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Editor’s Note: This is the last in a series of articles on how the governor’s race is playing out on the neighborhood islands. Read what Chad found on his visits to Maui and the Big Island.

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Kauai was the one county won by Mufi Hannemann in the Democratic primary against Neil Abercrombie, albeit by just .

That conservative bent might make the Garden Isle fertile ground for Republican James “Duke” Aiona. Civil Beat visited to get a sense of the island’s political leanings.

It won’t be easy for the lieutenant governor to win a majority of the county’s 40,000 registered voters. He took barely 2,000 votes in the Republican primary, compared with the 7,000-plus that Abercrombie and Hannemann each garnered.

The island voted in landslide numbers for the last three Democratic candidates for U.S. president.

Linda Lingle, meantime, was whipped in her runs for governor in 1998 and 2002 on Kauai. Only in 2006 did she and running mate Aiona win the county, with 51 percent of the vote.

But Kauai has also elected Republican mayors Maryanne Kusaka and Bryan Baptiste in recent years. Though Kauai County elections are now nonpartisan, Baptiste’s widow, Annette, has endorsed Aiona.

Aiona also shares near identical views on social issues and fiscal accountability with Hannemann, suggesting that some Hannemann voters may cross over in the general election to vote Republican.

Kauai, according to Civil Beat research, is where Aiona polls best against Abercrombie.

Of note: Current Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr. has endorsed Abercrombie — after siding with Hannemann in the primary.

Read All About It

The Oct. 19 issue of newspaper — all 14 pages of it — offered a useful inroad into understanding Kauai’s politics.

Three of the four page-one stories involved the environment: St. Regis Princeville Resort’s settlement of a lawsuit over the death of endangered seabirds, a draft habitat conservation plan from the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and a mayoral and county council debate over “green” priorities.

A story inside reported on federal meetings scheduled in Kapaa and Waimea on protocol for sacred Hawaiian burial sites.

On the letters page, a Kilauea fisherman with a “Kanaka way of thinking” complained about “people that have no roots to the Islands” trying to manage Kauai County policies.

Of course, there was also plenty of coverage of high school sports (e.g., “Kauai’s Smith-Butac leaves it all on the field”).

An advertisement promoted a “Babies Halloween Parade” at Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

A paid political advertisement lauded Kauai County Council candidate Mel Rapozo, stating, “The ‘Westsiders’ of Kauai have not had an advocate or spokesperson on the council for a while now…(Rapozo) will be a constant reminder (that) we ‘Westsiders’ are not a bunch to be forgotten.”

And, a color ad from the Kauai Chamber of Commerce invited folks to a free debate that very night at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall between the governor candidates and the lieutenant governor candidates, moderated by local boy Ron Mizutani, now with KHON2 in Honolulu.

Civil Beat was in town for the debate, which was in the Oct. 20 edition of The Garden Island.

“The audience, which filled well over half of the 800 seats in the hall, also took the night with enthusiasm, cheering every time one of their candidates answered a question,” the paper reported.

Community, family, the environment, civic participation — that’s Kauai.

The Numbers

Kauai, the oldest of the main Hawaiian islands and the smallest (in population and geography) of the state’s four counties, is home to some 65,000 people. Kauai County includes Niihau, an island of about 200 people that is managed by the Robinson family and is off-limits to most outsiders — hence the nickname “The Forbidden Isle.”

Kauai is the Garden Isle, as verdant a paradise as there is on earth. Accordingly, tourism is responsible for about one-fourth of all jobs.

The largest employer is the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, with nearly 1,000 workers. Government is the second-largest employment sector.

Agriculture, led by sugar cane, was once king. Gay & Robinson Sugar Plantation closed doors for good two years ago, but efforts to burn cane for energy continue. The company is also involved in cattle ranching and seed corn. Guava, coffee and other crops are still cultivated.

Today, a major player is , formerly a plantation company owned by the Wilcox family, now a property management, economic development and renewable energy company owned by Steve Case, co-founder of America Online.

Another player is the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, on the dry and rural western shore near Barking Sands — so called, legend has it, because the sand sounds loudly when walked upon.

Kauai is an expensive place to live, particularly housing costs — the for a single-family home is $420,000 this year. But that’s down 30 percent from $600,000 in 2009, reflecting how hard Kauai has been hit by the state’s tourism downturn that began in 2008 and is only now showing signs of recovery.

