This election season promises no shortage of fireworks, with words already flying between contenders for Mayor about when to take a vote.
The timing of the special election for Honolulu Mayor will be decided by the City Council tomorrow -- whether to put it on the September primary or november general election ballot.
After Mufi Hannemann resigned Tuesday as Honolulu Mayor to run for Governor, it triggered a midterm vacancy which calls for a special election. at least five high-profile candidates want the job.
According to the city charter, when a midterm vacancy arises this close to the next regularly scheduled election, the race to fill the void should be on that ballot.
That would mean the Mayor's race should coincide with the september primary, and a council chair's resolution on the calendar thursday would confirm that.
"It's a rush pace, and unfortunately the people won't have the opportunity to meet the candidate personally," says Rod Tam, candidate for Mayor.
"What I want to see happen is as many participate in the election as possible and what we've seen historically is more people come out for a general election then for a primary election," says Kirk Caldwell, Acting Honolulu Mayor.
The Council Chairman said he also introduced a competing floor draft for Thursday, at the request of councilman and Mayoral candidate Donovan Dela Cruz, to put the Mayor's race on the November ballot instead. Words are already flying about what's behind the earlier versus later motives.
"There is no reason why we need to have an interim Mayor for 4 months," says Panos Prevedouros, candidate for Mayor.
"The five announced candidates have been campaigning quite well for over 2 months."
"What they're trying to do is manipulate the date of the election for a tactical political advantage," says Peter Carlisle, candidate for Mayor.
"That's not a reason to set an election is to give somebody more time to make up ground because they haven't gotten it already."
Filing as a candidate can't happen until the resolution is set, and the state says it needs the names for a September ballot no later than July 30th. Those backing a November date say only the later election allows adequate time for candidates to file.
Councilmember Dela Cruz did not respond with comment.
The council chairman says he has confirmed with corporation council that the filing window between tomorrow and July 30th is adequate for the September election.
The Council Chair also asked for an ethics opinion on whether candidates tam and Dela Cruz should allowed to weigh in on a date for a race they're in.
He says the Ethics Commissions Director advised the candidates are not required to recuse themselves, but they may at their discretion.
