Rep. Mina Morita's Blog


Race Update

Posted in Elections,Kauai by Mina Morita on July 22, 2010

Republicans named Harry R. Williams as the replacement candidate.  According to Derrick DePledge’s blog post, he is a Kapaa contractor.

Thanks for the e-mails, comments and phone calls I received throughout the day and the little chats while I was at post office and Foodland this evening.  Many of you have said, “It’s okay I know you will win.”  I really appreciate everyone’s confidence in my campaign and my ability as your State Representative.  I would have welcomed a race against a legitimate candidate, however, in this case there was no Republican candidate in the District 14 House race at the close of filing.  The Chief Election Officer misinterpreted the section of the law (11-117, HRS and 11-118, HRS) that deals with a candidate’s withdrawal, perpetuating this David Hamman fraud and scam.

At the time of the filing deadline (4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 20), David Hamman was a candidate for the Senate seat, having filed his nomination papers for that race after withdrawing from the District 14 House race on Monday, July 19.  According to the Hawaii Administrative Rules, which governs the Office of Elections, Chapter 3-172-1, HAR  defines “candidate” as “an individual who has qualified for placement on the ballot.”  And, an individual is qualified only if he files his nomination papers in accordance with Chapter 12-6, HRS.  Hamman qualified as a candidate for the Kauai Senate race having filed his nomination papers for that race by the filing deadline.  The section of the law that the Chief Election Officer is relying on would apply only if Hamman was withdrawing from the Senate race.

Simply put, Hamman did not file nomination papers for the District 14 House race by the close of the filing deadline because he withdrew on July 19.  And, there was no way he could because he filed his nomination papers for the Senate race and a person cannot run in more than one race.  The Republicans did not have a candidate qualified for the ballot for the District 14 House race at the close of the filing deadline, therefore, no candidate vacancy exists to allow Harry R. Williams to run as a legitimate candidate.

Someone commented that it would be a waste of State resources to pursue this.  I was surprised by that attitude because that’s the same logic that proponents of the SuperFerry were using when people questioned and challenged the Administration’s interpretation of Hawaii’s environmental laws and the process.  And, you all know the outcome of that fiasco.

4 Responses to 'Race Update'

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  1. Kauaibrad said,

    It’s a waste of state resources to have a Republican on the ballot for that race in which they did not meet the filing deadline.

    You present a good argument in the above post. It would not be a waste of state resources if you were to take it to court, should you decide to do that.

    Clearly they had no candidate by the deadline.

  2. Kauaibrad said,

    Don’t find much about him.

  3. Alfred said,

    Aloha Mina,
    Time to go back to baking cookies my dear. Your constituents are a bit sick of your liberal views and radical environmentalism. Today your views are unaffordable when the economy is falling and jobs are next to non-existant. You have had your chance and it proved more than you were capable of . You are right though. The Republicans should have had a candidate ready or Dave and Jonah would not have had to do this.

    • Mina Morita said,

      First of all, you are not speaking on behalf of my constituents and you are not even in my district. You speak for yourself and you only represent a single viewpoint. I am proud to be a Democrat. Proud to be a Liberal. Proud to be an environmentalist. And, I am proud of my reputation of working with people with various viewpoints to problem solve issues, and not create just divisions and ugly rancor like you appear to do in your prolific rants . My efforts are what is helping to putting Hawaii’s economy back on track and focusing on a sustainable businesses for Hawaii’s future and ensuring that all of Hawaii’s citizens are treated fairly. The Republican Party of Hawaii has had fourteen years to find a viable candidate to run against me (and I have beaten three of them handily in the past). In this election, they couldn’t even find a legit candidate in the allowable filing time period. I can bake cookies and be a politician at the same time. And, I can turn the other cheek and serve them to you graciously while I continue to look out for your, your children and your grandchildren’s best interest.


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