Hawaii’s Berniecrats: From Volunteers To Candidates
Sen. Bernie Sanders excited lots of supporters in the Aloha State. At least five are now running for office.
As Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to shift the dominant paradigm in U.S. politics, the seeds of his revolution have been planted in Hawaii nei.
Sanders picked up 70 percent of the vote in the Democratic Presidential Preference Poll here by turning out the vote and lots of it. A handful of young folks (and some older ones, too) have been inspired by Sanders to run for for public office. They are the much-needed progressives that will begin to make his revolution a reality. The Sanders vote here seems to indicate that the revolution will bloom — if the media ever lets anyone know who the Berniecrats are so people can support them.
Hawaii鈥檚 mainstream media is giving very little attention to them, but I鈥檓 here to say that the future is here now. These are the vetted, new, , as vouched for by the thorough folks at . They also list some Hawaii among the ranks of the Berniecrats, if you鈥檇 like to check them out as well. Allow me to introduce you to the new folks!
Running for the 1st Congressional District, the seat for urban Honolulu, is retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Javier Ocasio. He was on active duty for nearly 15 years while serving in Hawaii, South Korea, Kentucky and Virginia and on a 15-month tour in Iraq. He was part of Occupy Wall Street. After that, he camped out in the streets of Washington, D.C., for three months in solidarity with the houseless people there.
He and his fellow protestors brought attention to the plight of the houseless, as well as rampant U.S. militarism abroad, domestic social injustices and general Wall Street greed and government corruption.
He has a natural charisma, a military can-do mentality to get things done and a true compassion and understanding of many progressive causes. He鈥檚 self funded for the most part and exhibits boundless energy. I鈥榙 be surprised if anyone who isn鈥檛 part of the establishment didn鈥檛 choose Ocasio — if the media actually bothered to hold a televised debate on the issues. I鈥檓 sure he must still have some surprises left for this election and will stay involved in electoral politics one way or another for years to come.
Former U.S. airman Randy Gonce is running for state representative for the greater Ewa area. He is running a disciplined campaign, seeking to grab the area鈥檚 share of military residents, lots of new Berners and enough of the large longtime Filipino vote to put him over the top.
His small army of supporters is sign waving, canvassing and phonebanking their hearts out, led by Gonce himself, who is pounding the pavement one long day after another, knocking on doors to introduce himself to voters. He鈥檚 been endorsed by the Sierra Club, the anti-GMO PAC Hawaii Center for Food Safety Action Fund, Progressive PAC, Hawaii Government Employees Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142, to name a few.
Dennis Miller (no relation to the Fox News comedian/commentator) is running for state representative for Waikiki. A day spa owner, longtime Waikiki resident and homeowner, Miller wants you to know that he is inspired by the possibilities of democracy. He also wants to push for single payer health care here.
He鈥檇 like to fully fund housing for the houseless and provide air conditioning for our schools, too. His handy color聽 also mentions his desire to legalize marijuana and raise the minimum wage to $18 an hour. International corporate domination bothers him, as do poisons from pesticides. (My guess is that his addresses more issues than anyone else’s on the history of Hawaii.)
Jen Ruggles is running for the Hawaii County Council from the once longtime Green Party stronghold of Puna. Currently endorsed by the Sierra Club, she was a part of the Pesticide Action Network, Voter Owned Hawaii and the University of Hawaii Hilo’s Global HOPE, which stands for Hawaii鈥檚 Organization for Peace and the Environment. I like to call her a one-woman Sanderstorm.
She actually qualified for the greatly diminished public matching funds program still limping along on the Big Island. The $1,585 match she qualified for sounds like a small price to pay for clean government if you ask me! Especially with Monsanto throwing around the big bucks in county races these days.
And last, but not least, Raina Whiting, a kindergarten teacher at Naalehu Elementary School, is running for Hawaii County Council for the South Kona to Kau to Volcano area of Hawaii Island. She has good progressive bonafides: legal advocate at Legal Aid Society, Local 5 UNITE/AiKea organizer, founding member and director of In The Streets (a human rights advocacy organization) and environmental advocate at Keep the Country Country/Defend Oahu Coalition.
Any questions? If so, contact the candidates, because you sure won鈥檛 find them covered very much by the mainstream media.
More importantly, the primary election is coming Aug. 13! If you want to help the revolution, get on it! Campaigns, at their most basic level, are made up of candidates (preferably good ones), money (usually lots of it), volunteers (hopefully dedicated ones who show up) and votes (hopefully enough to win). The general election is Nov. 8. Participate!
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