Re-election contingent on GMO vote

 SUBHEAD: Pledge your vote to council members who support the Bill. Vote against the others.

By Linda Pascatore on 24 June 2013 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2013/06/re-election-contingent-on-gmo-vote.html)


Image above: The Kauai County Council in June 2013. L to R - Mel Raposo, JoAnn A. Yukimura, Gary L. Hooser, Jay Furfaro, Ross Kagawa, Nadine K. Nakamura, Tim Bynum. From (http://www.kauai.gov/default.aspx?tabid=88).

When writing testimony to support Gary Hooser's GMO / Pesticide Bill, I decided on a strategy that I would like to share with you. I decided to pledge my future vote to all council members who vote for the Bill, and to deny my future vote to any member who opposes his Bill.

Gary's Bill gives authority to the county to govern the use of pesticides and Genetically Modified Organisms. It calls for mandatory disclosure to the public on the use of pesticides and the presence of GMO crops. It also calls for a halt to experimental open field testing of GMOs or pesticides, and a moratorium on expansion of GMO's on the island until further study of environmental impacts and development of a permitting process. The bill gives the county authority to impose penalties for violations.

My letter to the council follows:

To: counciltestimony@kauai.gov

Dear Council Member,

I ask that you support proposed ordinance Bill 2491, Gary Hooser's GMO / Pesticide Regulatory Bill.

This Bill is so needed, and this issue is so important to me, that:

I pledge to vote for and support any council member that votes for this bill, in all future elections.

I pledge to vote against and oppose any council member that votes against this bill, in all future elections.


Needless to say, Gary Hooser now has my lifetime vote for any office he seeks in the future.

I have never made this sort of pledge before, but this issue is just that crucial to me and to Kauai. I live on the west side of Kauai, where Syngenta, Pioneer, DOW Agri-genetics, and Kauai Coffee are all located. These companies are responsible for 99 percent of the restricted pesticides used on Kauai, threatening the health and safety of all Westside residents.

Please protect the people of Kauai, and vote for Bill 2491!


Sincerely Yours,

Linda Pascatore

Email sent to Council Services Staff as testimony:
CouncilTestimony@kauai.gov

For non=testimony email messages to council members:
Jay Furfaro, Council Chair (JFurfaro@kauai.gov)
Nadine K. Nakamura, Council Vice Chair (nnakamura@kauai.gov)
Tim Bynum, Councilmember (tbynum@kauai.gov)
Gary L. Hooser, Councilmember (ghooser@kauai.gov)
Ross Kagawa, Councilmember (rkagawa@kauai.gov)
Mel Rapozo, Councilmember (mfrapozo@kauai.gov)
JoAnn A. Yukimura, Councilmember (jyukimura@kauai.gov)


For non-testimony email messages sent to all Council members:
Councilmembers@kauai.gov

For a PDF of Gary Hooser's proposed bill 2491 click here:

See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: My Testimony on GMO Bill 2491 6/24/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Pass Pesticide Bill - Testify today! 6/23/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Hooser asks for GMO Bill support 6/23/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Hooser's GMO Bill 6/22/13

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