Procrastinators, poor decision-makers, last minute recruits by a political party, naturally spontaneous — whatever their reason for filing at the last minute, several dozen people made their way to the Hawaii State Elections Office on Tuesday, July 25, 2006, the final day to register as candidates for the September Primary Election.
Some candidates were cutting it so close, that they pulled nomination papers, rushed to get the required number of signatures, and returned to file their papers, all on Tuesday by 4:30 p.m.
At the downtown Honolulu temporary satellite election office, more than two-dozen candidates filed on Tuesday and there were some surprises.
*Divorce attorney ”Frank Lockwood” is entering politics for the first time, running for Senate as a Democrat against long-time Republican politician and world famous surfer ”Fred Hemmings”. Hemmings, who has a morning radio show on 97.5 FM, will probably have to go silent until election day because of FCC regulations that require equal time for opposing candidates unless the airtime is purchased.
*Treasurer of the Hawaii Democratic Party, ”Jane Sugimura”, jumped in the race against House Minority Leader ”Lynn Finnegann”, R-Halawa. The reason that is so surprising — Sugimura was just under fire nationally in the media for admitting that Hawaii’s Democratic Party participated in a money-laundering scheme to benefit a mainland Democratic candidate. ”’The Associated Press”’ broke the story that involved Democrat parties in three states. Constituents could look at her in a positive light — while she brought a lot great deal of negative attention to the party locally and nationally, at least she was honest enough to admit the money laundering was occurring.
*”Walter Heen” is one of more than two-dozen candidates running for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Heen, a former state judge and head of the Hawaii Democratic Party, was one of the five authors in 1997 of the Broken Trust, the essay published by the ”’Honolulu Star-Bulletin”’ that exposed the wrongdoing at the Bishop Estate and within Hawaii’s political environment. The essay pushed forward a state investigation into corruption and wrongdoing within the trust, which resulted in the 5 powerful trustees being removed, and exposed a