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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, June 26, 2009

14 candidates on ballot for council


By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Former state Sen. Matt Matsunaga signed his nomination papers yesterday at the city clerk's office for the District 5 special election.

KENT NISHIMURA | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Former state Sen. Matt Matsunaga was among three people filing candidacy papers for the City Council's 5th District seat yesterday, completing the field of 14 candidates for the Manoa-Kapahulu seat by the 4:30 p.m. filing deadline.

Matsunaga, 50, served in the state Senate from 1992 to 2002 representing an area that includes much of the 5th District. The son of the late U.S. Sen. Spark Matsunaga, the Mo'ili'ili resident is a practicing business attorney.

The 5th District seat was left vacant when Duke Bainum died June 9 from complications of an aortic aneurysm.

The mail-in special election to take place in the coming weeks will be to fill the remaining 3 1/2 years of the term.

Matsunaga joins former City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi as the two candidates in the field with elected office experience.

A Manoa resident and also a former state senator, the 72-year-old Kobayashi held the seat from 2003 to 2008, when she decided against running for re-election and took on an unsuccessful bid to unseat Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

Two other candidates are the offspring of community leaders.

Palolo resident Heidi Bornhorst, 51, is a horticulturist and the daughter of Marilyn Bornhorst, who served on the City Council from 1975 to 1988 and whose district included much of what is now the 5th District before boundaries were changed.

Kapi'olani resident Nathaniel Kinney, 29, is legal counsel for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 50. His father, Lynn Kinney, heads that union.

Kapahulu resident George Waialeale, 61, also has union ties. He was former manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Other candidates:

  • Michael Cain, 43, of St. Louis Heights, an environmental planner for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

  • Wendell S.L. Ching, 67, of Manoa Valley, a retired shipyard worker and chairman of one of the city's real property tax review boards.

  • Gladys Hayes, 77, a retiree and member of the Palolo Neighborhood Board.

  • Philmund Lee, a veteran legislative staff member at the state Capitol, who listed a University of Hawai'i-Manoa address.

  • Keolu Peralto, 32, a flight attendant, of Kapahulu.

  • James Quimby, 62, a case manager for seniors, of Manoa.

  • Phillip Rockwell, 33, an information technology government contractor, of St. Louis Heights.

  • Jacques "Butch" Sims, 36, a consultant, of Kaimuki.

  • Earl Winfree, 67, of lower Makiki, a commercial pilot, former police officer and insurance executive.

    About 48,000 ballots are to be mailed July 17 to registered voters in the district. Voters need to mail them back by 6 p.m. on Aug. 7.