The slate of candidates hoping to unseat Gov. David Ige this year outlined their views Friday on an array of subjects ranging from rail to the Thirty Meter Telescope at a forum sponsored by Hawaiian groups, while Ige said his career and his administration for the past three years has been dedicated to “doing the right things in the right way for the right reason.”
U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who is challenging Ige in the Democratic primary, said it has been “very embarrassing” for her to seek new funding under the federal Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) when the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has been unable to spend the NAHASDA money it already has.
“I believe that the present agency has not done its job,” Hanabusa said in a reference to DHHL. She suggested that if she is elected governor, she might support removing NAHASDA funding from the control of DHHL and placing it with a Native Hawaiian- controlled housing authority.
“There may be a whole variety of ways of doing this, but you have to explore it,” she said. “You’ve just got to explore it, and you’ve got to have the opportunity to give others who may have ideas as to how to do this. It is too long. It is absolutely too long.”
DHHL had a backlog of more than $55 million in unspent federal housing funds for Native Hawaiians in 2015, prompting President Barack Obama’s administration to restrict the flow of additional housing funding. The state had been receiving as much as $13 million a year in federal funding under NAHASDA for housing for Native Hawaiians on Hawaiian homelands, but in recent years has received only about $2 million.
Ige was not asked about NAHASDA during the forum, and because of the format of the event, he did not have an opportunity to directly address the issue.
He told an audience of about 75 listeners, “My three children work on the mainland today. I am definitely focused on creating the fundamental economy and the opportunities so that they have the opportunity to come back to Hawaii, have thriving careers, be able to afford a home, to be able to return to be part of this community.”
Ige also presented himself as “the only candidate who can actually tell you about how I’ve advanced Hawaiian issues by action and accomplishments.”
He cited his work negotiating ceded-lands settlements to resolve claims by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for money owed for ceded lands, and his role as a lawmaker in helping to grant beneficiaries the right to sue OHA and the DHHL for breaches of trust. He also cited his support for Hawaiian immersion education programs.
“I’m not the typical politician,” he said. “I don’t make decisions based on special interests or secret deals. I have been, and always will act in the best interests of the community.”
Ige, Hanabusa and former state Sen. Clayton Hee all support the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope project proposed for Mauna Kea on Hawaii island, but Hee said the operators of the existing observatories on Mauna Kea “are not paying their fair share.”
“They need to open their wallets, and as governor I would be the can opener to open their wallets,” he said.
“If I were governor, I would call the principals of the TMT into the Capitol building, and this is what I think,” he said. “I think that every public school graduate on the Big Island that qualifies to go to the university campus — any of the 10 campuses — ought to go for free, and TMT should pay.”
He added that TMT should also pay for qualified Native Hawaiian students from other islands who attend the University of Hawaii system, allowing those students to attend for free.
‘Different ideas’
Hee, who contends the Honolulu rail line should be halted at Middle Street, described that project as “a financial blight” and predicted it “will likely be $13 billion — if we’re lucky and if it gets to Ala Moana.”
Hee also repeated his support for a state lottery and for legalization of marijuana for adult use to raise more revenue for state government. “In lieu of raising taxes, government needs to get out of the box … and start to explore different ideas,” he said.
Republicans state Rep. Andria Tupola and former state Sen. John Carroll also answered questions at the forum, which was sponsored by a collection of groups including the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly and the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.
Sherri Cummings, 48, traveled to Honolulu from Kauai for the forum and said she particularly liked Hanabusa’s approach.
“I think the crisis that we’re facing now with the issues regarding losing the NAHASDA funding, being part of the solution,” said Cummings, who is president of Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association. She described Hanabusa as “the most in touch with who can help expedite the processes so that financial responsibility lies on the people like the housing authority. … She’s, I think, the linking pin between us and them. So I’m kind of rooting for that lady. She’s amazing.”
Ewa resident Sandra Castell, 72, said she likes Hee but has reservations about his proposals to raise funds through a lottery and legalized marijuana.
Castell, who volunteered on former President Obama’s campaign, said each of the candidates made points that she liked, and the forum addressed concerns shared by a large part of the population.
“Some people think that what we want is opposite of what everyone else wants. That’s not true,” she said. “We all care about health, education, housing, medical care. And we all care about making sure our own people get it as well as everyone else.”
