Rebuked for racially tinged remarks, Rep. Faye Hanohano remains feisty and irreverent as she faces off against four opponents in the Democratic primary for House District 4 in lower Puna.

"They’re the wannabes and I’m the queen bee," Hanohano said, dismissing her competitors. "I still have a lot of supporters. The people that are running against me, they’re just opportunists."

Candidates in the race include activist Leilani Bronson-Crelly, attorney Joy San Buenaventura, consultant Brian Jordan and Julia Peleiholani, who was Hanohano’s office manager. The winner will face Republican Gary Thomas, a retired Air Force colonel who has no opposition in the primary.

Hanohano was reprimanded by the House speaker in March for "intimidating" and "disruptive" conduct, including remarks about the age and ethnicity of people who testified before her committee. Last year, she apologized after using ethnic slurs in a tirade against artwork by non-Hawaiians at her state Capitol office.

The controversies make the four-term lawmaker more vulnerable. Still, she has high name recognition and the crowded field could split the opposition vote while offering choices for the diverse district that runs from Hawaiian Acres through Pahoa to Kalapana.

"I think it’s wonderful that there are so many options for voters to consider," said Bronson- Crelly, who grew up on Oahu and Maui and has lived in Hawaiian Paradise Park since 2005.

San Buenaventura, who has practiced law in Hilo for 30 years, was first to jump into the race, filing on Feb. 10, before Hanohano’s latest troubles. She said she was motivated by a desire to help ordinary people, whom she represents in her work and as a volunteer attorney.

"I feel the Legislature is focusing on the sexy issues rather than the day-to-day issues," she said. "They forget how hard it is to struggle here. I see people who have been working all of their lives, who have always had a job, go further into debt and poverty, and they can’t seem to get themselves out because there is no safety net for them anymore."

San Buenaventura, 55, has been endorsed by the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter, the Patsy Mink PAC and the Progressive PAC. One of her goals is getting an alternate emergency route, other than two-lane Highway 130, to serve the rural district’s burgeoning population.

Bronson-Crelly, another first-time candidate, also would make road improvements a priority. She worked with the League of Women Voters to champion clean-elections legislation and has pushed for shoreline protection and beach access.

Previously, she was an aide to former Maui Councilman Wayne Nishiki and a city recorder and elections official in Oregon.

"I understand what it is to develop policies and draft legislation and collaborate with your peers," Bronson-Crelly said. "We need to look at bringing some help and relief to a lot of these substandard subdivisions, speci- fically roads. Getting in and out is difficult, which is very serious for emergency services."

Pahoa resident Brian Jordan has run as a Republican three times for the seat, most recently in 2006, but grew up in a Democratic union family and is trying his luck as a Democrat this time. Retired after 20 years in the Marine Corps, he taught naval science at Waiakea High School for four years and also has taught at the Department of Public Safety.

He is also a CPR and operational safety instructor.

"My whole campaign has been education and the environment," said Jordan, who supports more vocational education. "I work on getting kids employed, because they just don’t have the basic skills. I think it has to do with this idea of one-size-fits-all curriculum. Every kid is different."

Peleiholani, also a Pahoa resident, left her job with Hanohano last fall but says she has "a lot of aloha" for her former boss. The 38-year-old Heald College graduate serves as a Puna representative on the Moku o Keawe Council of the Aha Moku system, which gives advice on indigenous practices to the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

"It’s a huge issue, how we are going to manage our resources rightfully and accurately," she said. "We have these two worlds, the world of cultural practices from our kupuna, and now we have the new world of technology that impacts our younger generations. We need to take both worlds and respectfully put them together."

Hanohano, 60, gave up her badge as a correctional officer to run for office. She has the endorsement of the ILWU, but the Hawaii Government Employees Association decided not to pick a candidate in the primary. She feels her opinions have been misconstrued.

"Technically, I am not a racist," Hanohano said. "If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be talking to people. I was trying to get across that there are other points of view that we need to look at. I was born and raised as a Hawaiian, and I will die as a Hawaiian.

"I have been doing a good job for my people," she added, pointing to her opposition to the Superferry, the Public Lands Development Corp. and depleted uranium at Pohakuloa.

Thomas, the Republican candidate, stepped down as deputy director of the Hawaii Youth Challenge Academy to run for office. The Keaau resident and his wife have raised five children on the island.

"I have a real affinity and concern for at-risk kids and how they can be successful," said Thomas, 58. "I want to continue to work with the community now that I’m retired from the Air Force."

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