Years ago, while covering one of then-Maui County Councilmember Jo Anne Johnson’s reelection campaigns, I made the mistake of asking her challenger what she disliked about Johnson’s record. “I love Jo Anne Johnson,” she said and refused to say anything bad about her opponent.
Needless to say, Johnson won that race. At the Haiku Community Association’s July 17 candidates forum at Haiku Community Center, I found to my delight that Barbara J. Haliniak, who’s running against state House Rep. Mele Carroll, D–13th District (pictured above), isn’t squeamish about expressing her dislike for the incumbent.
In just a few minutes, Haliniak–a Molokai resident–told the couple dozen people at the forum that Carroll was of no help in recent negotiations with Young Brothers over fee increases, didn’t help in matters involving harbor security for residents and just generally didn’t communicate with her. Carroll, clearly enraged, denied all of Haliniak’s charges.
For fun, here’s a very abridged transcript of the good stuff from that exchange:
HALINIAK: “Communication, communication, communication is what we don’t have today.”
CARROLL: “You’re hearing a lot of half-truths… I’m just appalled. I try to be very positive in everything I do and I never attack people.”
HALINIAK: “I don’t know where she’s getting her story from… This is the reason why I’m running. There’s no communication.”
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