2nd district congressional candidates

Incumbent Case

LIHU‘E — U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Neighbor Islands-rural O‘ahu, accused Republican challenger Mike Gabbard of using negative campaigning against him he says amounts to nothing more than “tearing me down.”

Case also pledged to continue to help Kaua‘i in Congress if re-elected, and pointed proudly to having brought millions of dollars here to improve harbors, airports and highways, to protect the environment, and to stimulate economic growth.

He also and voiced optimism about being returned to Congress for another two years, buoyed by strong poll results and his accomplishments.

Case made those points during an interview at The Garden Island during his last stop on this island before the general election tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 2.

Case said Gabbard’s campaign tactics make him boil.

“I do think he has run a virtually negative campaign which has been focused not on articulating on what he has to offer to the people of Kaua‘i and the second congressional district, but which has been focused on tearing me down,” Case said.

While Case said he has focused on his achievements, he believes Gabbard has used negative campaigning against him because “he doesn’t have anything to offer.”

“I don’t think he can put together a package and present it to the people that would be a better package than the sum total of what I offer,” Case said.

Gabbard said he has been a victim of negative campaigning by Case, prompting this reply from Case: “Where is the evidence of that? I have focused on what I have offered.”

Case said Gabbard is an “one-issue candidate” who has spent the last 10 years promoting the protection of traditional marriages.

“He is absolutely a single-issue candidate. And it is more than being a single-issue candidate. It is being obsessed with one issue,” Case said. “I can’t psychoanalyze the guy. But he had made it a centerpiece of the current campaign. That doesn’t cut it in Congress.”

Case took exception to some claims Gabbard has made against him:

• Gabbard said Case, an attorney, wants judges to decide on important or social issues, such as same-gender marriages and traditional marriages.

“I absolutely believe in our system of government. I believe in checks and balance,” Case said. “I believe that the respective roles that the executive, legislative and judicial branches have played have been good for our country.”

Gabbard also has said Case has opposed laws or constitutional amendments that would prevent same-gender marriages.

Case said he is opposed to amending the Bill of Rights, and voted against the constitutional amendment because of three reasons:

• “I don’t believe in a uniformed, mandated definition of marriage nationally,” he said. “If Hawai‘i wants to adopt the definition that it has, which is that marriage is not between same-gender couples, that is up to Hawai‘i.”

• “It is dangerous to amend our constitution to prohibit the possible exercising of rights,” Case said.

• “You need to have a super consensus to amend our constitution,” Case said.

The proposed constitutional amendment was rejected by Congress, “including Republicans,” he said.

Gabbard also has criticized Case for not signing a pledge not to raise taxes.

“That pledge was put up by a conservative group, Americans for Tax Reform, and I have never signed that pledge,” Case said. “I have been in that situation before. I don’t think you can take any option off the table, period, and I am not going to pledge something that I can’t know for a certainty, under any circumstances, I will not keep.”

Case said he never voted to raise taxes in his first two years in Congress, while his opponent voted to raise taxes when he served as a city councilman in Honolulu.

“So he signs the pledge after voting to raise taxes and then makes a big deal of me not signing the pledge, when I have never voted to raise taxes?” Case asked.

Gabbard has said that Case has not supported the U.S. military, a statement Case says is erroneous.

“I have done everything I could do to support our troops. I have supported funding for them, I have visited Iraq personally. I visited the guardsman and reserves here, correspond with some of them regularly,” Case said.

Case said he voted against a Department of Defense bill in 2003 because, if it had been approved, it would have exempted the U.S. military from compliance with environmental-protection laws, including the federal clean air and water acts and the marine-mammal-protection act.

“I thought that was ridiculous,” he said.

On his re-election chances, Case said he is heartened by recent election polls showing him far ahead of Gabbard. “I think it does reflect that people are broadly supportive of my efforts. But the polls are a snapshot in time, and polls can move, and polls do move,” Case said.

