Category — politics

Defeats opponent Angel Pilago by nearly 10,000 votes
November 4, 2008 - Hilo, Hawaii

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Billy Kenoi has been declared the winner in the race for Hawaii County’s mayor seat.

Kenoi defeated opponent Angel Pilago by a healthy margin. The final numbers, released by the state of Hawaii at 9:23 pm, had Kenoi winning with 36,671 votes (55.6%) to Pilago’s 26,962 (40.9%)

At age 39, Kenoi becomes one of the youngest mayors in the Big Island’s history. He was the former executive assistant to outgoing mayor Harry Kim. In September’s primary election, he was the highest vote getter amongst the 8 mayoral candidates.

Kenoi arrived at his Hilo headquarters just as the news of his victory was being announced to the fervent crowd of supporters. In his post victory speech, Kenoi remained humble, thanked Pilago, and promised that more hard work is ahead.

Big Island Democrats’ tradition
November 3, 2008 - Hilo, Hawaii

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Kamehameha Avenue along Hilo’s bayfront was alive and animated by sign waving supporters on the eve of the general election.

Festivities included a drumming circle beneath the monkeypod trees of Mooheau Park along with roadside sign waving, seen in the video above. Afterwards, there was entertainment, and a round of last minute campaign speeches, under the Mooheau Bandstand.

According to numbers published in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Hawaii County has already had 26,571 votes cast in absentee and walk-in voting. This is more than double the number of people who voted early in the 2004 election.

At this rate, powered in part by public interest in the pivotal national election, the Big Island is likely to see an historic, high voter turnout.

Its a point / counterpoint video in light of the recent Environmental Management Committee vote for Bill 361, which would ban any GMO taro or coffee (or taro/coffee that has been genetically modified) from the Big Island of Hawaii. The issue has been a contentious one, with arguments heard at the state house in the recent past.

See the lengthy video here: www.bigislandvideonews.com/20080909gmo.htm

KAILUA-KONA, HI - Bill 361, a ban on GMO coffee and taro (genetically engineered) on the Big Island of Hawaii, is passed unanimously at the county Environmental Management Committee. Supporters, and opponents, of the bill give public testimony before the vote, and share insight into the GMO controversy in this video.

While the three main interviews were conducted outside the council meeting in Kona, the taro footage is thanks to Jim Albertini and his Mula Aina Farm, at the Center for Non-Violent Education and Action. Albertini also testified in support of the bill via video conference from Hilo.

Supporters of the bill believe there will be much more opposition in the upcoming regular session council votes. The bill must pass two more readings in order to become law.

This special video section was presented a few days ago, but I am only now getting around to blogging an announcement. It is likely that this will be the last of the mayoral videos before the primary. If no candidate gets over 50% of the primary vote, and thus there is a runoff for the general election, I’m sure I will cover the one on one debates that may occur.

The format on this one was a big change in pace from the other forums. Candidates were able to get up close and personal with the electorate.

The videos are here: bigislandvideonews.com/20080904roundtable.htm

Hilo, HI - The League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women present a “roundtable event”, where candidates for mayor go from table to table in order to meet face to face with residents. The candidates spent 15 minutes at each table, answering questions and talking story with voters, before rotating to another table.

The unique approach offered a new look at the campaigns of 6 individuals running for Hawaii County mayor. Although all 8 candidates were invited, it was Billy Kenoi, Randy Riley, Stacy Higa, Jasper Moore, Lorraine Inouye, and Angel Pilago who attended. (Joseph Barrozo and Sam Masilamoney were not there.)

The footage you will see here, broken into separate files by candidate, was shot at a special media table. The questions were asked by Ken Hupp of KPUA AM 670, and Dr. Todd Belt, associate professor of political sciences at UHH. These videos are long: nearly 15 minutes in length… but they offer a refreshing way to revisit the issues and the candidates involved in the election.

I would like to thank not only the organizers and moderators of this refreshing event, but the candidates themselves, who took the time (over 2 hours) to do lots of speaking.

The primary election is on September 20th.

After another long post production session, I have finally managed to get the substance of the Kona mayoral forum from August 28th up on the site.

This forum was broadcast live on LAVA 105, so the pace was lightning fast (which is good, especially for radio), leaving me little time to change tapes between questions. Still, I recorded 99.9 percent of the entire forum. Only one answer is missing, (Joseph Barrozo in the “Solutions in tough economic times” section) the content of which is posted in writing beneath the video. Otherwise, its all there.

Obviously, the inclusion of all 8 candidates makes some of the videos (the forum questions) much longer to watch. However, unlike the first mayoral video section shot in Hilo, seen here, you will now have a chance to see and hear the 4 other candidates who weren’t invited to the first forum. You will see that they bring a unique perspective to the table, and nearly steal the show at times (each in their own way, of course)

The videos are found here: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/20080828konaforum.htm

Kailua-Kona, HI - Another mayoral forum heading into the upcoming election, this time held at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria on the west side of the island. This time, all 8 mayoral candidates are involved.

The presentation here will be similar to the August 13th Special Video Section for the Hilo forum. The entire event has been divided up into smaller video clips and arranged by subject in order to make the simplify the viewing process.

Candidates are, from left to right in the above picture, Joseph Barrozo, Stacy Higa, Lorraine Inouye, Billy Kenoi, Sam Masilamoney, Jasper Moore, Angel Pilago, and Randy Riley.

The forum is moderated by Sherry Bracken, the well known news reporter and radio host.

The event was sponsord by the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, Kona Outdoor Circle, PATH, Kona Board of Realtors, and the Hawaii Island Board of Realtors.

First of all, mahalo to all the visitors who have taken the time to check out the mayoral forum video section this past week. The interest has not been a surprise, but it has easily been the most traffic this humble website has seen since its beginning less than a month ago.

Credit should also go to the number of links to the mayoral section provided by the dedicated Big Island bloggers. Sites like the ones run by Hunter Bishop and Damon Tucker have helped to get the word out. Chances are, if you have found the site, it is because of the internet vigilance of these sites. I can not say enough about the support of the local blogging community as a whole. It has been tremendous.

So, how does one follow up a hit like the mayoral forum? Well, it may not generate the same sort of interest, but the least I can do is reward the visitors with a chance to see one of nature’s most spectacular shows. Here you go:

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/20080820sunsetlava.htm

Waikupanaha, HI - A crowd gathers to watch the wonders of active geology, as the lava from the Kilauea volcano explodes when it meets the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The magma bursts seem to glow a brighter red as the sun sets, and the onlookers break out the cameras to capture the moment.

Perhaps a far cry from the content of the mayoral section, but for a videographer like myself, no less rewarding. I tried to capture not only the beauty of the scene, but the festive atmosphere of the gathering, which to me was reminiscent of the 4th of July. I hope you enjoy.

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.