they tend to have a broader view.
<br />SANTANGELO: If I can just interject. It’s a rude statement, and yet it’s what drives this whole thing in my mind, and what I
<br />found, and I failed at these rules. The rule in politics is get elected, and the second rule, which becomes the first rule once
<br />you’re elected, is get re-elected. And so, when you talk about an at-large person who got elected, then there is that vote
<br />driven thing, and it is very, very provincial, and I think, it’s been incumbent upon the people in single member districts to go
<br />beyond that, and I know that several Council members, that I worked with, tried that. But, it is very provincial and I think the
<br />merit of this is I think the people are much better served by this. Again, what the people think is another thing, and I’ve
<br />already been in that before where -
<br />RAY: Eddie.
<br />ALONZO: The at-large system, I feel that the people that be at-large, they have to go around the whole island to make
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