He said he “would like to and intends to work all through the election, 6 p.m. Tuesday night,” to continue to get his views out to his supporters, undecided voters and Gabbard supporters, Case said.

“I feel comfortable with the job I have done, and my political mentor, (the late U.S. Sen.) Spark Matsunaga, told me that the best way to get re-elected is to do a good job in the job that you have,” Case said.

“I think I have done a good job as a congressman representing Kaua‘i, and I think people know that.”

Case said he has been effective in Congress because he can work with folks regardless of their party affiliations.

“I have a very good relationship with the governor and her administration, Mayor (Bryan)Baptiste, Maryanne Kusaka (a former mayor and now Kaua‘i state Senate candidate),” Case said. “I have a very good relationship, as I do with Democratic legislators. So my job is to reach out to everybody.”

Case said he has conducted more than 10 talk story sessions on Kaua‘i, among 80 he has conducted statewide over the past two years.

Case said the sessions have been perhaps the best way for him to keep in touch with 600,000 constituents.

For Kaua‘i, Case said he is proud of having brought millions in federal funds to the Garden Island to improve ports and roads, to expand the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, and to continue the war on drugs, including curbing the spreading use of crystal methamphetamine.

If re-elected, Case, he would focus on Kaua‘i’s most immediate problems, including affordable housing and nagging traffic problems.

Case listed these as major issues facing Kaua‘i today:

• Bolstering education, and the need to “make sure our schools teach our children well.” Case said he has strongly supported the passage of the No Child Left Behind federal mandate and the Individual Disabilities Education Act to ensure school programs are implemented to raise the quality of education in Hawai‘i.

• Eradicating or curbing ice use. “I have been involved in trying to increase federal resources to Kaua‘i and to the rest of the state to deal with ice,” he said. “The money has come.”

• Finding solutions to traffic and transportation problems and building more infrastructure. “I have worked hard to bring money for the Kapa‘a bypass road, and (improvements) at Nawiliwili, Port Allen and Kikiaola harbors.”

• Protecting wild and scenic areas on Kaua‘i. Case helped secure funding to acquire more land to expand the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.

• Pushing for economic development. Case said he is a strong advocate for small businesses.

Last year, Aqua Engineers of Lawa‘i won a $435-million, 50-year federal privatization contract to operate and expand the Schofield Barracks wastewater treatment plant in Central O‘ahu.

Case, a member of the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, said he encouraged the Army to consider the company.

• Protecting agriculture and watersheds on Kaua‘i.

• Supporting federal funding to build an experimental ethanol-manufacturing facility at the Gay & Robinson sugar plantation in Makaweli, amounting to the saving of Kaua‘i’s last sugar plantation.

Case said he can bring more to Kaua‘i if re-elected. “I care deeply for Kaua‘i, personally and professionally. I can do a much better job, given another term, another level of seniority, and I am a far better choice in all aspects than my opponent.”

Go to www.house.gov/case or call 245-1951 on Kaua‘i for more information on Case’s candidacy.

Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.

Challenger Gabbard

By Lester Chang – The Garden Island

Mike Gabbard, a Republican challenger in the 2nd Congressional District race in the Tuesday, Nov. 2 general election, isn’t disheartened by recent election polls showing him far behind incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Neighbor Islands-rural O‘ahu.

Gabbard said his predicament energizes him, and through sustained campaigning, he believes he can catch Case, and win on election night.

“The polls show me down, but what they confirm is what we feel at the grassroots level, and that is, our numbers are going up and Case’s number are going down,” Gabbard said. “We are feeling the momentum. Our support is increasing daily.”

In an interview with The Garden Island, Gabbard also talked about the significance of protecting traditional marriages and that protection’s far-reaching consequences for Hawai‘i, and the need to address Kaua‘i’s key concerns, including affordable housing and traffic congestion.