Leroy Laney, an economist with Hawaii Pacific University, said last month that Kauai has been helped recently by the addition of direct flights from the mainland. But while tourism is on the mend, construction is “mostly in the doldrums.” It’s helped by $14 million in federal stimulus money.

A gallon of unleaded gasoline in Koloa in South Kauai was selling for $3.57, some 20 cents higher than in Honolulu. And The Garden Island — all 14 pages — sells for 75 cents, the same price as the much-fatter Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The Issues

Most Kauai voters care about the same issues that most Hawaii voters care about: the economy, jobs, health care, the environment, agriculture, education, energy. Those issues dominated the debate between Aiona and Abercrombie that night, as well as between running mates Lynn Finnegann and Brian Schatz.

But Kauai also has its own set of backyard concerns.

Jay Furfaro, vice chair of the Kauai County Council and a resident of Princeville on the North Shore, named three big issues on the island’s agenda: the county budget, solid waste management and affordable housing.

Furfaro, who is running for re-election (all county council seats are at-large, unlike in Hawaii’s other three island counties; there is also a charter amendment question to change terms from four two-year terms to two four-year terms), identified the budget as the biggest issue because of the decline in revenues from the state’s hotel tax and the drop in property tax assessments on homes.

“It’s not as severe as the past 24 months have been, but managing the revenue cycle is the No. 1 issue,” he said.

As for waste, there is still more than six years left on the county’s landfill in Kekaha, but Furfaro says the lengthy study, planning and development of a new site must start now.

“It’s crunch time to find one,” he said, adding that the favored site is behind a mountain range in the Hanamaulu area north of the main town of Lihue.

Furfaro, 62, who has been on the council since 2002, says what’s key to understanding Kauai is a general plan that only allows development in certain areas of the island — essentially, the four resort areas of Poipu, Lihue-Kalapaki, Kapaa-Wailua and Princeville.

Furfaro refers to it as the “coconut ordinance,” in that nothing can be built taller that 45 feet. (An exception is Wilcox Memorial.)

“It’s 25 feet on the North Shore,” he said, proudly. “We’ve had that for 20 years — it’s never been compromised.”

On the plate for the next council and mayor — Carvalho is favored to be re-elected, as are most council incumbents — is implementation of a transportation and sustainability plan agreed upon just this year. The plan, which involves heavier use of renewable energy, is largely the work of Furfaro and Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, a former mayor.

Both are Democrats.

But Furfaro credits Republicans Kusaka and Baptiste with “moving forward with vision” on sustainability, such as building a bike path around the island. He also claims county leaders have been able to collaborate more since elections were made nonpartisan in 2004.

“Protecting ag lands, housing issues, capping property taxes, regulating transient vacation rentals — these are not red or blue,” he says. “They involve a common sense of place.”

The Values

Which isn’t to say there aren’t strong differences of opinion when it comes to politics. There are.

Republican JoAnne Georgi, an Eleele resident who lost to state Sen. Gary Hooser in 2008 and in her party’s 2010 primary for the same Senate District 7 seat, says Kauai is much more conservative that many might think.

“I think for a long time people just voted the Democratic line without even thinking what people stand for,” she said. “What is happening now, with things like HB 444 (Hawaii’s vetoed civil unions bill), is that it has got people to say, ‘Wait a minute, where do my elected officials stand on the different issues?’ They are more involved in the issues then in the past two to four years.”

On the issue of religion, Georgi says, “I think the Christians need to rise up and say we need to vote for candidates and vote for ones they believe in. They do this only in isolated areas. I am Christian, and yes, I walk my talk. I feel Christians need to stand up and say this is right and this is wrong.”

Another issue that divided many residents was the now-defunct Hawaii Superferry, which protesters blocked from entering Nawiliwili Harbor on its maiden voyage in 2007.

“I personally felt it was for local people, but what you had was 200 to 300 people that protested, and they were very noisy about it,” said Georgi. “They punctured tires, attack people’s cars when coming off the Superferry. Come on! This is not Kauai.”

Georgi thinks Aiona will defeat Abercrombie, “though I have a feeling it’s going to be really close. It’s because I think he believes in the things the common average voters believe in. For example, he’s for limiting taxes. The taxes are killing us.”

Georgi and her husband, Bill Georgi, moved to Kauai from California 16 years ago. He went to work for ITT at Pacific Missile Range Facility, she for the visitor industry. Both were laid off this year.

