Mayoral and council races crowded

» Rail row prompts Kobayashi run

» Last-minute decision sets off political flurry

The election season is heating up with politicians vying for the mayor's seat on Kauai and the Big Island and the return of former Maui County Councilman Wayne Nishiki to campaigning.

Yesterday's filing deadline opened County Council positions on the Garden Island as two councilmembers will run in a special election for the vacancy created by the June death of Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste.

Two current councilmembers, Mel Rapozo and JoAnn Yukimura, will leave the Council to vie for the mayor's spot. They will be joined by Bernard Carvalho, director of the county Parks Division, and Rolf Beiber, a computer technician at Chiefess Kamakehelei Middle School.

With the departure of Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho to run unopposed for county prosecutor, only four incumbents, including interim Mayor Bill "Kaipo" Asing, will be running for the seven-member Council.

They are joined by 18 others who are seeking a two-year term. Included in that list are Daryl Kaneshiro, a rancher and former councilman who will start today in Asing's place as an interim councilman; Ronald Agor, former chairman of the Kauai Republican Party and the Kauai member of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources; and Dickie Chang, a local television personality.

On the Big Island, former Mayor Lorraine Inouye, now a state senator, is trying for a comeback, seeking the seat being vacated by Mayor Harry Kim, who will have served his two-term limit. Inouye, mayor from 1990 to 1992, is pitted against a pack of other candidates.

Those with name recognition are Billy Kenoi, an aide to Kim; Stacy Higa, a former County Council chairman; and Councilman Angel Pilago, the only major mayoral candidate from Kona. Others are Joseph Barrozo, Sam Masilomoney, Michael Moore and Randell "Randy" Riley.

With the North Kona Council seat being vacated by Pilago, while five others also are candidates.

On Maui, former Councilman Nishiki and his daughter are seeking Council seats.

Nishiki is running in the non-incumbent south Maui race, and his eldest daughter Kahekai Nishiki is challenging incumbent Michael J. Molina for the Makawao-Haiku-Paia seat.

Wayne Nishiki, 64, said he feels good about running again and is pleased to see his daughter seeking elected office.

"People on Maui have been positive," he said.

His daughter, a businesswoman, has three children.

Nishiki stepped down from running for the Council several years ago, after reaching the Maui County Charter limit of five consecutive two-year terms.

South Maui Councilwoman Michelle Anderson, Nishiki's former Council legislative analyst, said she decided not to run this year for family reasons after serving two terms. Also running for the Council's south Maui seat are information technology manager Donald G. Couch, restaurateur Joseph D. Gannon and construction estimator Norman D. Vares.

Some 17 candidates are running in the other seven nonpartisan Council races.