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Duke's phone calls turned off voters

I know why Duke Bainum lost the election for mayor. It had nothing to do with a so-called smear campaign. I never knew about the smear campaign until he brought it up after the election, and I don't think many other people knew about it.

The reason he lost was because of his intrusive and annoying telephone campaign. It's bad enough that there were so many calls, but they didn't even have a live person talk to me. Instead, they used the hated telemarketer's technique with a prerecorded message and computer dialing. After getting several calls in just a few days, all with the "Hi, this is Duke Bainum ..." prerecorded message, I then received three calls from him in one day.

I called his campaign headquarters and ask to be put on their "do not call" list. The man taking my call acknowledged they had received many complaints and said he would try to put me on the "do not call" list.

That worked for several days but they could not resist calling me again just before the election. My wife and I both planned to vote for him, but we decided not to just because of his continued harassment.

I think Duke owes the residents of the City and County of Honolulu an apology for this outrageous lack of consideration for the people. And I won't accept the apology by phone.

Losing candidate ran model campaign

All the Duke Bainum supporters were very disappointed that he didn't win the mayoral election. However, their behavior throughout the campaign and their enthusiasm for their candidate should be a good study of how to run a clean, honest campaign. It was class act on its own.

While the smear campaign against Jennifer Bainum in the last two weeks of the election might have been the crucial factor that tilted the result to Mufi Hannemann, it's noteworthy that all supporters and believers of clean and honest campaigning were never affected by it. And this letter sender will attest to it.

Though many were vulnerable to believing the innuendos and false allegations on the smear, it's part of modern-day American politics, and Honolulu just had a taste of it. Smear campaigns have no place in a city like Honolulu. I'm looking forward to Mayor Hannemann's own initiative of condemning this from happening again. Doing so will help heal the wounds not only of Bainum and his wife, but also of all his supporters.

GOP shouldn't have a claim to morality

The media claims that "moral issues" were important in the exit polls and contributed to George Bush's victory. I am tired of the religious right appropriating the terms "moral issues" and "family values." I am a Christian and make my decisions on morals and values derived from that faith. With Christ's life as an example, I voted for a candidate who would not have started a war that is costing thousands of lives. I voted for candidates who, like Christ, want to be of service to the poor, homeless, sick and elderly. And I voted for candidates who have a good record in protecting our environment, God's creation.

Jesus had not one word to say about homosexuality, and I believe he would not condemn people for their sexual orientation and ban them from marriage and civil unions. I think Jesus would feel that "family values" means love for the entire human family in all its diversity. People like me, who voted for John Kerry, may not be the majority (by about 3 percentage points), but we are moral. We value a faith that does not glorify war, or judge other people's "sins," but calls us to "Love one another, as I have loved you."

America is better off with President Bush

Big government, higher taxes, a flip-flop leader are what we would have had if John Kerry had been elected president.

This was a major win for the Republicans, who retain control of the White House and gained seats in Congress.

Now the Republicans can appoint our future Supreme Court justices. Now the job of finding and killing these terrorists can continue.

Thank you, America, for re-electing President Bush.

U.S. voting system needs improvement

Former President Jimmy Carter is quoted as saying the U.S. election system is worse than in some Third World countries. I resent this attempt to undermine public trust in our democratic process.

On the other hand, many citizens are beginning to distrust the system due to attempts to bring in lawyers and file lawsuits. This is really scary.

Votes don't count when voters make errors because the ballot is confusing and difficult to read. In Hawaii's primary election, we are supposed to only vote one party. Logically, there should be separate columns for each party (Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Green.)

Instead, the ballot was organized by races. The pastel colors were too similar until you read the party title. The type font was small so that I erroneously voted for one or two too many in one of the races.

We must have a reliable evaluation of our elections system for the public to measure progress and improvement.

Where is compassion in nation's agenda?

America voted for moral values? Thousands dead in Iraq, torture in Iraq, backdoor draft, corporate corruption, squandered budget surplus, record deficit, jobs shipped overseas, unemployment, millions without health care, tax cuts for the rich. All this in the name of God? Compassionate conservatism?

Bush omits other faiths from discussion

The column by Cynthia Oi titled "On the wonderful day that we get our say" was touching ("Under the Sun," Nov. 3). I identified with the emotions she expressed and I, too, felt elated after having voted. I was devastated the next morning, however, when my vote felt like it did not count, my voice not heard, with President Bush's re-election.

As a Jew, I am feeling increasingly alienated and unrepresented by an administration that consistently refers to our nation's "Christian values." When, pray tell, did references to our "Judeo-Christian" values change to "Christian values" alone? And what about our Buddhist brothers and sisters? And what about Muslims?

I thought the prime reason for establishing our great country was freedom of religion. It is really scary how Bush believes he has a direct line to God to help him with his decision-making to go to war, and in other matters. It is clearly his God, not mine.

Changes are needed in local elections

For our democracy to continue to thrive and prosper, a keen sense of fairness, justice and reason must be adhered to. First, I still cannot figure out how Hawaii can continue to think that a "blank" vote is a "no" vote. There are distinct semantic differences between the words "yes," "no" and "blank." This nonsensical way of considering a blank vote as a "no" vote has to go. Let's get back to basics:

Additionally, I feel Ralph Nader was accorded unfair, unjust and unreasonable treatment during this election. Chief Elections Officer Dwayne Yoshina should not have also been the hearings officer for the Nader case. He may think he can be objective, but this is not a democratic thing to do.

Furthermore, there was a feeling of uneasiness about our ballots' safekeeping and accounting. The mayoral race supposedly concluded at the third printout. Then we were told some 4,000 votes were still uncounted. We must seriously address these issues to preserve and protect the integrity of our democratic processes.

Lingle has lost touch with moderate values

Governor Lingle ran as a so-called "moderate" Republican who seemed to favor separation of church and state. But after President Bush was re-elected, she gloated about how Hawaii might have helped him win by siphoning off funds from Sen. John Kerry's campaign. Lingle also supported Bush's invasion of Iraq and has stood by Bush's reckless fiscal policies that have led to the largest budget deficit in history.

So is she really still a moderate Republican, or is she now one of the faith-based GOP brethren who rallied around anti-gay marriage legislation and want to ban all abortions? And why is it she chose to endorse Bush, but was conspicuously silent about supporting fellow Republicans Cam Cavasso and Mike Gabbard in their congressional bids? If they were doing better in the polls, would she have supported them more strongly?

I'm beginning to suspect we have another bait-and-switch politician who runs on one platform, then adopts another after being elected, depending on which way the wind blows. Will the real Linda Lingle please stand up?

Politicians must stop serving the extremes

The 2004 election is over. Thank goodness. I look ahead to 2006 with these pleas:

Bush should make amends with Dems

As a Bush supporter, I hope he will be able to reach out to Democrats to lessen the harsh partisanship dividing our nation. It will be difficult to balance this with staying true to his political principles, especially on social issues including abortion, the role of religion in government and Supreme Court appointments. I believe the president will do his best to have such a balanced policy.

I hope he will seek agreement with congressional Democrats on issues both parties can come to agreement on: the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism. I hope he will consider appointing prominent Democrats to his cabinet, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, former Sens. John Breaux and Sam Nunn.