Gabbard said he believes his chances of unseating Case are “excellent. The more people find out about Case’s extreme views on social and fiscal issues, the more they are jumping on board and supporting my candidacy,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard said Case supports same-sex marriage, and he doesn’t. Gabbard says he has taken a pledge not to propose raising taxes, and Case hasn’t done the same.

Contrary to what Case and his supporters say about him, Gabbard said he is not a “single-issue” candidate. Case has contended Gabbard’s campaign focus has been the protection of traditional marriages.

“It is not that I care too much about protecting traditional marriages. It is that Case doesn’t at all,” Gabbard said. “He doesn’t appreciate the marriage and the family as the foundation of civilization , and they (issues surrounding the protection of traditional marriages) are inseparable from countless other issues that we face, from education, to the economy, to (fighting drugs).”

In a written response to queries from The Garden Island, Gabbard said it is “very disturbing that Case minimizes the importance of marriage and family to our society.”

Case, however, is married, and has four children.

Gabbard said he takes exception to Case’s claims that “my family and I only care about protecting traditional marriages.

“He is saying that we don’t care about the war in Iraq or terrorism, despite the fact that I was born in a military family, and I founded Stand Up for America (a nonprofit group that promotes patriotism and good citizenship), a daughter, Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo, a state legislator, who joined the National Guard, and she is training at Fort Bliss (Texas), and she has volunteered to go to Iraq to risk her life protecting all of us, including Ed Case’s family.”

Gabbard said his campaign goes beyond the issue of protecting traditional marriages.

Gabbard, an educator, and his wife, Carol, a non-paid member of the state Board of Education, said they care deeply about improving education in Hawai‘i, and that he would strive to improve it as a new member of Congress.

Gabbard said he also has been at the forefront of protecting the environment for many years.

On the issue of crystal methamphetamine, Gabbard said he wants to see it controlled, and that police officers have endorsed him.

Gabbard contended he has not engaged in negative campaign tactics, adding, “I have focused on issues and Ed’s voting record and his position on issues, and that is it, period.”

Gabbard said he has been left dumfounded by inquiries by Case and his supporters into his “ethnicity, educational background and professional experience.”

Gabbard said that Case has engaged in the “most bizarre campaigning of character assassination and personal vilification that I have ever seen in the history of Hawai‘i.”

Campaigning by Case on Kaua‘i, however, has focused mainly on his record and his future plans to help Kaua‘i.

Gabbard said his key criticism of Case has been of the incumbent legislator’s voting record, and “that’s not negative campaigning.”

Related to helping Kaua‘i, should he be elected, Gabbard said he could work effectively with federal agencies to develop new housing opportunities here, because he would be a member of the majority Republican Party in Congress.

If affordable housing isn’t developed, “it won’t be long before only the wealthiest visitors and real estate speculators will be able to afford to live here,” Gabbard said in a statement.

Gabbard said he also wants to alleviate the “serious problem of traffic congestion” on Kaua‘i, and can secure the funding to find answers, as he would be a member of the dominant political party in Congress.

Gabbard said police officers know him, and that he can secure the funding that will provide the equipment and resources they need to fight crime, including the expanded use of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice. Gabbard said he wants to bring the federal “Weed and Seed” program to Kaua‘i to fight crime.

Faith-based organizations also can play a role in forging solutions to social problems, Gabbard said.

He said he would support the “compassion-capital program, a three-year federal project aimed at combating drug use, helping the homeless, and helping welfare recipients return to the work place in Hawai‘i,” Gabbard said. Through the program, nonprofit groups, including churches, could tap federal funds to address social issues, Gabbard said.

If elected, Gabbard said he would work to improve Kaua‘i’s business climate by bringing federal assistance to small-business folks who could work with youths.

Gabbard said Kaua‘i folks should help put him in to office because they “need and deserve representation who share their values and will be an effective advocate for their concerns.”

Please go to www.mikegabbard.com, or contact Gabbard or his staff at 1-808-263-2888, for more information on his candidacy.

Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.