Categorized | Opinions

Opinion: Standing Up for West Hawaii

By State Sen. Josh Green

June 15, 2009

Dear Friends,

A major decision will be made about the future of Big Island this coming week at the County Council and it will give us absolute clarity about the character of the current Hawaii County government.

The East Hawaii-dominated council is proposing to remove all West Hawaii elected council members from all important decision-making positions.

Sen. Josh Green

Sen. Josh Green

This amounts to an undemocratic attempt to disenfranchise the voters of West Hawaii.

If it passes, this measure will be a terrible step backwards for county government, returning us to a time when all political decisions were made of Hilo, by Hilo and for Hilo, designed to reward political friends of East Hawaii with county resources, and sending a few left over scraps to West Hawaii as an afterthought.

This attempt to silence and disenfranchise the elected representatives of West Hawaii borders on taxation without representation. The bulk of county revenue comes from taxes drawn from West Hawaii, and if the democratically elected County Council members from West Hawaii are silenced and marginalized in county government, these funds will inevitably go disproportionately to East Hawaii, leaving the west side of the island without necessary improvements in roads, public safety, and other crucial areas.

AN HONEST ALTERNATIVE

A balanced Council is the only way to preserve fair Big Island government. All this takes is having the Chairperson of the council from one side of the island and the Vice-chairman and Finance Committee Chair from the other side. This is the fair and democratic approach. This approach would show the people that we are a single united and democratic county.

THE MAYOR MUST STAND UP AND LEAD

Mayor Kenoi must stand up and clearly and publicly signal that the proposed divisive measure to silence Ford, Hoffman, and Yagong on the Council is unacceptable, undemocratic, and bad for all the people of Big Island. Mayor Kenoi must stop this outrageous mistake in its tracks. As an elected State Senator and a witness to these kind of coups, I know how destructive they are. The Mayor has the power and responsibility as the executive of the County to lead, and he must do it now.

This week as the decision is made, the Mayor will show us whether he is a leader of the whole island, or merely an advocate for Hilo and the East Hawaii special interests. He will clearly show whether he is content to foster the division and unfairness of the past, by allowing a regional government to form and in effect disenfranchise every voter in West Hawaii, the very region that produces most county tax revenues.

POWER GRAB

Make no mistake, this is a power grab by East Hawaii political interests, and the way the Council and Mayor Kenoi lead or fail to lead will reveal their true characters and whether they serve the people, or the narrow special interests that corrupt our democracy. I hope for all of our sakes they put narrow political self-interest aside and represent all the people of the Big Island, east and west alike.

Senator Josh Green
District 3, West Hawaii

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