By the Maui Curmudgeon (21st in a 43-part series)

How do the U.S. Presidents stack up? I thought I’d find out by reading biographies of all 43 presidents, in the order of their administrations. Here are briefly the pros and cons of my discoveries, the interesting bits, and how I’d rank him. For comparison, I give you the 1982 Murrary-Blessing ranking, a survey of hundreds of leading historians who ranked each president by number. This survey is the gold standard of presidential rankings and is most cited when this kind of thing needs bringing up in media.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR: 1881-1885  ~ 21st U.S. President

According to witnesses on the train platform, Charles Guiteau, before shooting President Garfield, said, “I am a stalwart, and Arthur will be president!” Turns out, he was right.

Long before Guiteau was hung for murder, Arthur was indeed president. However, he is sometimes labeled the most obscure president in a long line of such presidents in the last half of the 19th century.

In the public’s mind, the stretch from Hayes to Roosevelt is often a blur – of assassinations, mutton-chop sideburns, a president  twice elected but not consecutively, etc. Arthur was the one with the mutton chops, and boy was he a dud! He is also the second president who many suspect was gay. In Arthur, they may have a case.

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This is the first in a series of interviews with Maui County candidates running for office in this Fall’s elections. See a complete listing of  Election Offices & Candiates - Click here.

KAHEKAI “KAI” NISHIKI
Candidate for County Council: Paia/Makawao/Haiku Seat

Age: 37
Occupation: Small business owner
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Website: www.kainishiki.org

What is your position on TVRs? I support home-based businesses as long as they are quiet, do not produce unpleasant odors and do not have significant retail traffic or impact on parking. By operating a business from our homes, Maui residents save money on fuel and congestion on our roads is reduced.  In order to support farmers and encourage local agriculture TVRS should be part of a working farm in agriculturally zoned areas.

 I would include vacation rentals in the category of home-based businesses provided the owner is a Maui resident who pays the resident income tax.  I do not support absentee TVRS owned by offshore speculators who drive our home prices up. To facilitate communication between the existing community and the TVR owner there should be an onsite manager -a person whom the neighborhood could contact. We might require approval by the communities that the TVRS are located in and create a mechanism for community input.

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By the Maui Curmudgeon (20th in a 43-part series)

How do the U.S. Presidents stack up? I thought I’d find out by reading biographies of all 43 presidents, in the order of their administrations. Here are briefly the pros and cons of my discoveries, the interesting bits, and how I’d rank him. For comparison, I give you the 1982 Murrary-Blessing ranking, a survey of hundreds of leading historians who ranked each president by number. This survey is the gold standard of presidential rankings and is most cited when this kind of thing needs bringing up in media.

JAMES A. GARFIELD: 1881  ~ 20th U.S. President

There isn’t much to say about a six-month presidency. James A. Garfield was the second president assassinated in office in 16 years. The unfixable mistake that the “founding fathers” built into our country - the tolerance of slavery and religion - would once again kill.

Garfield was a compromise candidate on the Republican side. He narrowly won the nomination (over Ulysses S. Grant no less) on the 34th ballot, and narrowly won the election, with a plurality of just 9,000 votes nationwide.

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