Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
Contents
Read the 2020 Fall-Winter Newsletter as a PDF.
- President's Message
- Event Details: LWVHC Program Planning Meeting with Guest Speaker Mayor Mitch Roth
Jan. 16, 2020 via Zoom. Open to Public.
Program Planning Materials - Summary: Fall 2020 General Membership Meeting
- Invitation to Serve on LWV of Hawai`i County Board of Directors
- League Completes Successful Voter Registration Drives
- Hawai`i Has Most Voters Ever in 2020 General Election
- Member Introduction: Our Treasurer, Carolyn Murray
- Women's March - Gender Justice, Racial Justice and Economic Justice
- Hawai`i State League of Women Voters Fundraiser
- 2020 Elections and Vote 411 Were Smash Hits
- Event: Biennial LWV State Convention - May 22, 2021
- Event: Free Virtual Policy & Advocacy Training Series (online)
- Daughter of Former President of LWV of Hawai`i County Wins Nobel Prize
- LWVHC Subdivision Governance Study
- Membership: Update, Application & Renewal Form
Read the 2020 Fall-Winter Newsletter as a PDF.
1) President's Message
Wishing Our Members and Friends Happy Holidays and a Bright New Year!! Currently all meetings of the LWVHC are held virtually via zoom during this time of COVID-19.
The League of Women Voters of Hawai'i County educates and advocates for voters, knowing that the leaders you elect make the decisions that affect YOU -jobs, healthcare, energy costs, security, and more.
Every January, League members do "Program Planning" for the following year. "Program" is the League term for issues that members have chosen for study and action. Program Planning involved reviewing the League's advocacy positions to consider. Our Program Planning Meeting will be held on January 16, 2021 at 10am. Mitch Roth, our newly elected mayor, will be our featured speaker. I'd like to craft some questions which we can ask him after his presentation. Please email me with any questions that we can vet/tweak as needed so questions are appropriate.
The purpose of the LWVH Convention is to inspire and empower members to increase their active and informed participation in civic life. If you are interested in helping and chairing this convention planning committee, please email me. lwvhawaiicty [at] gmail.com
Many thanks to those who have given their time, energy, and good attitudes to make Democracy Work.
My wish is that you all have happy holidays with loved ones and that the New Year brings health, and a renewed energy to continue our work for the common good through good government.
Best regards
Rosemarie Muller
2) Event: LWVHC Program Planning Meeting w/ Guest Speaker Mayor Mitch Roth
3) Summary: Fall 2020 General Membership Meeting
Our Fall General Meeting was held on 11/21/20. After the officers presented their reports we heard from our featured speaker, Valerie Poindexter, Hawai’i County Council representing District #1. The title of her presentation was “The Future of Women in Politics on the Big Island" (click here for video of her presenation).
She shared an inspirational history of the women’s suffrage movement in Hawai’i and the contributions of amazing women who paved the way for the women and men in leadership on the Big Island.
She urged the audience to remember and appreciate the women who had the passion and the perseverance to fight for civil rights and the right to vote and urged them to continue their legacy today. [Back to Top]
4) Invitation to Serve on LWV of Hawai`i County Board
We all know how powerful the League can be in impacting our personal lives, how important it can be to strenthen our leadership skills, and how vital it is in making a genuine difference in our communities on issues we care about. It is with that spirit and pride that we invite you to serve on the League of Women Voters of Hawai`i County Board as an officer or director. If you are interested or want to nominate another LWVHC member, please contact the Nominating Committee: Linda Arlington, Helen Hemmes or Donna Oba. [Back to Top]
5) League Completes Successful Voter Registration Drives
6) Hawai`i Has Most Voters Ever in 2020 General Election
7) Member Introduction: Our Treasurer, Carolyn Murray
Our treasurer, Carolyn Murray was born in “Deep South” Monroe, Louisiana. She has one older sister. While the regional inequality for blacks was an “institution” Carolyn and her sister’s parents taught them that all people are equal and that no race or culture was better than another.
Her higher education resulted in a baccalaureate from Louisiana State University in English, followed by a master’s degree in taxation from Golden Gate University. She and her life partner both augmented their graduate education in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked in corporate tax department for Morgan Stanley, in San Francisco,
After Morgan Stanley offices moved to New York City, Carolyn worked for the University of California system in the tax department and performed internal audits. See how lucky we are to have such a specialist as our treasurer! She and her partner both had careers in the Bay Area for 35 years.
The world events which most affected Carolyn were the assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., the women’s’ movement in the 70s, 9/11, and the current political climate.
Our current LWVHC president, Rosemarie Muller recruited Carolyn to join our branch. Some of the other organizations with which Carolyn has connections are AAUW Hilo, as an AARP volunteer tax preparer in Hilo, and as a current board member of the Hawaii Pacific Parks Association.
Carolyn considers her greatest accomplishment has been quitting smoking, as real accomplishment in this time of Covid attacks on lungs. Also, it’s hard to smoke with a mask on.
She considers the LWVs mission is to inform the public on the importance of participating in our democratic processes and in providing information and education.
