Special Video Section: Hawaii Mayoral Forum

I’m very excited to share this video record of the big mayoral forum from the 13th of August. Plans are in the works to bring this to the public via other venues, but in the meantime, I am happy to host what I taped here on this website.

I hope everyone who regretfully missed the event takes the time to check out the clips. I arranged all the videos as logically as I could. They are quick and easily digested, so the viewer can go directly to watching the issues or candidates that are most interesting to them. Of course, I do hope people take the time to watch a bit from every candidate. I also hope this presentation will serve as a dependable tool for voters as they make their election day decision.

The section begins at this location: bigislandvideonews.com/20080813mayoraldebate.htm

I posted a thorough explanation for this section, which I will reproduce here:

Hilo, HI - A large crowd gathers at the University of Hawaii at Hilo to listen to the four leading candidates in this September’s mayoral primary election. Candidates for Hawaii County mayor: (left to right above) - District 4 county councilman Stacy Higa, state senator Lorraine Inouye, attorney Billy Kenoi, and County Council Vice Chairman Angel Pilago.

The entire substance of the debate is presented (below). Although there has been editing, it is important to know that the candidate’s statements and answers are presented in their entirety. Questions are sometimes presented to the entire field of candidates, and sometimes presented to only one candidate to answer. Answers in the videos range from three minutes to one minute, depending on the format.

Sponsors for this event included the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Hawaii, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, Kanoelehua Industrial Area Association, Hilo Downtown Improvement Association, and Hawaii Island Board of Realtors.

Questions were asked by Jerry Burris, longtime Honolulu Advertiser political columnist and reporter, and David Bock, Hawaii Tribune-Herald editor. The moderator was the well known Honolulu broadcaster, Linda Coble.

Note: Candidates who were not asked to be a part of the forum: Joseph Barrozo, Sam Masilamoney, Jasper Moore and Randy Riley.