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Isle Sierra Club panel backs 48 primary candidates
The Hawaii Chapter of the Sierra Club is endorsing 48 candidates for the Sept. 23 primary election but making no recommendation for the U.S. Senate or the 1st Congressional District.
Neither incumbent U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka nor his challenger, U.S. Rep. Ed Case, could garner the two-thirds majority of the 13-member state Sierra Club's executive committee needed for endorsement, Sierra Club Director Jeff Mikulina said.
"The chapter met and discussed it and couldn't come up with a consensus," said Randy Ching, chairman of Oahu Sierra Club members.
The Sierra Club also opted to stay silent on incumbent U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Honolulu) versus Democrat Alexandra Kaan and Republicans Noah Hough and Mark Terry.
Meanwhile the group endorsed two of the 13 candidates for the 2nd Congressional District, the seat being vacated by Case. State Sen. Gary Hooser and state Rep. Brian Schatz, both Democrats, got the nod.
"These guys have gone to bat for Hawaii's environment year after year," Lance Holter, Hawaii Sierra Club's political chairman, said in a statement.
"Candidates endorsed by the Sierra Club will help to protect Hawaii's clean water, special places and spectacular biodiversity while putting Hawaii on a path to a sustainable future," Ching said in a statement. "They understand a healthy environment is the foundation of a strong economy."
Club leadership also decided not to endorse any House incumbents who had twice voted for the unsuccessful "Hokulia fix" (HB 1368), which the organization maintains would have opened agricultural lands to speculation and sprawl.
The club picked:
» Waianae Harbormaster William Aila and environmental attorney David Henkin for governor and lieutenant governor.
» State Senate incumbents Les Ihara, Carol Fukunaga, Shan Tsutsui and Suzanne Chun Oakland.
» State House incumbents Mele Carroll, Hermina Morita, Lyla Berg, Kirk Caldwell, Corinne Ching, Glenn Wakai, Blake Oshiro, Roy Takumi, Maile Shimabukuro, Cynthia Thielen and Tommy Waters, and challengers Carol Philips and Minoo Elison.
» Dual endorsements in District 23 (Waikiki) with Louis Erteschik and Anne Stevens and District 30 (Kalihi) with Charmaine Crockett and Bill Woods.
» Charmine Tavares for Maui mayor; Maui County Council incumbents Jo Anne Johnson and Michelle Anderson, and political newcomer Lucienne DeNaie (the Sierra Club's current executive committee chairwoman).
» Big Island County Council incumbents Bob Jacobson, Angel Pilago and Peter Hoffman, plus newcomers Dominic Yagong, Justin Avery, Brenda Ford and Lei Kihoi.
» Honolulu City Council incumbent Gary Okino.
The Sierra Club made no endorsements in the Kauai Council primary.
The Sierra Club's endorsements are online at www. hi.sierraclub.org/endorsements.
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In the race for the 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House, the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 have endorsed state Sen. Clayton Hee.
"Clayton Hee has a long and distinguished record of supporting labor and working families of Hawaii for over 20 years of elective office," Teamsters President Mel Kahele said in a news release.
Hee is one of 13 candidates seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Ed Case to represent rural Oahu and the neighbor islands in Congress.
"I am honored to receive their support, and I am committed to championing their interests -- which are the interests of all Hawaii's people -- in Congress," Hee said in a statement released by the union, which has about 6,200 members in Hawaii.
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate William Aila Jr. is being endorsed by the daughter and granddaughter of former Gov. John Burns, Aila's campaign announced.
"I have never before publicly endorsed a candidate," Sheenagh Burns, the late governor's daughter said in a statement released by Aila's campaign. "I do so today because I firmly believe William Aila possesses the qualities we need to get Hawaii back on track to be the Hawaii it should be."
Burns served three terms as governor from 1962 to 1974. Aila, a Hawaiian activist and the harbormaster at Waianae Boat Harbor, faces former legislator Randy Iwase and Van Tanabe in the Sept. 23 Democratic Primary.