Candidates can start pulling papers for this year’s election in just two weeks, but who plans to run for the county’s most important seat is still a big question mark.
So far, former Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann is the only candidate who has announced he’s running for mayor and has opened a campaign spending account with the state. Two other candidates, Kawika Crowley, who won the 2012 Republican primary for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, and Wendell Kaehuaea, who’s run unsuccessfully for public office 21 times, have said they’re running.
Two-term Mayor Billy Kenoi is term-limited and can’t seek a third four-year term for the nonpartisan seat.
Candidate filing runs from Feb. 1 through June 7. Polls open for early voting Aug. 1, with primary Election Day on Aug. 13.
Several would-be candidates said there’s been an increasing push from labor unions and other interests to line up mayoral candidates. Representatives of the local unions Hawaii Government Employees Association, United Public Workers and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, contacted Thursday, did not respond by press time Friday.
Hoffmann, 74, seeded his campaign coffers with a $5,000 loan, and has collected another $1,350 in contributions, according to his campaign spending report filed Jan. 9. Hoffmann said Friday he’s been actively campaigning for three months, holding 12 talk story sessions and attending numerous luncheons and meetings with potential supporters.
“I’m not waiting for other people to decide,” Hoffmann said. “I want to be out there. I want to be early. I think we owe it to the people to have the discussion.”
Hoffmann is stressing hard work, integrity and leadership in his campaign. He said he’s currently listening to members of the public to determine priorities.
Crowley, 64, said he’ll push for dividing the island into two counties — East Hawaii and West Hawaii. He’ll also work to reestablish East Hawaii as an agricultural economy, concentrating on food self-sufficiency and hemp as a money crop.
County boundaries are established by the state Legislature under the constitution.
“We’re really two worlds apart,” Crowley said. “The Hilo side and the Kona side are two different economies. The people are different; the expectations are different.”
Kaehuaea, 73, has run for mayor three times.
He said he would keep the current department heads and appointees, if they choose to stay.
“I can’t stand anyone running unopposed,” Kaehuaea said, saying he will add to the debate as the campaign progresses.
County Managing Director Wally Lau is among potential candidates close to deciding.
“I’m seriously considering it,” Lau said this week.
Other names that have surfaced for the open seat include former Mayor Harry Kim, Hilo Councilmen Aaron Chung and Dennis “Fresh” Onishi, former South Kona/Ka‘u Councilwoman Brenda Ford, unsuccessful Republican candidate for state House Marlene Hapai, former Hilo Councilmen J Yoshimoto and Donald Ikeda and former Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong.
Ikeda said last week that “something drastic would have to happen,” for him to consider running. He’s enjoying retirement, he said, although supporters have asked him to consider it.
Chung also remains hesitant, but he said he’s still considering it. He said he’s “more than happy” to remain on the council.
“It’s very remote, but basically I owe it to my supporters and the people who are urging me to run to consider it,” Chung said last week.
Kim, 76, who was mayor from 2000 to 2008, lost to Kenoi in 2012 by a 1,438-vote margin — earning 49 percent of the vote compared to Kenoi’s 51 percent.
Kim jumped into the race on the last day of qualifying last time, and potential candidates worry that this time he might follow the same route.
Yagong, who came in third in the primary in 2012, is the only other mayoral candidate who has an active campaign spending account with the state.
Last updated, July 31, the account shows a negative balance of $5,128. Yagong didn’t return a phone message Friday.
Kim said Friday he’ll try to make a decision sooner this time.
“I get called and asked about it every single day,” he said.
“I think about it a lot.”
