Mahalo to everyone that played a part in making the Eco-Roundtable Mayoral and Council Candidates Forum a success. Over 200 people turned out to hear where the candidates stand on important sustainability issues. With all four mayoral candidates, and 19 of 22 council candidates present, it was an opportune time to compare candidate’s political platforms and stances on issues. The standing-room only turnout and excitement in the audience was evidence that the general public is highly interested and engaged in this year’s election.

A questionnaire was given to candidates at the end of the night and post-mailed to candidates that were not present. The questionnaire includes all questions asked at the live forum, as well as several others that could not be incorporated due to time restraints. This will provide an opportunity for candidates to clarify their responses and provide more detail. We have asked for all written responses to be returned by September 1st, and will have them online shortly afterwards at MalamaKauai.Org and EcoRountable.Org. A copy of the questionnaire is available now at either of these sites.

A series of ten “support”/ “do not support”/ “no answer” questions were interspersed throughout the evening. Candidates unanimously agreed to support curbside recycling and a 7-day per week bus service with extended hours and doubled frequency during peak commuter times. Besides one or two candidates, there was also large majority support for mandating solar water heaters on all new residential construction, reducing density on lands zoned open, banning pesticides at county parks and along county roadways, and banning plastic shopping bags. Very few candidates supported construction of a hotly debated Waste-to-Energy incinerator. Interestingly, all candidates said they did not support the return of the Superferry without a full independent Environmental Impact Statement, but a few candidates retracted their answer when they were made aware that the Act 2 assessment being conducted is not a legitimate EIS. Candidate’s answers to all questions were recorded and posted on a large wall chart. This chart can by found online at MalamaKauai.Org and EcoRoundtable.Org.

A straw poll was conducted at the end of the night. Each audience member was allowed to confidentially vote for one mayoral candidate and seven council candidates. The results are as follows:

Mayoral
Yukimura-79
Carvalho-46
Rapozo-22
Beiber-5

Council:
Bynum-93
Kawahara-91
Furfaro-74
Kawakami-65
Kuali`i-64
Pleas-60
Thronas-56
Mijares-50
Kouchi-46
Kealoha-41
Asing-38
Taylor-34
Libre-34
Pasadava-28
Bartolo-22
Chang-21
Kaneakua-14
Kaneshiro-13 (NOT PRESENT)
Hoff-9
Agor-7 (NOT PRESENT)
Cariffe-4
McMahon-0 (NOT PRESENT)

The results of this straw poll are not an endorsement from the Eco-Roundtable.

If you were not able to attend the live forum, tune into KKCR public radio station for the re-broadcast. Video coverage from the night’s events will be available for viewing on Ho`ike public television and EcoRoundtable.Org by August 13th.

The mayoral candidates will be hosted on the Malama Kaua`i Radio Show this Friday from 12-1 on KKCR, 91.9. This will be a chance to get deeper into some of the issues that came up last night. We will also open-up the phone lines to callers.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, do not hesitate to contact andreamalamakauai.org">andreamalamakauai.org.