In the closest of three races for open seats, the East Maui residency district, Bill Medeiros had a safe lead over Sam Kalalau III, 15,839 to 14,092, after the second printout but with fewer than half the total of votes cast.
Incumbent Joe Pontanilla was in the closest race among the three incumbents who had opposition. He also was getting fewer than half the votes but was solidly ahead of Lance Collins, 16,912 to 14,871, in the race for the Kahului residency seat.
In the other open seats, former Maui Economic Opportunity executive Gladys Baisa had a huge lead over county planner Paul Fasi, 22,252 to 5,871, for the Upcountry residency seat, and former county fair director Mike Victorino also had an insurmountable lead with 22,522 votes to 5,667 for businessman Rogelio "Rudy" Cabebe Sr., who did little campaigning, for the Wailuku residency seat.
Kalalau said he considered his race, too, was "against an incumbent." Medeiros is not an officeholder, but he had the endorsement of Council Member Robert Carroll, who chose to retire.
Kalalau was not disheartened to be trailing after the first printout, but he also was not sticking around for the parties where partisans were on tenterhooks waiting for the second and third printouts. These were delayed because of problems at some polling places on Oahu.
Kalalau said after the first printout, which was released around 7:30 p.m., that he would be heading back to Hana.
"I need to work tomorrow," he said.
He is a supervisor in the county roads department. He planned to go out today to observe work on a temporary replacement for the Paihi bridge, which has been closed.
He noted that there was a fairly high percentage of blank votes in the East Maui race – about one in six.
"I guess they don’t know the issues between me and Medeiros," said Kalalau.
He said he expected to do better in the later reports, because of his support among working people, who probably went to the polls late. He did but still had less than 40 percent of the votes with 41 of 43 precincts reporting.
Incumbents Michelle Anderson, Danny Mateo and Riki Hokama faced no opposition to continue representing, respectively, South Maui, Molokai and Lanai.
Of the three incumbents who faced competition, Pontanilla was in the tightest race. He and Collins also squared off two years ago for the Kahului residency seat.
Before seeing the second printout, Collins said he was encouraged that "compared to two years ago, we are in a much stronger position." Collins closed the gap a little in the second printout, but Pontanilla was polling about 46 percent. With more than 12 percent of ballots in that race blank, that was a comfortable lead over Collins’ 41 percent.
Two other races were runaways as West Maui incumbent Jo Anne Johnson swamped Deidre Rockett by 23,180 to 6,343, and incumbent Mike Molina led Pat Borge 22,469 to 8,731 for the Makawao-Haiku-Paia residency seat.
The unopposed candidates ran, in effect, against blank. Anderson polled 22,579 against 13,832 blanks. Hokama led blank by 24,281 to 12,130. Mateo beat blank by 25,068 to 11,345.
It was notable that while there were only 2 percent blank votes in the mayoral race, there were at least 14.3 percent blanks in the council races. In the closest council race, Medeiros vs. Kalalau, there were nearly 18 percent blanks.
Pontanilla, at his campaign headquarters at Maui Mall, said that if he returns to the council, he will push two items specially: a lighting ordinance to protect seabirds and research telescopes; and something to control downhill bicycle tours.
First, though, he said, a traffic study to determine the precise impacts of bike tours needs to be completed.
After the first printout, Molina had two-thirds of the votes over Borge but said he was "not counting his chickens."
In the second printout, his lead contracted, but he still had more than 61 percent.
Borge was not conceding early. "I’m a competitor. Cowboys have a saying: they didn’t let out the last steer yet."
With six incumbents returning and Medeiros, an ally of Carroll, leading, it looks as if the 2007-09 County Council will be much like the 2005-06 council.
Molina, sampling wontons and lumpia prepared by his wife while they waited for a more definitive return, said, "I look forward to working with all three of the new members. Their hearts are in the right place."
Molina said he expected "a better relationship" next year between the council and incoming Mayor Charmaine Tavares.
"I sense the lines of communication will be open more" and the relationship between the mayor and council will "be less contentious."
One obvious difference, he said, would be the work force housing bill, passed by the council last week against a promised veto by Mayor Alan Arakawa.
Since Tavares strongly supported that bill in the council, she and the council should be working together on implementing it.
Baisa, the longtime executive director of Maui Economic Opportunity, said she was overwhelmed with the second printout results and attributed her success to her campaigning efforts.
"I’m so excited and very grateful for all the people who have helped me. We ran a really hard campaign and we worked so hard throughout the county," she said.
She said that as a council member she is looking forward to tackling tough matters such as affordable housing and water issues.
"I’m going to work on all the issues and represent the people best I can," she said.
At at victory party at ILWU headquarters in Wailuku, newcomer Medeiros stressed the importance of creating positive connections with council members and other legislators.
"If I’m elected to the council, I would first of all like to facilitate and forge good partnerships between myself and other council members, between the mayor, the state and congressional team," he said.
He said that working to create affordable housing would be among his top priorities.
"The affordable housing issue is urgent and I want to be a council member to pursue that vigorously. Our residents deserve more and should be able to afford their own house, but they can’t right now," he said.
Pontanilla said he considered the three newcomers – Baisa, Victorino and Medeiros – "all independent thinkers."
"It’s good to have somebody come from the water board slot," he added, meaning Victorino, who was board chairman.
Victorino said he was "ecstatic and very happy" with the results.
After the second printout, he had the highest percentage of total votes of any council candidate, 70.1 percent.
"Wow!" he said. "This is really overwhelming and so gratifying and I’m just so thankful to all the supporters."
He added, "If I’m elected I need to keep going and fulfill the commitments I made to the people. That’s when the hard work starts."
He, too, said that creating affordable housing for Maui residents is among top priorities for the county.
"Affordable housing has been in the forefront and I want to see it through," he said.
Johnson commended her opponent and said that she was happy to see a younger person becoming involved in politics. Rockett is 28.
"I’m hoping young people are interested to run for office and that they will encourage other young people to go out and vote and be a part of the process," Johnson said from the Akaku studio.
She said that if elected, she will continue to be the "voice of the people."
"I’ve been successful because my voice is like the average person on the street. I’m an advocate for what the people want and will continue to make sure that those issues are heard," Johnson said.
A Baisa campaign supporter said the winning candidate was "on the road" and unavailable to comment on her victory in the Upcountry contest.
Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com. Lehia Apana can be reached at lehia@mauinews.com.