CHC 1979-07-11 - Laserfiche WebLink

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WEST HAWAII The Chair called upon Mr. William W. Moss, COMMITTEE: representative of the West Hawaii Committee. MR. MOSS: Mr. Chairman., before I launch into my presentation, I would like to make one correction for the record. The letter from the West Hawaii Committee was signed by Mr. Charles P. Davies the Chairman of the West Hawaii Committee and not by me. I also would like to mention that since I prepared my remarks the Exchange Club of Kona has some additional remarks to make and I wonder if at the conclusion of my testimony whether Mr. James Nottage of the Exchange Club could be permitted the same privilege as , an extension of my remarks. In coming here today, I have been authorized to speak for the 'West Hawaii Committee, Kona Coast Chamber of Commerce, the Exchange Club of Kona, Kona Board of Realtors and Kona League of Republican Women. As we expressed in our letter to you, we don ' t believe the commission really appreciated the extreme effect the decision for a council of 7 with 5 directly elected from districts and 2 at-large would have on West Hawaii. Frankly, it would be a political disaster for the area which today pays 48% of the taxes of this county and next year will probably be paying 50% or more. Now, why would this be a, political disaster for West Hawaii? Because in effect it gives the region only one council member whereas under the present county council setup there are three representatives from West Hawaii. I call your proposal the new political mathematics because it says five plus two equals one. Five district members plus two at- large equals one for West Hawaii. How do we arrive at that? First, can we face one aspect as a fact at-large members basically come from Hilo so this means that Representative District #2, all of which is in South Hilo gets two directly elected council members plus two at-large for a total of four, an automatic majority on the county council. If the county were divided evenly to elect a 7 member council there should be one member for each 11,157 of the estimated population of the county or 1 per about every 5 ,680 voters. I mention both measures because your counsel, Mr. Oda, has repeatedly advised you of the impossibility of an equal balance and that you have to consider many aspects in setting up election _districts. So we show you the twin aspects because the balance between them gives a probably truer picture than either one alone. Under the commission proposal, we find that in District #1, Ka'u, Puna, and South Hilo, some of South Hilo, it wol ltake: 17,500 population to elect one council member, whereas in South Hilo, there would be four council members for a total population of approximately 30,000 or 7,500 per council member. population. This is a 2% to 1 spread and is very, very wide. If we go on the number of registered voters in those districts, we find again just about that same 22 to l spread, whereas it has shifted districts slightly. District #4, South Kohala, -2-