Welcome Carolyn, and thanks for serving in the challenging position of treasurer, though with your background, it may seem like a “piece of cake.” [Back to Top]
8) Women's March - Gender Justice, Racial Justice and Economic Justice
9) Hawai`i State League of Women Voters Fundraiser
The time has come for the League of Women Voters of Hawai`i's Annual Fundraiser. We are asking for your continued and generous financial support to maintain our mission in Hawai`i. We hope that you will consider making a donation in your own name, or perhaps extending a donation as a gift to a friend or family member this holiday season.
While it has been a tumultuous year, the LWV of Hawai`i State has continued our advocacy to Make Democracy Work. From supporting local league voter registration to ballot education through VOTE411, the LWVHI has been busy throughout the 2020 election cycle.
Your generosity allows the LWVHI to develop and expand the important civic community work we do in our state. We are asking for your contribution as we continue to improve upon voting systems and protect voting rights and ballot access in Hawai`i. Your donation will sustain the LWVHI as we advocate for good governance issues in our state. It is through the valuable sukpport of wonderful contributors like you that the League continues in its mission to Make Democracy Work.
Mahalo for your past and continued support to Empowering Voters and Defending Democracy. And if you would like to include this print-out (below), they can make a donation and share it with a family member.
-- Illona Carlson [Back to Top]
10) 2020 Elections and Vote411 Were Smash Hits
11) Event: Biennial LWV State Convention - May 22, 2021
12) Event: Free Virtual Policy and Advocacy Training Series - November 2020 - January 2021
13) Daughter of Former President of LWV of Hawai`i County Wins Novel Prize
Photo: L to R: Helen Hemmes, Barbara Iwami, Jennifer Doudna, Jennifer's son, Dorothy Doudna (2005)
On October 7, Don and I were thrilled to learn that Dr. Jennifer A. Doudna, along with co-researcher French microbiologist Emanuelle Charpentier, was awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry. Why am I sharing this news? Long-time members of the LWV-Hawaii County may recall that her mother, Dorothy Doudna, was an active member of our League and that she served as president twice and co-president once in the 1980s , and her father, Dr. Martin Doudna, was a professor of English at UH-Hilo. We were close friends. Dr. Jennifer Doudna and her two sisters all attended Hilo High School, and all three now live on the mainland.
Don has shared that when Jennifer was an undergraduate at Pomona she asked Don if she could get some research experience in the Biology Laboratory. Jennifer was able to use the University’s transmission electron microscope and was fascinated to see inside a cell and explore how organelles functioned in the life of the cell. Don was impressed with her work ethic and fascination with how cells function and science as a whole. He followed her progress through graduate school and years later, in December 1995, when we visited Martin and Dorothy at their home a few days before Martin’s passing, Don told Martin that he thought Jennifer would be awarded a Nobel Prize at some point—and that was even before the research on Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) was published and acknowledged worldwide.
What an honor and privilege to know someone formerly from Hilo, Hawaii, who has been honored with a Nobel Prize in chemistry! If you want to read a fascinating book, order a copy of A Crack in Creation –Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg, Mariner Books 2018.
-- Helen Hemmes [Back to Top]
14) LWVHC Subdivision Governance Study
Covid restrictions have somewhat curtailed interviews for the study, though the aim is still to do one interview per week. Five have been completed since our September newsletter. The roads and adherence or non-adherence to the County plans for the different districts have been continuing concerns, as is the use of associations’ funds. Some subdivisions’ board members end up in the courts.
Newly re-elected Councilman Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder continues to distribute copies of the paper questionnaire in his district. An interview with him is scheduled in December.
The goals of the study continue to be:
(1) To discover levels of transparency of each subdivisions’ governing body;
(2) To assess accountability to stakeholders related to financial matters and records;
(3) To learn of the clarity of communication via website, public notices, signage, etc.
(4) To evaluate adherence to bylaws and other legal responsibilities;
(5) To assess election processes for leadership positions and discover the process for responsibility to stakeholder grievances;
(6) To compile and aggregate responses to a questionnaire related to the foregoing; and
(7) To empower subdivision associations.
To either complete a questionnaire or secure one to give to someone else, or if a LWVHC member has a recommendation for an interviewee, please contact Margaret Drake via LWVHC at lwvhawaiicty [at] gmail.com . [Back to Top]
15) Membership Update, Membership Application & Renewal Form
We Now Have 82 Members!!!
The League is open to all men and women over 16 years old who subscribe to the purpose and policy of the LWV.
League Members help with registration events, educating voters about the issues and candidate information. They also help to fight voter suppression and advocates for fair redistricting and of course .....VOTE.
Let's welcome our newest members:
Barbara Cigainero, Mark Dalton, Shirley David, Lisa Faulkner-Inouye, Chuck Greenfield, Christine Haller, Doug Haller, Lori Kim, James Klyman, Paula Koontz, Lorna Larssen-Jeyte, Brenda Luana Machado Lee, Elizabeth Pidgeon-Ontis, and Carey Yost
Thank you for continuing to be a supportive member of this important organization.
-- Rosemarie Muller [Back to Top]