By NANCY COOK LAUER
By NANCY COOK LAUER
Stephens Media
Ka‘u County Councilwoman Brittany Smart announced Thursday she plans to run for the state House seat being vacated by Rep. Bob Herkes, a fellow Democrat, in his run for state Senate.
Smart, 29, said she hadn’t expected Herkes to seek the upper chamber, and she’d had no plans to run this year until some of her constituents came forward and asked. Now she’s excited about the new challenge, she said.
“I am really humbled by the community coming forward and asking me to run for this seat,” Smart said. “I had to give it serious consideration.”
Smart is ending her first two-year term on the County Council and had said in December she would not run for re-election in a redrawn council district that pitted her against three-term incumbent South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford. Ford and four other candidates have so far pulled nomination papers for the sprawling Council District 6 that spans the south end of the island from Kainaliu to Volcano. They are Marie Burns, Maile David, Harry McIntosh III and Bradley Westervelt.
Candidates have until June 5 to file nomination papers. The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 11, and the general election for Nov. 6.
House District 3 includes part of Hilo and continues to Keaau, Orchid Land Estate, Kurtistown, Mountain View, Glenwood, a part of Hawaiian Acres, Volcano, Pahala, Punaluu, Ninole and Honuapo. Smart lives in Naalehu and said she has already rented a house in Volcano and she and her husband are house-hunting for a more permanent home there.
Smart said she is very familiar with the unique challenges in rural Ka‘u, and she’ll begin meeting with the “more urban” communities in Puna to get residents’ feedback on important issues. Smart, who has a degree in political science, ousted then-incumbent Councilman Guy Enriques for the Council District 6 seat in 2010.
“My strong suit is bringing people together to sit down and work out issues and build a consensus,” Smart said.
Issues that Smart would like to work on “at the next level” include transportation, charter schools and natural disaster preparedness.
The only other candidate pulling nomination papers for that district so far is Frederick Fogel, a Volcano resident running as a Libertarian. Fogel, 62, is a retired Pearl Harbor industrial engineer who moved to the Big Island in 2005. He ran against Herkes in 2010, earning 22 percent of the vote to Herkes’ 68 percent, with 10 percent not voting.
Herkes declined to say whether he’d endorse Smart as his replacement in the House.
Fogel said he’s running a low-budget campaign, but he’d love to challenge Smart to a debate. He said he favors systemic changes to government that include tighter budgets, less borrowing and less government overall. He’d also like to get government out of “everybody’s knickers.”
“The role of government is to protect people from other people, not from themselves,” Vogel said. “I’m really there as an option.”
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.