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minutes 03-25-00Page 15 of 34
<br />as you know, our representative, and we have a great one in Dominic, but he’s been ho’opa’apa’a several times with the
<br />Mayor and ongoing pilikia, and our community has suffered for that, and this 3-6 split was, kind of, not my idea, but it was
<br />fostered through me in that if we had two other people, or three other people that we could touch upon and have help
<br />Dominic, we’d have a lot more of our projects done. Classic example; Laupahoehoe Pool needs to be repaved on the bottom
<br />of the pool, and the monies was allotted. The Mayor won’t release it. Now, even though he’s a lame duck and he doesn’t
<br />really have to, no matter who touches upon him, but if we had three other people that we could use, there’d be four and we
<br />could possibly get more things done. That was some of the thought behind going to a 6-3 split.
<br />Now, you made mention of not having contact with the people, on you’re not wanting to support number 2. You made
<br />mention that the person wouldn’t have contact with the grass roots, I believe you said. How do you figure that?
<br />BONK: Can I answer your first?
<br />G. MARTIN: The first one was just a comment, but -
<br />BONK: Well, commenting on that, you already have a way to resolve that problem. If a Mayor is not being accountable for
<br />all districts on the island in a responsible way, then you can get rid of that Mayor, because they’re hired to be responsible -
<br />G. MARTIN: Elected to.
<br />BONK: Right, elected to, hired by the vote of the people, to take care of all the island in an equitable way. Therefore, if that
<br />was the case that you expressed that there was some reason the Mayor wasn’t letting out money for a particular part of the
<br />island, then it wasn’t the Council person’s inability to represent his district. It was the Mayor’s inability to participate in that
<br />part of the island. You should be directing your emphasis on the Mayor’s responsibility.
<br />G. MARTIN: We have, and we will, and we’ll continue to do that, but what I’m saying is -
<br />BONK: In our process now, you can get rid of that Mayor to get a more equitable Mayor.
<br />G. MARTIN: We’ll be doing that in about a couple of months.
<br />BONK: But district races would only mean that you would have to have now three other people besides the Mayor running
<br />incredible costs to get elected, and therefore, you’re going to limit the kind of person that you’re going to be able to get to run
<br />those kinds of races.
<br />G. MARTIN: Now, back to the question on the grass roots. How did you figure the person that would be running wouldn’t
<br />have contact with the people on number 2, which was, I believe, at-large? Or was it that you -
<br />BONK: No, actually, that was on my comments about non-partisan elections In terms of not being as grass roots.
<br />G. MARTIN: Correct, which is number 1. Excuse me.
<br />BONK: Okay, grass roots means that people understand and get to know the person that’s running. Now, the general
<br />tendency with non-partisan races is to really take away any initial ideas or stances that the person might have on issues and
<br />larger general ideas for platforms. Okay? The good part about parties is that they bring with them a certain body of
<br />information. A certain body of information that a bunch of people have gotten together to decide, or ideas that they agree on.
<br />Now, that’s a good concept, and that’s what our country is set up with parties, many different - a lot more parties to begin
<br />with at different times, so we would have diversity. You come with that information. People are able to make certain
<br />judgments. Then, as a short campaign exists, the candidates are allowed more time to clarify their positions based on those, at
<br />least some original ideas, that the people have contact with. You take that away with the kind of style of politics that’s
<br />evolving in America, where you’re restricted to only media campaigns and who has enough money to put out your name in
<br />the print, in the TVs and radio, you don’t have much time to explain to people what your individual stances are at all. And
<br />only the people with money are going to get their ideas out. So, how are you going to know about that person? And what if
<br />that person is lying to you the whole time?
<br />G. MARTIN: You’re never going to tell if anybody’s lying until after the fact, but I think, by you people coming here and
<br />participating in the system that we have, you inform yourself as to what’s going to happen. And if it were to be a politician
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