EDITORIAL
Candidates should earn their name recognition

With the primary election just weeks away, campaign placards are sprouting like mushrooms after a monsoon.

In fact, Hawai'i is about to get so cluttered with, well, names, that the Outdoor Circle environmental group was considering challenging the excessive use of campaign placards.

But the plan was dropped amid concerns that any role the Outdoor Circle employs in political campaigns might jeopardize its nonprofit status.

So we'd like to step in and encourage politicians to exercise some restraint when you plaster your name around the Islands.

Yes, we know it's tough to hold back when you're trying to establish name recognition and we know that lawn posters are protected free speech.

And we also know that in Hawai'i — where names oftentimes betray one's pedigree — plenty of voters will support candidates just because they're members of certain 'ohana or ethnic groups.

But isn't that a lazy approach? Names unto themselves don't mean a whole lot; but attach them to good deeds and an innovative platform and voters will pay attention.

What if candidates got their name recognition by holding community meetings to learn about their prospective constituents' concerns?

And what if voters really got to know the candidates before giving them their golden votes?

So let's see real candidates out in the neighborhoods, instead of just their names on a stick.