Honolulu Lite
Some ‘Lite’
election reflectionsI like to walk to my polling place on election day. It gives me the opportunity to quietly consider the campaign season and to body-check the occasional sign-waver trying to hog the sidewalk.
As I trudged down to Benjamin Parker Elementary School in Kaneohe, here were a few of my election reflections:
>> For some reason the Democratic Party just cannot make peace with small businesses. The fact that prominent Republicans are closely tied with organized small business obviously is a factor. A weird campaign moment occurred during the Office of Hawaiian Affairs debate involving governor and lieutenant governor candidates. In attempting to promise that his team would help small business, Democrat Matt Matsunaga said, "Small businesses make up 90 percent of all small business in Hawaii." Of course he meant they make up 90 percent of ALL business in Hawaii, but the tongue trip seemed indicative of the continuing disconnect between the Dems and small biz.
>> Speaking of small businesses, everyone running for office had a golden opportunity before the election to unequivocally show their support by demanding that the Makapuu rockslide construction project be delayed until AFTER the holiday shopping season. Small businesses from Waimanalo to Kailua will be deprived of a huge amount of business because the 'round-the-island highway will be severed during the business day during these key shopping weeks. It shows that government officials are clueless about what it takes to run a small business. The holiday shopping season can mean the difference between survival and bankruptcy for many small businesses. Makapuu rockslides have always been a danger. It's not too late to delay fixing the problem until January.
>> "Honolulu Lite" became a strange factor in the City Council race between Stan Koki and former broadcaster Barbara Marshall. First Barbara, a reporter colleague, included a few lines from a "Lite" column in her brochure, seeming to indicate I was endorsing her. I followed that with a "Lite" pointing out that I don't endorse candidates mainly because it would be the kiss of death. Koki then ran THAT entire column not only in his brochure, but in the morning paper. It was definitely bizarre seeing "Honolulu Lite" printed in "the other" paper, even if it was a paid ad. It's more bizarre that City Council candidates considered a humor column a factor in the race.
>> Speaking of ads ... let me first state that as a reformed-yet-occasionally-backsliding male chauvinist pig, I think state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa is quite attractive. But the full-page newspaper ad featuring a larger-than-life photo of her face (I suspect it was the largest headshot of a human being ever to run in a daily newspaper) was a bit unnerving.
Charles Memminger, winner of National Society of Newspaper Columnists awards, appears Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. E-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com