Candidates for Senate District 4 and County Council districts 1 and 9 laid out their platforms in Waimea Thursday night. In a speed-dating format, candidates moved from table to table and had face to face discussions with about 50 residents on topics ranging from roads to agriculture. Among the District 9 Council candidates, Ronald Gonzales of Waikoloa and Honokaa said he wasn’t necessarily happy with the representation thus far. “I don’t feel everyone’s voice is being heard. I don’t get a lot of sense of cooperation,” said Gonzales, manager of Sansei Restaurant and former chairman of the Windward Planning Commission. Gonzales is running on a platform of renewable energy and smart growth, self sufficiency and backing the island’s farmers and ranchers so they can compete with products being shipped in. “If we want to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, we have to go geothermal,” he said.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 19:00:01 +0000