Frustrated by what he says has been ineffective leadership by Hawai‘i’s Republican and Democratic political parties, Kaua’i resident John Hoff has announced plans to create a new statewide party to better respond to public needs Hoff said yesterday he and
Frustrated by what he says has been ineffective leadership by Hawai‘i’s Republican and Democratic political parties, Kaua’i resident John Hoff has announced plans to create a new statewide party to better respond to public needs
Hoff said yesterday he and others plan to start a petition drive July 4th to establish the “We the People” party.”
“People are fed up with the system being run by Democrats and Republicans,” Hoff said. “You have heard the general conversation that nothing has ever gotten done. It is true.”
With the independent party in place, problems like over-development, traffic congestion and high taxes will be resolved “once and for all,” Hoff said.
Kaua‘i Democratic Party Chair Linda Estes said Hoff, who has been a contractor and a resident for 40 years, as well as a candidate for mayor, the Kaua‘i County Council and the state Legislature over the past decade, is a “good man.”
But he would be doing himself and the community a favor by joining her group, Estes said.
“I think he really wants to do what is best for the island, but I think he would be better off joining the Democratic Party and working with us,” she said. “I believe the Democratic Party is very progressive, and it would be great if John would join and help us.”
Ed Ka‘ahea, the chairperson of the Kaua‘i Republican Party, was not immediately available for comment Friday.
Office-holders supported by the new party can forge solutions because “they will listen to the people,” Hoff said.
“We need to bring in a party that employs common sense in decision-making,” he added.
Hoff said he must submit signatures of 633 currently registered Kaua‘i voters to the state Election’s Office by April 3, 2008.
The party will become a reality after the signatures are verified by the office, Hoff said.
“I could easily get the 633 signatures, but I would like others to come forward to help,” Hoff said. “(The attempt to create the party) has to be a community effort to bring change, and the only way we can do that is through a third independent party.”
Hoff said the county’s challenge of the Ohana Kauai charter amendment illustrates “how our politicians don’t listen” to the public.
Hoff is one of the leaders of Ohana Kauai, a citizens group that helped put the tax relief measure on the November 2004 General Election ballot because it felt government was not doing enough to execute property tax reform following at least five years of skyrocketing property assessment due to repeat sales.
The charter amendment passed with 75 percent of the voters in support of it.
The measure proposed lowering homeowner property taxes to 1998 levels and limiting yearly increases to 2 percent.
But the county raised questions over whether the measure could override its state-approved taxing authority. Attorneys for Ohana Kauai argued residents possessed the same tax powers.
The matter is now before the Hawai‘i Supreme Court.
“Two out of three people who voted in that election said they wanted property tax relief reform, in the form of the Ohana Kauai charter amendment,” Hoff said. “And the mayor and the council are against it.”
In lieu of the implementation of the charter amendment, the council and the mayor approved property tax relief measures that have provided millions of dollars in savings to residents who own their homes and live in them — the same target group the charter amendment would have helped.
Hoff said he will not use the new party to push through the Ohana Kauai measure, as there are many other issues that need attention.
The party will endorse four Kaua’i County Council candidates in next year’s election, Hoff said, and one has to be of Hawaiian ancestry “because we live in Hawai‘i.”
Hoff said the slate of challengers will seek out apathetic voters.
“People are elected by a block vote of 12,000 to 14,000 voters each year,” he said. “There are 38,000 registered voters in total, and those are the votes our candidates would go after.”
The party-backed council candidates would resolve issues that Democratic and Republican leaders have not been able to find answers to, Hoff said.
If elected, council candidates would resolve the Ohana Kauai issue, implement a “zero waste” recycling program, use imminent domain powers to obtain land at an affordable price for affordable housing and implement a moratorium on development with the support of a board.
Through legislative measures like resolutions, the four candidates also will try to improve the quality of public schools, help Hawaiians and improve health care programs, Hoff said.
“If we are to take back our island and government, the good guys, we the majority, must stand up and fight back,’ Hoff said in a news release.
If residents don’t, they will “suffer the consequences, status quo,” Hoff said.
Hoff founded the Kaua‘i-based Substitute Teachers Professional Alliance, which has lobbied the Legislature to recognize collective bargaining rights for several thousand substitute teachers.
Over the past seven years, Hoff has worked as a substitute teacher at all of the public schools on Kaua‘i.