Both Georgis, who are in their mid-50s, are now doing training with insurance company Aflac. JoAnne is helping Republican Phil Sterker in his campaign for Kauai House District 16, while Bill is chairman of the local GOP.

Bill Georgi says Republicans are growing in strength on Kauai. As evidence, he points to contested primaries for all four of Kauai’s seats in the state Legislature.

“Just a couple of years ago we had only one candidate running for office,” he says, referring to his wife. “The party is holding its state convention here in 2011.”

Georgi says another factor is that party chairman Jonah Kaauwai is a Kauai boy.

“There are a lot of people our here that are just disgusted,” said Bill Georgi, pointing to bad schools, a crumbling infrastructure and powerful labor unions. “We’ve had a number of Tea Parties here.”

Speaking of anger, The New York Times Oct. 23 that many Kauai residents are upset by a county decision to cancel evening school football games because the Friday night lights were drawing young endangered seabirds to their deaths. Apparently, Kauai’s green streak stops when it comes to island sports.

The Radio

How conservative is Kauai? Consider this: Three of the seven radio stations (at least the ones that could be heard in my rental car) on the FM dial are Christian themed, and one is a country station whose play list is heavy on God, family and country.

KESU 87.7 FM is a mix of Hawaiian music, Christian music and Bible studies.

KHJC 88.9 FM is all ministry, all the time.

KCSK 102.3 FM, owned by Kauai Christian Assembly, played songs like “Ten Simple Rules” — a bouncy ditty explaining the Ten Commandments.

KTOH 99.9 FM — “Rooster Country” — played songs like “Voices” from Chris Miller, which extols the wise council his family gave him — like saying prayers every night and putting money in the church collection plate.

The station also ran a political blurb that riffed on Sarah Palin’s line about Russia: “We can see 2012 from our living rooms.”

The one progressive-programmed station, KKCR 91.9 FM, is Kauai Community Radio. In addition to a playlist that included Hawaiian, jazz, rock, blues, reggae, classical and world music, it offers public affairs programming.

KKCR broadcasts Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now,” so its political bent seems clear. But Kauai’s airwaves are dominated by Christian sensibilities.

The western half of the island, meanwhile, features a lot of folks wearing cowboy boots. Nine of every 10 vehicles was a pickup truck, horses were a common site along Kaumualii Highway and parts of the highway were so flat and dry it looked a lot like western Kansas.

A big employer in the area, besides the missile range, is Syngenta, a mainland-based agri-business company.

Meanwhile, lots of real estate has been gobbled up by folks from California looking for second homes. Many bring political views that sometimes don’t easily blend with local ways.

The Heart

How conservative is Kauai?

“I would say conservative, but it’s more traditional, perhaps,” says Daynette Morikawa, the Democrat facing Republican Phil Sterker in the District 16 race. “I think the backers of Democrats are the older people, and younger people moving in are not that active. A lot of people are more enviromental people. It’s not too extreme. There is more people in the middle.”

Morikawa, 54, defeated Rep. Roland Sagum in the primary — the only Democratic incumbent to lose a seat.

Asked if civil unions played a role in her victory — she supports HB 444, Sagum voted against it — Morikawa said what most voters cared about was a candidate who listened to their concerns.

“It’s also not about party but about the person, knowing them and so forth,” said Morikawa, who goes by Dee and who works for Kauai’s Department of Parks & Recreation. “You have to understand that Kauai doesn’t like change. We have a hard time dealing with it.”

Point in case: the Superferry.

How did Mufi Hannemann do so well in the primary, and why does Aiona stand a chance of winning the general?

Morikawa gives an explanation that few will utter publicly: race.

“A lot of Mufi people jumping on that Aiona campaign may have a lot to do with Hawaiian versus Caucasian,” she said. “That’s just my opinion. There is racism everywhere, but the unique thing about Hawaii is that a lot of people know each other because they are connected by families — not necessarily blood but hanai families. There is respect for uncles and aunties.”

Morikawa was not endorsing voting on the basis of race. But she says the fact that Abercrombie and Schatz are white, while Aiona is Hawaiian and Finnegan is Filipino, can’t help but be a factor to some voters in a small community.

“Haole versus Hawaiians — they won’t say it, but that has something to do with it,” she said.

Morikawa continued: “I am not a politician, just a person who has worked a long time in county government. I know people, I understand the issues most of the time. Something I say may be something politically incorrect, but what comes from my mouth comes from my heart.”