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Ann Kobayashi
Ann Kobayashi was a member of the Honolulu City Council in Hawaii, representing District 5. Kobayashi assumed office in 2009. Kobayashi left office on January 2, 2021.
Although elections in Honolulu are officially nonpartisan, Kobayashi is known to be a member of the Democratic Party.[1]
Background
Ann Kobayashi served as a Hawaii state senator from 1980 to 1994.[2] She was on the city council for the city of Honolulu from 2002 to 2008, but gave up her seat in 2008 to run for mayor.[3]
Kobayashi ran for mayor of Honolulu in 2004 and, more recently, 2008. In her 2008 mayoral campaign, one of Kobayashi's main platforms was supporting an "elevated zipper lane" to cope with Oahu's traffic, while her opponent, incumbent Mufi Hannemann, was advocating for a rail transit system.[4] Kobayashi lost to Hannemann by 19 percent in the 2008 primary election and only garnered 41 percent of the vote in the general election against Hannemann.[5][6]
In August 2009, Kobayashi won in a special election for the city council seat that had been left vacant by her predecessor in Honolulu's Fifth District.[7] Kobayashi was on the Honolulu city council and sat on the Budget committee as the committee chair.[8]
In October 2015, the Honolulu Ethics Commission dismissed charges levied against Kobayashi along with Councilman Ikaika Anderson and former Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz. The charges revolved around their votes on the Honolulu rail project, in which it was argued that they had failed to disclose a conflict of interest resulting from a meal given to them as a gift that exceeded the $200 limit prescribed by city ordinances. However, the commission found that certain meals did not fall within the jurisdiction of the commission and therefore did not qualify and that the total of those meals that did qualify, failed to exceed the $200 limit. Kobayashi, responding to the case, stated that the claims were "ridiculous charges and we stood by our belief that we did nothing wrong."[9]
Elections
2016
The city of Honolulu, Hawaii, held elections for mayor and city council on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on August 13, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was June 7, 2016. Five of the nine city council seats were up for election. Incumbent Ann Kobayashi defeated Kimberly Case in the Honolulu City Council, District 5 general election.[10]
| Honolulu City Council District 5, General Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Ann Kobayashi Incumbent |
71.64% | 21,730 |
| Kimberly Case | 28.36% | 8,603 |
| Total Votes | 30,333 | |
| Source: "State of Hawaii Office of Elections", "General Election Official Results 2016", accessed November 28, 2016 | ||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Honolulu Advertiser, "Hawaii rail project motivated Kobayashi's run for mayor," September 16, 2008
- ↑ Hawaii News Now, "YWCA Honoree Ann Kobayashi," June 7, 2012
- ↑ Honolulu Advertiser, "Hawaii rail project motivated Kobayashi's run for mayor," September 16, 2008
- ↑ WAFF 48, "Ann Kobayashi talks about her race for Honolulu mayor," October 30, 2008
- ↑ Office of Elections, "Primary Election 2008," accessed November 10, 2015
- ↑ Office of Elections, "General Election 2008," accessed November 10, 2015
- ↑ KFVE, "Ann Kobayashi returns to Honolulu City Council with special election victory," August 8, 2009
- ↑ City and County of Honolulu, "Budget Committee Meeting, October 21, 2015," accessed November 10, 2015
- ↑ KHON 2, "Ethics commission dismisses gift-related claims against city councilmembers," October 14, 2015
- ↑ Hawaii.gov, "2016 Candidate List," June 7, 2016
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Succeeded by Calvin Say |
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