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Costs of special election
dog Yoshina in job review

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Two months after it reappointed state Chief Election Officer Dwayne Yoshina to a new four-year term, the state Elections Appointment and Review Panel rendered its evaluation of his job performance for 2000 and 2001.

The panel reappointed Yoshina to his second four-year term as chief election officer Sept. 4. The panel finished its evaluation Thursday.

The panel could not evaluate Yoshina's job performance without first approving evaluation standards, which it did in August, said Ray Pua, the panel's chairman.

The panel praised Yoshina's performance, but the evaluation includes a minority supplement from the five-member panel's two Republican members criticizing Yoshina for spending $1.5 million for the Nov. 30, 2002, special election to fill a vacant U.S. congressional seat for four weeks. The seat was left open by Patsy Mink, who died Sept. 28. Mink's term was to have ended Jan. 3. Democrat Ed Case won the November special election and another one Jan. 4 for a new two-year term.

Isle primary election viewed as vulnerable

When the Democratic Party of Hawaii's central committee meets Saturday, one of the items on the agenda will be the state's primary-election law.

The law, which allows voters to participate in any party's primary elections simply by selecting that party's ballot, is similar to California's primary system that was struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, said Tony Gill, who has been briefing fellow Democrats on the high court's ruling.

California's blanket primary election put the names of all the candidates on one ballot. Voters were free to choose a candidate from one political party for one office and a candidate from another party for another office. The Supreme Court ruled that violated political parties' First Amendment rights by forcing them to associate with whomever selects their candidate regardless of the voter's party affiliation.

Washington state's primary elections law, which is identical to California's, was deemed unconstitutional by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September. Alaska, which also had blanket primary elections, changed its law following the 2000 Supreme Court ruling. Louisiana has nonpartisan primary elections.

Seven other states have primary elections similar to Hawaii's. The rest of the states require voters to register or declare their political party affiliation in order to participate in that party's primary election.

The court rulings striking down California's and Washington's primary election systems were the result of legal challenges filed by the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties in both states. No one has filed suit challenging Hawaii's primary-election law. State Democratic Party Chairman Alex Santiago said he has yet to form an opinion on the issue.

Former Kauai mayor sets sights on Senate

Former Kauai Mayor Maryanne Kusaka announced yesterday that she will run for Kauai's state Senate seat in 2004 against incumbent Democrat Gary Hooser.

Kusaka served two terms as Kauai's mayor from 1994 to 2002.

Before running for mayor, Kusaka was a public school teacher and administrator. She retired from the state Department of Education with more than 30 years of experience.

Hamada and Slom join forces for fund-raiser

Radio talk show host Rick Hamada and state Sen. Sam Slom (R, Hawaii Kai-Aina Haina) will be the masters of ceremony at a Republican Party fund-raiser Dec. 3 at Treetops Restaurant in Manoa.

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $25 per person. Call Fran Hardy at 373-2766 for more information.

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