Left to right: Ashida, Dolan, and Roth square off in Hilo

HILO, Hawaii: The next head of the island’s largest law firm – the office of the Prosecuting Attorney – will be chosen in the upcoming election. The League of Women Voters of Hawaii County joined forces with and American Association of University Women, hosting this a forum at Aunty Sally’s Lu’au Hale in Hilo on Wednesday, where the candidates for the office met with the public.

Dr. Todd Belt, the Chair of the Department of Political Science at UH-Hilo, served as moderator of the forum, which featured candidates for the office of prosecuting attorney and for county council districts 1 and 2.

The event also featured the increasingly popular “speed dating” process, which put the public face to face with candidates to talk story.

In this special section, we focus on the prosecutor’s race (we will have council districts 1 and 2 early next week). Three candidates: Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida, Deputy Prosecting Attorney Mitch Roth, and Ocean View resident Paul Dolan. In thir own words, the candidates present themselves to the public in the hopes of getting the vote for County Prosecuting Attorney. We present the forum in its entirety, broken up into 10 minute segments – below. We have included a brief synopsis of the question asked in that 10 minute clip next to each video.

INTRODUCTIONS

The three candidates – Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida, Deputy Prosecting Attorney Mitch Roth, and Ocean View resident Paul Dolan – take a few minutes to introduce themselves.

Q&A – PART 1

What would you do in regards to fatal tragedies in “adventure activity”? What will be the biggest challenge in running the prosecutor’s office? What would you do to stop crime before it happens?

Q&A – PART 2

What was the biggest case you have done, what was the outcome? What victim services are being offered at the office, and how would you improve or expand those? What can be done to eliminate overcrowding in our courts?

Q&A – PART 3

What will your office do to stop impaired driving? Closing – describe your work experiences that shows you are capable of running the largest law firm in the county.