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There’s no doubt that the emotionally charged issue of genetically modified organisms and concerns over the pesticides that major biotech companies spray on the fields they lease in Hawaii drove many neighbor-island residents to the polls Tuesday.

Less clear is what to make of the election results.

All of the incumbents who ran for office on Maui and Big Island won another term. That holds true on Kauai for races at the state level, but voters uprooted the power structure of their seven-member county council.

Voters on Tuesday sent every incumbent who sought re-election in a state legislative race on the neighbor islands back for another term. That was the trend at the council level too, save for Kauai.

Brian Tseng/Civil Beat

Last year, Kauai became the first of the three neighbor island counties to adopt a law placing tougher restrictions on the GMO seed companies that operate in the isles, which include Monsanto, Syngenta, Pioneer, DowAgro Sciences and BASF.

Two of the council members who supported that legislation, known as Bill 2491, lost their bids for another two-year term.

Kauai County Council Chair Jay Furfaro, a mostly level-headed leader known for his business acumen, finished eighth — just 92 votes away from winning a seat.

Councilman Tim Bynum ended up 12th out of the 14 candidates running in the general election. He and Councilman Gary Hooser, who barely secured the seventh seat, introduced Bill 2491, which increases the disclosure requirements for pesticide use and creates buffer zones around the fields where the big agribusinesses spray chemicals.

“Losing Councilmember Bynum — who was a friend and an ally and very smart — was a big blow.” — Kauai County Councilman Gary Hooser

First-time candidate Arryl Kaneshiro — a Grove Farm employee with a strong base of pro-GMO supporters on the rural westside where the seed companies are predominantly located — and KipuKai Kualii, a community organizer backed by labor groups, will be filling Bynum’s and Furfaro’s seats come December.

Kualii has served on the council before, but it’s the first time he’s been elected to a seat. He lost his bid in 2010, but was appointed to the council in 2011 to fill a vacancy. He lost his bid for re-election in 2012 and was dismayed by the council not appointing him last year when another vacancy opened up. The council instead chose Mason Chock to replace Councilwoman Nadine Nakamura, who stepped down to serve as his managing director.

Some view Kualii as a critical swing vote, but others see him as a rubber stamp for a new majority coalition that is expected to control the council.

The top vote-getter in the Kauai race was incumbent Mel Rapozo, a five-term member and former police officer who cast the lone “no” vote against Bill 2491 when the council initially passed it in October 2013.

He is strongly allied with Councilman Ross Kagawa, the next highest vote-getter. They were the only two to vote against overriding Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s veto of Bill 2491 last November.

Rapozo is the likely choice to replace Furfaro as chair if he secures the support as expected from Kaneshiro, Kagawa and Kualii, who together were the top four vote-getters.

Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, the longest-serving member with almost 18 years experience, had often voted together with Bynum. She finished fifth on Tuesday, followed by Chock.

“Did we lose our majority? Yeah, I think it’s fair to say we did,” Hooser said Wednesday. “Losing Councilmember Bynum — who was a friend and an ally and very smart — was a big blow.”

The Historic County Building on Kauai, where the county council meets.

Courtesy of Léo Azambuja

Hooser is concerned a new majority will make it difficult to regulate big businesses and control development, especially the growth of resorts on the east side.

The Kauai County Council heard a bill Wednesday, at the request of Rapozo and Kagawa, that would repeal the county’s GMO ordinance. Rapozo, who said he is concerned about pesticide use but just didn’t like the bill, considers the repeal a “housekeeping measure” given the federal court ruling in August that invalidated the law.

The council voted against the bill to repeal the law as the judge’s decision remains on appeal. The GMO law on Big Island has faced similar legal challenges and the seed companies said they’d sue over a newly approved Maui ban soon.

But the statewide election results ultimately demonstrate that “large chemical companies cannot buy elections,” Hooser said.

Maui voters narrowly passed an initiative to place a moratorium on GMO farming in the county, which was seen as a definitive stand against corporate influence in local politics given the millions of dollars big agribusinesses like DowAgro Chemical spent on TV ads to defeat the measure.

