Former U.S. Rep. Ed Case and former state Rep. Cam Cavasso outlined their differences on the issues of federal recognition of Native Hawaiians, legalization of marijuana and the future of the federal Affordable Care Act in a forum held Friday at the Pacific Club.
Cavasso, a Republican and longtime financial adviser with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., said the voters should choose him in the 1st District U.S. House race because Hawaii has “no voice” today in the Republican-
controlled Congress. The four members of Hawaii’s Congressional delegation
today are all Democrats.
“With the Grand Canyon gulf we have now between us, we must have a Republican in Congress, one who can work with President Trump and with this Congress,” he told the audience at a forum sponsored by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
Case, a Democrat who served in Congress from 2002 to 2005, also cited the “incredible divides” between Republicans and Democrats in the federal government today that have led some to question whether government can ever work properly again.
The sharp political divisions in Washington, D.C., have caused the federal
government to defer action on critical decisions such
as reform of Medicare, Social Security and immigration, he said. Case said he plans to “organize efforts to find your friends and work collectively.”
During his last term in office, Case was a member of a group of conservative Democrats who called themselves the “Blue Dog Coalition.” He said Friday there is now a “congressional reformers” caucus inside Congress made up of Republicans and Democrats who are willing to work together.
Cavasso, 67, repeatedly stressed the need to encourage competition in areas such as health care and shipping, and said he favors repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), often known as “Obamacare.”
Case said the ACA helped millions of Americans to
obtain health coverage. He said Obamacare should be improved by making it more flexible so that states can adapt it. However, he said that he does not believe in “going all the way to the left” by creating a nationalized health care system.
Cavasso countered that “I am a free-enterprise person and I would disagree that Obamacare helped our
nation. I would disagree that it brought us stronger. My position is that it actually hurt us, it hurt our competition. I would restore us to the health care system that we had even before then — the system that allowed our doctors to design their own systems, allowed competition to come in.”
Case, 66, who was a congressman from 2002 to 2005 and now is senior vice president and chief legal officer for Outrigger Enterprises Group, said he supports
relaxing federal prohibitions on marijuana to allow the states to experiment with
legalization or medical uses.
“This is not a perfect solution, you’re going to have some down side if you go
in this direction, and you’re going to have some down side if you stay where the status quo is right now,” Case said.
There is a continuing need for federal and state programs to combat drug abuse, he added.
Cavasso again disagreed, saying that “we have enough problems right now with the opiate epidemic. We have troubles in our nation with drugs. I would under no circumstances encourage the legalization of drugs or the legalization of marijuana.”
Case said he supports a direct relationship between the Native Hawaiian people and the federal government “which is akin to the same relationship that has existed between Indian tribes and the federal government under federal Indian law for well over 150 years.”
He said the rule-making
effort by the U.S. Department of Interior that could lead to federal recognition
of Hawaiians “awaits the
Native Hawaiian community to decide what form of entity it wants to adopt.” Case said his approach as a member of Congress “would be to step back and let that process unfold on its own.”
For his part, Cavasso said “I do not believe that it’s in the best interests of our
Hawaiian state, our people or our Native Hawaiians to be considered an Indian tribe or come under the rules that we’ve been trying.”
“I do not believe that it would be wise to separate the ethnic Hawaiians into
a separate governmental
entity,” he said.
The U.S. House 1st District includes Honolulu from Makapuu to Mililani and Ko Olina. The seat is being vacated by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who staged an unsuccessful campaign for governor this year.
