ELECTION
Special Mink election less vote than lottery
With 40 candidates signed up to run in a special election to fill the remaining days of the late Patsy Mink's congressional term, the contest looks more like a lottery than an election.
And what, precisely, will the winner of this "lottery" be able to accomplish? If Congress comes back for a lame-duck session after the Nov. 5 regular elections and happens to still be in session, then the interim member of Congress may have a chance to cast a few floor votes.
Most other work of the Congress and of Mink's office presumably will be wrapped up by that time, since the holiday recess and then the swearing-in of a new Congress will be right around the corner.
Also, if the winner is sensible, he or she will keep most if not all of Mink's staff on duty for the remaining days. There is no point in bringing in a new group who might be out before they have even learned the ropes.
For those among the 40 who also have eyes on running for a full two-year term should Patsy Mink win the Nov. 5 election posthumously, this election could be worth something. That's because then there will have to be a second election to find a replacement for her full two-year term.
The winner of the short-term election, then, will hold the status of "incumbent," at least in the narrow sense, and would have a few weeks seniority on other entering freshman members of next year.
The last-minute entry of John Mink has been seen as a plot by the Democrats to hang on to the seat by appealing for a sympathy vote.
That may be so, but if it is, then the titular head of the party, Gov. Ben Cayetano, isn't going along. He says he wants to see candidates who are interested in going beyond those 30 remaining days.
John Mink says emphatically that he isn't interested in the full term, that he simply wants to honor the work of his wife and make sure it does not come to an abrupt end.
That's a reasonable goal, and one that could have been accomplished without the expense and pointless drama of this largely irrelevant election.