“This is the year that the other side had that GMO issue to get their people out to vote.” — Grant Gillham, Maui super PAC organizer 

And incumbents who have advocated for stronger regulations for GMO companies kept their seats. Namely, Maui County Councilwoman Elle Cochran, who represents West Maui, and Hawaii County Councilwoman Margaret Wille, whose district covers Hawi, Mauna Lani, Waikoloa, Waimea and Waikii.

Wille introduced a bill, which the Hawaii County Council approved in November 2013, that bans biotech companies from operating on the Big Island and prohibits any new genetically altered crops.

Cochran is an ardent supporter of GMO labeling and increasing the disclosure requirements for companies who spray pesticides. She supported Maui’s GMO initiative, but said it could be fine-tuned.

Wille and Cochran faced unprecedented spending by outside groups working to defeat them, but prevailed in the polls by a comfortable margin.

Maui Timeshare Ohana, a super PAC funded by timeshare owners, spent over $400,000 to oppose Cochran and incumbent Don Guzman and replace them with first-time candidate Kaala Buenconsejo and Joe Pontanilla. They also spent money supporting incumbent Mike White, who kept his seat.

The group’s concern wasn’t GMOs, but the issue may have affected its effort.

The timeshare owners feel excluded from the political process. Most live on the mainland, so they can’t vote in Hawaii but are affected by the decisions elected officials make, like creating what they consider to be an unfair tax rate for timeshares.

“I think (Maui Timeshare Ohana) did a great job on all of the races we engaged in,” said Grant Gillham, who runs a government affairs consulting business in Nevada and helped organize the super PAC for the timeshare owners.

He congratulated all the winners on “one of the most spirited local races run anywhere this year.” Ultimately, he said, the GMO issue got more Cochran supporters out to vote.

People on Maui wave signs on Election Day saying, “We get the poisons, they get the profits, prove it’s safe.”

Courtesy of Tommy Russo

Forward Progress, a super PAC run by Pacific Resource Partnership, poured almost $700,000 into local races on Maui, Big Island and Oahu. PRP is a partnership between unionized carpenters and contractors that lobbies for major projects that produce more jobs.

The group backed Buenconsejo, Pontanilla and White on Maui. They also spent money in support of Ron Gonzales, Wille’s opponent in the Hawaii County Council race.

In addition to those two super PACs, the airwaves were saturated statewide with ads telling voters to oppose the GMO initiative on Maui thanks to over $6 million in spending by a super PAC funded by Monsanto, DowAgro Chemicals and genetically engineered seed company supporters.

The election results confirmed geographic trends that island residents already know anecdotally.

Even though that was a Maui initiative, Hooser said candidates running in races on other islands felt its impact.

“That effort by the industry was run statewide for a purpose,” he said. “But given the significant resources that were brought to bear, Council members Wille, Cochran and Hooser all survived.”

With the lone exception of Kaneshiro, efforts to elect other first-time candidates — for or against GMOs — were unsuccessful on the neighbor islands unless they were running for an open seat.

Arthur Brun, a Syngenta employee, finished ninth in the Kauai County Council race. And Tiana Laranio, who helped organize community protests supporting Bill 2791, ended up 14th.

First-time candidate Dustin Barca, a former pro surfer involved in the anti-GMO marches, lost to Carvalho in the Kauai mayoral race by 27 percentage points.

The that island residents already know anecdotally. People living on the north shore of Kauai, for instance, voted overwhelmingly for candidates they believe are opposed to GMOs. It was the reverse for people on the westside.

Take the Hanalei Elementary School precinct as an example. If the election was decided by those voters, Kauai would be preparing for Barca as its next mayor and the council would not include Kagawa, Kualii or Kaneshiro.

If people who voted at Waimea Neighborhood Center decided the election, Carvalho would have won by an even larger margin and the council would not include Yukimura, Chock, Furfaro, Hooser or Bynum.