Two former television reporters and a business professor are the latest to file nomination papers for the City Council. New faces in Council race
feature former TV reportersState Rep. Nestor Garcia (D, Waipahu-Waikele-Crestview-Seaview) filed papers Thursday to run for the District 9 Council seat, which covers the area from Makakilo through Waipahu to lower Mililani.
The 45-year-old former television reporter is a Waikele resident and Waipahu native who has represented the district since 1994 and is a vice president of City Bank.
Former Police Chief Michael Nakamura, a member of the school board, has filed his papers for that seat, while businessman Cliff Laboy said he also expects to run.
Barbara Marshall, another former reporter, filed her papers Wednesday for the District 3 Council seat, which runs from Waimanalo to part of Kaneohe.
Marshall, 58, left television news last year after 35 years and has been in commercial real estate. Marshall has lived in Kailua since moving to Hawaii in 1979.
Other candidates for the District 3 seat include former state Sen. Stan Koki, professional planner Donald Bremner and Waimanalo community advocate Kimberly Kalama.
Meanwhile, Makiki/Tantalus Neighborhood Board Chairman John Steelquist filed Wednesday to run for the City Council's District 6 seat. The Tantalus resident grew up in Manoa. He is a business owner and a business professor at Chaminade University. He retired from the Air Force after 20 years.
State Sen. Rod Tam (D, Downtown-Nuuanu) has filed for the seat as well. Former state Sen. Dennis Nakasato has stated he will run, while Isaac Hokama, who works in the office of city Managing Director Ben Lee, has also indicated he will challenge for the seat.
Sakurai to retire
Board of Education member Winston Sakurai announced yesterday that he will retire with 10 years of service in the Windward Oahu District after the November elections.In 1993, Gov. John Waihee appointed Sakurai, then 20, to fill a vacancy on the board. Since then, Sakurai has served as first and second vice chairman and led numerous committees.
He counts among his accomplishments halting the privatization of schools by mainland corporations, limiting the costs of the A+ program, creating a budget and fiscal accountability committee, stopping class size increases, restoring Hawaii High School Athletic Association tournaments and negotiating an end to last year's teachers strike.
Sakurai said he and wife Rochelle plan to start a family in a few years, and he wants to spend more time with his parents. His father is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. He will devote himself to his duties as a history teacher at Hanalani Schools and ministry at Honolulu Bible Church and its bookstore, Covenant Books and Coffee.
Gov reflects on roots
Gov. Ben Cayetano reminisced this past week about being greeted by a slew of Cayetanos during his first trip years ago to his father's birthplace in the Philippines.The governor talked about the experience during a ceremony to sign a sisterhood relationship agreement between Hawaii and the Philippine province of Pangasinan. Cayetano's father was born in the Pangasinan city of Urdaneta.
"My memories of going to Urdaneta are very, very fond memories," Cayetano said.
The governor said he visited the barrios where his father, who migrated to Hawaii about a decade before the governor was born, and other relatives lived.
"I must've been greeted by 500 Cayetanos."
Cayetano said the sister state-province relationship will be an important economic, cultural and social bond for the two places.
The Legislature passed a resolution this past session authorizing the establishment of the state-province connection.
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