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MASON CHOCK for Kauai County Council
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Leadership Values Came First

7/21/2016

3 Comments

 

I have received a few inquiries regarding the recent appointment to the County Water Board.  Yes, I was one of six council members who confirmed Syngenta spokesperson, Beth Tokioka to the County Water Board, In short, I don't believe in condemning people because of their affiliations or philosophy, even if my ideals differ. It was a difficult decision as I would have preferred the mayor appoint an environmentalist, or irrigation specialist, or a cultural practitioner, however, In the years I've known the candidate, she has proven to be very competent as well as a person of high integrity. Her many years of exemplary community service makes her a good candidate to any board or commission.  The appointee has shown to be objective and a person who sees further than one issue. She sees clearly the issues this current water board faces in providing infrastructure needs to our island and the FRC challenges our housing crisis is facing.  As I said in my testimony, I don't pass judgement on the at risk youth I work with who come from a bad home or who's family has a bad reputation. I take them at what they say or agree to and what they follow through on. Call me naive and I realize its only a matter of time when I'll regret my decision to trust someone on their word, but I believe trust is gained and built in no other way but by allowing trust to occur. Beth made a promise to recuse herself from decisions specific to conflicting situations where pesticides or Grove Farm (Syngenta's leasor) were involved. I will hold her accountable to those promises and so will the public record. If she veers from it I will know and I will not support her further involvement. I saw this as an opportunity to take a step towards breaking down the silo between factions.  A much needed step to accomplish our collective goals.
Our boards and commissions process is not an optimum process as the council has no say in who the mayor puts forth and I question the boards and commissions process that we currently have. We need to amend the charter to ensure more specific, balanced representation and a more inclusive process.
As this relates to the ongoing GMO/Pesticide Battle: The pesticide issue has divided our community and this appointment re-ignites the polarization.  My approach to making positive progress In our community is by engaging those from all sides, especially those who see things differently from me. I believe I am the right person to do so. If we don't, we will always have opposition rather than understanding and respect.  Real solutions will be more difficult to achieve.  I'm making good progress at fostering the kind of farming we want which I hope will one day displace our current industrial farming operations, but I will not accomplish this with further division or battling in the courts.  G
iven the climate we are working in, I believe working at diversifying agriculture on the westside is the answer.  I have a group of young progressive westside organic Hawaiian farmers that I've been working with to get ADC land.   They intend to educate the new generation of farmers needed with the mindset for healthier and diversified agriculture by creating incubator programs.  This is how we create the change we want, by creating the model for people to choose.
I want to move us all along faster as an island, but I can only move as fast as the collective and Kauai is far behind.  To add, the divisiveness regarding the issue has completely divided leaders on the island which has made it more difficult to take simple steps to accomplish the common sense.  
On our still small island, I will do it by educating and shifting mindsets so the options our people have are healthy, feasible and a source of abundance. The island culture we live in needs successful models to believe in that they can trust. Once it's tangible, people will respond by choosing the obvious better options. Supporting the appointment was a tough decision for me and I had conflicting values at play. I'm sure I disappointed supporters who see only one way to address the chemical corporates, but in the end I couldn't get away from leadership ideals that my kupuna taught me. Their words were, "It is an inclusive future and we don't move forward unless it's together.  Speak the truth and be courageous, but don't veer from aloha "  I hope you can trust what I'm trying to accomplish.

3 Comments
Cherisse Eguchi
7/24/2016 12:42:32 am

Wow, sounds like leadership to me!
Your points in engaging people from all sides, moving forward collectively and giving people options to chose

With regards to the appointment to the Water Board, I was also concerned of the obvious conflict of interest, but, yes, holding appointee accountable sounds fair and gives us the people, time to see.

Shifts in mindset! Yes, like with any
issue, change can only happen by making changes and doing things differently. I applaud you, Mason Chock, for brining balance to government and for keeping Kauai's future and culture at the forefront.

Unfortunately, change is a process, only the visionaries may see the end result right now. Mahalo plenty for dedicating your time to Kauai.

Cherisse Eguchi
Kekaha, Kauai

Reply
Lonnie Sykos
7/26/2016 05:49:07 pm

Aloha Mason
I agree with your big picture statements about inclusion of different views, and that any personal issue with Beth is inappropriate.

I don't believe that lobbyists for special interests belong on our B&C's. Beth is a paid professional lobbyist.

That the mayor chose to inflame anti-chem passions is a separate issue, and his honors choice, but your supporting his decision to do so is solely your choice.

What is disappointing is that when the Council has the opportunity to put their votes where their mouths are, they don't. For example - the Council constantly opines about bad management decisions and the lack of accountability, yet the Council wasted two opportunities to force modernizing HR through the budget process.

That's the Council's power - you control the budget and can influence through funding how the administration manages our enterprise. But what the Council does is vote for funding pay-raises, instead of voting to fund HR reform by hiring contractors.

Likewise with your observations about our relatively useless B&C's, you opine you want a more varied public membership, but the Council consistently votes for insiders and patronage appointments rewarding political loyalty.

Has this Council rejected even one appointee, or are appointments merely rubber stamped after Council members pander for votes by failing to disagree with the administration traditions that have brought us so much public dissension and near to financial bankruptcy?

I invested my retirement life in the home I bought on Kauai. I came to Hawaii in 1973 as an educational refugee and was granted instate tuition because my home islands did not have higher education. I worked my way from charter boat deck hand to ships master, and from home gardener to commercial poultry & hog farmer, then switched crops to tropical flowers. Everything I have , I earned, and I'm loath to lose it to taxation to fund pay raises for serial miss-management by the administration..

Watching this County rapidly self-destruct financially and politically is not how I want to spend my senior years, and a bankrupted corporate controlled island is not the legacy I wish to leave the next generations.

I do appreciate that my views are mine alone, and I don't claim to represent any one else. You still will have my vote in November. Imua.
Lonnie

Reply
Ricky Cassiday
10/24/2016 12:37:55 pm

As a father whose children have put me through the fire of growing up, (and, smile, vice versa) I can relate to your words about trust having to be given before it gets earned. Malama pono

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    I find that sharing viewpoints  on a blog is difficult because of the complexity of each issue being discussed and the potential  loss of objectivity that can occur through anonymous comments which often lead to online bashing. I am an advocate of face to face interactions where clarity has a greater opportunity to thrive.  However,  I've put a blog together to offer a venue to share and discuss the many important points of view on issues because I believe it is an important medium to begin dialogue on our most pressing issues facing us today and in the future.  I will reserve the right to eliminate negative comments that do not bring us to increased understanding and clarity with aloha.     

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