[Community Event] Mayor Candidate Forums, June 8, 9, 10, by Waimea Community Association

[Community Event] Mayor Candidate Forums, June 8, 9, 10, by Waimea Community Association

image of a red white and blue background with stars, saying "Candidate Forums 2020 League of Women Voters Oakland"

Location

Live Streaming on Facebook
US
Monday, June 8, 2020 - 5:00pm to Thursday, June 11, 2020 - 4:45pm

Virtual Mayoral Candidate Forums

June 8 - 9 - 10 from 5 pm - 7 pm Live Streamed on Facebook

To introduce voters to the crowded field of candidates running for Mayor for Hawai'i County -while heeding Covid-required social distancing - Waimea Community Association (WCA) will hold a series of virtual candidate forums from 5-7 p.m., Mon.-Wed., June 8-10, 2020 "live" on Facebook. All filed candidates for the Mayor's race have been invited, and to date, 11 are confirmed for what will be back-to-back interviews followed by questions submitted ahead of time by the community.

Questions are welcome before June 3, 2020 and may be submitted to: WaimeaCommunityAssociation [at] gmail.com ( ).
 
Candidates currently confirmed to participate in alphabetical order for each day include:
  • Monday, June 8: Neil Azevedo, Bob Fitzgerald, Wendell Kaʻehuʻaeʻa, Yumi Kawano, Mitch Roth and Mike Ruggles.
  • Tuesday, June 9: Kelly Greenwell, Grayden Haʻi-Kelly, Stacy Higa, Harry Kim and Tante Urban.
  • Wednesday, June 10: Michael Glendon, Ikaika Marzo, Ted Shaneyfelt
During these forums, candidates are asked to include North Hawai'i-specific issues, concerns and opportunities as well as island-wide issues.  

In between individual back-to-back candidate interviews, there will be brief presentations explaining the state's new VOTE BY MAIL process by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause Hawai'i and other non-partisan experts.   
 

HOW TO LOG IN TO WATCH THE FORUMS 'LIVE' ON FACEBOOK:

 
Go to www.Facebook.com/WaimeaCommunityAssociation about 4:55 p.m. and watch for a link that will be posted just at the start of the program. After the event, a YouTube link will be posted to WCA's FB page and website for replaying. 
 

HISTORY OF WCA CANDIDATE FORUMS

 
WCA has hosted candidate forums during election years since the 1970s. In recent years, WCA adopted a popular "speed dating" format that usually attracted 150-200 participants from across the North Hawai'i district.
 
Since congregate gatherings are not appropriate due to the Covid pandemic, WCA has moved to virtual meetings over the past month. The mayoral forums will be the first of several hosted by WCA throughout June and July in anticipation of the very important Sat., August 8, 2020 Primary Election when many local races are expected to be effectively decided.
 

FUTURE CANDIDATE FORUMS

 
WCA also will host a virtual candidate forum for County Council Districts 1 & 9 candidates at 5 p.m., Tues., June 23, 2020.  (Council Dist. 1 includes "wet side" Waimea to the east of Pu'unani IV Subdivision, and also east of White Road. Council Dist. 9 includes the rest of Waimea - "the dry side" - as well as North Kohala, Kawaihae, Puako and Waikoloa.)
     
Additional virtual forums are planned featuring candidates for US House of Representatives CD2, State House Dist. 7, Hawai'i County Prosecutor and two seats for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA).  Dates and times will be announced.