Seven of 14 candidates in the Kaua‘i County Council race in Tuesday’s General Election have been biding their time since the Sept.18 Primary Election. The challengers of the seven incumbent council members hope the six-week gap has enabled them to
Seven of 14 candidates in the Kaua‘i County Council race in Tuesday’s General Election have been biding their time since the Sept.18 Primary Election.
The challengers of the seven incumbent council members hope the six-week gap has enabled them to get their campaign platforms out to voters so they can win on election night.
Newcomer Kauilani Kahalekai, a Native Hawaiian, speaks of a new vision and energy. Rupert Rowe, also a Native Hawaiian, speaks of controlling development through a moratorium, and Bruce Miyashiro has talked about government playing a bigger role in providing affordable housing.
The challengers and their supporters have conducted door-to-door campaigning, called potential voters and have campaigned enthusiastically with supporters on island roads during commute hours and by community events to try to win votes.
The incumbents, meanwhile, have called attention to their ongoing efforts to address top issues of the day – property tax reform and relief, affordable housing and balancing the yearly county budget to ensure the smooth running of government.
The incumbents think they deserve another two years to continue working on strategies they have developed to address those issues, and possibly find solutions.
The incumbents include council chair Kaipo Asing; vice-chair James Tokioka; councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura; and councilmembers Daryl Kaneshiro, Mel Rapozo, Jay Furfaro and Joe Munechika.
They will square off against challengers Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho; Tim Bynum; Kahalekai; Rhoda Libre; Miyashiro; Rowe and Bruce Pleas.
Munechika faces the biggest challenge, as he finished in the eighth slot of Sept. 18 race by a minor margin to Iseri-Carvalho.
Iseri-Carvalho, a first-time council candidate and currently a deputy county prosecutor, captured the coveted seventh slot in that race.
She said she has done well because voters like the job she has done as a prosecutor, because she, her family and supporters have campaigned hard, and because she is popular in the Kawaihau District, the largest population area on the island.
Political observers say the top seven finishers in the primary elections on Kaua‘i traditionally finish the same way in the general election.
Munechika, a retired Grove Farm Company executive, said his eighth-place finish caught him off-guard and that he and his supporters would campaign harder to try to make up the difference by election day.
Munechika, a combat Vietnam veteran, has rallied the support of fellow veterans on the island, offering his support to the families of Kaua‘i National Guardsmen who have been activated for duty in Iraq.
Here is a summary on each council candidate:
- Asing has served on the council for about 20 years and ran unsuccessfully for mayor. As the council chair, he has pointed with pride to getting consensus among council members to pass $102.5 -million county operating budget, the county’s largest ever, and a capital improvement budget of about $17 million for this fiscal year.
Asing, who has been viewed as the watchdog of the council, wants to successfully win the war on drugs on Kaua‘i and vigorously pushed for an island-based recovery treatment center.
- Tokioka, a businessman, won recognition for successfully pushing for legislation that severely restricts smoking at public places on the island.
Tokioka, who is the chairman of the solid waste task force committee of the Hawaii State Association of Counties, says he is in the best position to find an answer to a long-standing problem – solid waste.
The Kekaha landfill is reportedly nearing capacity, although officials have said they are seeking a permit from the state Department of Health for a “vertical expansion” of the existing facility, so that it can be continued to be used.
The continued growth of the island has made the status of the DOH permit request and future plans for a new landfill top priorities for county officials.
- Yukimura, a former mayor and top vote-getter in the primary election, has been characterized as a tireless and aggressive advocate of affordable housing.
With others, she brought a national expert on limited equity housing to show how permanent affordable housing can be created on Kaua‘i.
She also has worked with House Rep. Ezra Kanoho, a senior Kaua‘i state legislator, to work on legislation to protect prime agricultural lands.
She has supported real property relief, and voted for interim measures as the county takes steps toward the restructuring of the island’s tax system. Yukimura also has advocated for the protection of the shoreline.
- Kaneshiro is a rancher, businessman and one-time cabinet member of the late Mayor Tony T. Kunimura, a powerhouse legislator from Kaua‘i who held public office for about 30 years.
Kaneshiro has pushed for legislation to preserve open space and agricultural land.
Preserving agricultural land and open space is a way to control development, he said. As long as the agricultural lands remain viable, those lands will not be rezoned for urban use, he said.
Kaneshiro serves on the Kauai Farm Bureau and on the board of the directors of the Kauai Cattlemen’s Association and on the National Cattlemen’s Association.
Kaneshiro also serves on the National Association of Counties Agriculture and Urban Affairs Steering Committee.
Kaneshiro was the co-author with Furfaro on two tax relief measures to help Kaua‘i residents from being taxed off their property.
One was a “circuit breaker” and the other was a program that places a six percent cap on property taxes used for home use.
- Furfuro is a retired hotel executive and is now career politician. He has asked the council to establish a policy to acquire land for the development of affordable housing.
He has successfully pushed through two tax relief measures with Kaneshiro and successfully pushed through legislation that would protect open space in projects in which developers state such intentions.
- Rapozo is a retired police officer and businessman. Rapozo advocated stiffer penalties against folks who violate the county grubbing and grading law and called for better enforcement of the law.
He has sought fiscal accountability in government and was successful in encouraging the council to appropriate $100,000 in this year’s budget for audits of county departments.
Rapozo also wants the county to take concrete steps to develop more affordable housing.
- Munechika, as the chairman of the council’s finance committee, has pledged to find the most workable tax reform structure.
He has been the council’s liaison to a county task force that developed recommendations to revamp the county’s tax system.
Munechika also co-authored with the late councilman James Tehada the “ohana bill,” which was approved and allowed for an additional dwelling unit to be built on a residentially-zoned land, providing adding housing opportunities for families.
- Iseri-Carvalho, whose candidacy has been supported by Mayor Bryan Baptiste, wants to fine-tune or remove archaic county laws to meet today’s standards.
She also wants to see the expansion of parks and sports facilities and involve youths in extracurricular activities.
- Kahalekai said resort development should take a secondary role to developing homes for low-income folks.
The county should approve a policy to help determine how much more land can be sold for development.
She also said she would bring new ideas and energy to old problems.
- Tim Bynum works as a community-response specialist, with duties that include facilitating the Ka Leo O Kauai community meetings to address issues that are of importance to residents.
Bynum recently called on the council incumbents to approve the county tax reform bill, saying that the recommendations from the county task force have merit and could provide nearly immediate tax relief.
- Rhoda Libre, as the director of the Kaua‘i Westside Watershed Council, has helped protect water resources in West Kaua‘i from commercialized uses. She has been successful in rallying the community to take up community projects.
- Miyashiro, who lives in Kapa‘a, wants the county to take concrete steps to develop affordable housing. He said if he is elected, he would push for approval of bonds to carry out that goal.
- Rowe is a retired county firefighter. He contends bad planning by the county has led to runaway growth that has lowered the quality of lifestyle on Kaua‘i. He wants to see a moratorium imposed on new development to stop over-development. He also wants the county to use its condemnation powers to protect public access.
- Pleas is the owner of a surfboard company in West Kaua‘i, and wants a thorough analysis of tax reform options and implementation of the best one to give longtime residents tax relief as soon as possible.
