Baker leads Couch for Senate seat

The Maui News
Wednesday, November 03, 2004

By VALERIE MONSON and CLAUDINE SAN NICOLAS, Staff Writer

WAILUKU – In what began as a tense race and ended with a bitter taste, Democratic incumbent Roz Baker held a surprisingly wide lead over her determined challenger, Republican Don Couch, after the second printout Tuesday night in the battle for the 5th Senate District seat.

With seven of the 11 precincts reporting, Baker was well in front, leading 5,227 to 3,765, for 56 percent of the vote. While hardly ready to claim victory, the incumbent was certainly breathing easier than she had been two years ago at the same time when she had fallen behind Couch by five votes after the second report. She later rallied to eke out a victory by just 307 ballots.

"It’s great, but I want to see the final numbers," said a cautiously optimistic Baker from the Lahaina Jodo Mission, where her supporters had gathered. "I’ve been in these races before and I’ve had to come from behind. I know Don is holding out hope, but I feel comfortable."

Couch was, indeed, keeping his fingers crossed.

"We’re still hanging in there, there are still four precincts out and they’re typically some of our big ones," he noted. "Of course, we’re a little disappointed. We’re down 1,500 votes and that will be tough to make up."

The other Democratic incumbent in the state Senate, J. Kalani English, was in even more command with nearly 70 percent of the vote going his way. With 11 of 19 precincts counted in the 6th Senate District, English, who survived an attack mailer and some other bad publicity late in the campaign, hauled in 7,413 votes to 2,901 (26 percent) for Republican Pastor Robb Finberg. Green Party recycling advocate Shaun Stenshol brought up the rear with 276 votes (2.5 percent).

English’s reaction was simple and ecstatic.

"Wow!" he cried following news of the second set of results.

The Baker-Couch showdown was among the most-watched Senate races in the state and one of only two that some political observers expected the Republicans had a chance at grabbing. It was also one of the contests that the Hawaii Republican Party targeted with a last-minute mailer that portrayed Baker as allowing drug dealers to return to the streets to prey upon upstanding residents.

"If there’s a nail in the coffin, it was that last mailer the Hawaii Republicans did," she said. "A lot of people told me they felt that was over the top. We ran a positive campaign and I spent a lot of time, effort and money to convey to the voters what I did for them and I think that counts for something."

Couch said he had nothing to do with the flier and apologized to Baker. On election night, he didn’t know what effect it had on his large deficit.

"It’s hard to say," acknowledged Couch. "We had negative comments, but we had others say that shouldn’t hurt us. We didn’t want it to come out, but it did."

After Couch lost to Baker by the narrowest of margins in 2002, he immediately decided to regroup and run again. He got an unexpected boost – when newly elected Mayor Alan Arakawa appointed him as an executive assistant – that was made sweeter when Couch was assigned to handle problems in West and South Maui, the very district of the senate seat he coveted.

Baker said she felt that voters wanted a candidate with more experience and a broader platform.

"All Don campaigned on was local school boards, and my polls showed that wasn’t that big of a thing with our constituents," she said. "And he tied himself so close to Linda (Lingle)."

The governor posed with Couch in his advertisements, appeared with him at fund-raisers and applauded him on her last-minute blitz across Maui Monday.

If the results hold with Couch and other Republican lawmakers losing, Baker said it would be a "sizable defeat" for Lingle.

Baker said Maui voters, even if they belong to a party, still prefer to think for themselves.

"I think there are people who support Linda Lingle who voted for me. I know there are because I know who they are," said Baker. "They want who’s going to be able to do something for the district. They know my reputation and ability. It was real clear that Don was going to be a rubber stamp (for Lingle)."

Baker said she believed voters like what the Legislature did to begin the restructuring of the Department of Education.

"They wanted us to do something that could get more resources, more teachers into the schools and we did," she said. "We made a significant change."

English agreed with Baker that voters were looking more at the individual candidate than the party.

"I think the people are sending a very clear message," he said from Democratic headquarters. "I can really work across all party lines – Green, Democrats and Republicans."

Finberg was gracious in defeat.

"I didn’t expect to win," said the pastor of Grace Church in Pukalani, adding that he "thoroughly enjoyed" campaigning. "I think it was one of the best experiences of my life."

The race also was tainted by a negative mailer when Finberg sent out a flier last month to some 7,000 registered women voters in the 6th District, suggesting that English granted criminals with drug-related charges a "Get Out of Jail Free" card by voting in favor of a bill that passed the House.

English responded by accusing Finberg of distorting the facts about the legislation, which was vetoed by Gov. Linda Lingle and then enacted as Act 44 via an override by the Democratic majority in the Legislature. Act 44 allowed judges the discretion to grant probation to nonviolent repeat drug offenders, while increasing jail time for drug dealers and manufacturers. A separate piece of legislation, also approved by the Democratic majority including English, increased funding for drug treatment for criminals.

"I think it had an effect because people were calling me and saying thank you for voting (for House Bill 2003)," English said. "It’s a good indicator that negative campaigning doesn’t work."

The incumbent was also criticized for accepting five free rides on Hawaii Air Ambulance, another incident that appeared to have been raised, at least in part, by a Finberg supporter who was once a pilot for the company. English said he saw nothing wrong with what he did since the plane was not making special trips for him, only allowing him to ride along.

Valerie Monson can be reached at vmonson@mauinews.com. Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.

Copyright © 2003 — The Maui News

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