|
when they formed a two-year representational body was in three years from that, they
<br />formed a Constitution and they put in the Senate to balance this two-year term that was
<br />just given to the whims of public opinion rather than what was really good government.
<br />And so, the at -large appeals to me because I've watched, on the Council, people run
<br />from day one to day one. Your first job in politics is to get elected. Your second job is
<br />to get re-elected. How does that serve the people? You talk about money. The power
<br />that we have in our hands today, where 50% are registered and Tess than 50% vote.
<br />The people have such a power they can demonstrate through an individual initiative
<br />that is far more important than money. Unions have proven that because 90% of our
<br />legislation out of the last 40 years has come from Union influence because they would
<br />put the people out there and support politicians. The other part is if you have a
<br />representative in your district that you have a lot of trouble communicating with, if you
<br />have these three at -large, does it not hold these three accountable, and give you three
<br />other alternatives or possibly four advocates. So, there's this part of it. And so, money,
<br />and I have to agree with you, has influence. I really don't like what's being sold on this
<br />island that because you got a check from someone, you're a crook, and that somehow
<br />bought your integrity. But one moment I look at the people representing us and I see
<br />very little community service. I see very volunteerism. I don't see them paying the dues
<br />within the community. So, then I would be suspect in that area. So again, it comes
<br />back to the public. So, I've made my little pitch. I could go on forever, but it was that
<br />trying to balance what's going on, and try to give a broad perspective, and I'II tell you,
<br />public opinion has been very negative on this. So, thank you.
<br />• FRANKEL: There are 9,000 responses running in my mind and I won't be able
<br />to remember them all. But, look at the experience on other islands. I, quite frankly,
<br />think the Council that is least representative, or least grass roots oriented, is the Kauai
<br />County Council, elected at -large. Maui has that same problem. I can say that, both on
<br />this island and Oahu, you have single member districts where members are cognizant
<br />and responsive to the needs and concerns of other districts, so you didn't have just the
<br />Council members from Kona voting against allowing a developer not to build that
<br />access road in Kona. You had Council members from other districts. You had people
<br />looking at it from a different perspective. The Council member from this district, which
<br />does not have constituents up there, voted against it. You had Councilman Dominic
<br />Yagong voting against it. He does not represent that area. On Oahu, you have folks
<br />that have concerns about when people creating the Kaiwi park on Oahu, they went to
<br />Council member Steve Holmes who, that area was not in his district. The people that
<br />were working on that were not from that district but they went to him. So, the fact that
<br />someone is, at -large or single district, I think it's a question of the person, not the
<br />function of how the government is structured as to whether someone's responsive or
<br />not. But there's no question that someone who's running for at -large seat needs more
<br />money. I mean, you need more money to get your message out and, therefore, it does
<br />increase the influence of big money. And that's not to say that big money is telling
<br />people how to vote, but it means that somebody who does not agree with, say, a
<br />developer, they're not going to get a developer's money. And someone who agrees
<br />15
<br />
|