Honolulu Weekly

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this session?
“I will answer questions 1 & 2 together since they are rather overlapping.”

2. With which piece of 2009 legislation are you most proud to be affiliated and why?
“Regarding the biggest state-wide accomplishment of the session, I believe it was the single biggest boost to our future economy with the “SpacePort” licensing bill we passed. I co-sponsored this bill (HB 994) with Rep. McKelvey and Rep. Wakai and believe that Hawaii will no longer be the same because of this bill. The measure, “Relating to Space Tourism” sets in motion a licensing process for Hawaii to become a space port for weightless and supersonic flights. Weightlessness flights will be a big boost to tourism and make us an even more attractive destination area, and when ‘rocker planes’ are more developed they will have a normal horizontal take off in Honolulu, reach a certain altitude then fire its rockets, and be in Japan for a horizontal landing in just 45 minutes.

Rep. McKelvey and I worked with Jim Cristafuli of DBEDT - the godfather of the aerospace program in Hawaii, and did a series of liaising/lobbying/cajoling with the Governor’s office, the Dept of Transportation Airports Division, and the Hawaii Tourism Authority, including a video conference with space port licensing officials in the FAA, Washington DC, and a rocket plane company considering relocating to Hawaii.

With all of the other anti-business legislation and taxation passed this session, it was a breath of fresh air to be involved with this project. The first biggest district-wide accomplishment was the halt of a shark-feeding operation out of Maunalua Bay in Hawaii Kai. I worked with the community and put together a town hall meeting which caused the operation to be stopped. As a result of this, some of my colleagues at the State Capitol have called for a state-wide information meeting on the possibility of banning all shark-feeding tours in Hawaii. The event will held at the State Capitol Auditorium, Thursday, May 14, 2009, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The second biggest district-wide accomplishment of the session was passage in the House and Senate of HR58 and HCR65 which calls for Hawaii Kai’s private sewage treatment plant operated by Hawaii-American Waters to reduce its odor emissions and report monthly to the community, the legislature, and the PUC commission on its progress. I sponsored this reso and worked with community members throughout the legislative process. It should make Hawaii Kai smell a little bit better after the resolution is fully implemented.”

3. What was the biggest disappointment of the session and how might a similar disappointment be prevented in the future?
“The legislature’s myopic approach to economic development was my biggest disappointment of the session. What we did will slow down, rather than speed up our economic recovery in the future. Macro and micro economics perspectives which promoted growth of the economy and the creation of jobs were looked upon as inferior goals and too Republican. This can be prevented in the future by more people with private sector experience being elected to the legislature. We need “economy repairmen and women” in the next 10 years in this legislature.”

4. Debating which issue turned out to be the biggest distraction from your priorities?
“The constant blame directed at the Governor became a big distraction and distortion of reality during the session. The majority appeared to go out of its way to make Governor Lingle look like some kind of a George Bush during her last two years in office, so anyone that followed her would not have a record to run on. While debating the budget, for example, most speakers made it sound like it was actually her fault that the legislature had to raise everyone’s taxes. ‘The Governor made me do it………’ was a mantra that still resounds from the 2009 floor debates.”

5. What’s one thing you wish voters better understood about you or the political process as a whole?
“We have largely a one-party system in Hawaii. Because of this session however, I think voters have a better understanding of the differences between the two parties, one of which has 90% of the votes, and the other 10% of the votes. We the minority were not for raising the T.A.T. tax or the income tax, or the conveyance tax, or the cigarette and cigar taxes that were all increased, and weren’t for civil unions, and we voted to balance the budget with equal sacrifices from all state workers not just a few because we trusted what Governor Lingle said that the budget could be balanced “without tax increases, and without warm bodies being cut.

As a result there are three angry constituencies that have coalesced out of this session: 1) the high tech companies (because of the death of Act 221), 2) the conservatives (because of the passage of HB444, and 3) the taxpayers (because of the increase in TAT and income and other taxes).The people of Hawaii are not stupid, they will remember this.”