I tried to judge the candidates' statements in the debate impartially, but first impressions usually hold much weight. While Peter Carlisle was still Prosecuting Attorney, he came up to greet me at an outdoor function at Gordon Biersch Restaurant in Aloha Tower Marketplace that my graduate department at UH Manoa was sponsoring. His opening remark to me was "I put people in jail." This event was held shortly after 9/11. This startled me as I am partially of Middle Eastern heritage. My view of him is jaded since that day. I was raised as a Methodist and many members of my family are Jewish. My mother, who  was raised in Paterson's  East Hill and Montclair, New Jersey, near his home town of Ridgewood, always treated people of all backgrounds with respect.