Candidates vie to be next mayor

Harry Kim is back, but he has plenty of company.

Thirteen candidates are vying to be Hawaii County’s next mayor, a high-profile job responsible for addressing the needs of diverse communities facing challenges common and distinct, not to mention overseeing a $462.9 million budget and about 2,800 employees.

That’s the most crowded field since 2000, but only two will remain following the Aug. 13 primary, assuming no one claims more than half the vote.

Will it be Kim, the former two-term mayor who benefits from high name recognition, versus Wally Lau, Mayor Billy Kenoi’s former managing director who has by far raised the most campaign cash, facing off in November? Or will other candidates offering a different vision sneak to the front of the pack?

Whomever is elected will take over an office plagued by scandal. Kenoi, who is finishing his second and final term, faces trial in October for criminal charges stemming from misuse of his county purchasing card, or pCard.

What impact that has on the race remains to be seen.

For now, here’s a closer look at some of this year’s top contenders.

Marlene Hapai

Every mayor seeks to leave their own legacy. Marlene Hapai says hers is about making Hawaii Island a healthier and safer place to live, and highlighted emergency preparedness in particular during an interview.

Hapai, 67, of Kurtistown was co-chairwoman of the Puna Regional Emergency Preparedness Fair and plays a similar role on the Puna Community Development Plan’s action committee.

“We should be able to have an (emergency preparedness fair) in every area,” she said. “I see this as a model.”

Hapai, who ran unsuccessfully for state House twice as a Republican candidate, described herself as an “implementer.” She jokingly said she also has been called the “queen of green” for her success at raising funds for nonprofits.

“I’m a good grant writer,” she said. “I’m not just a good grant writer, I’m a good orchestrator.”

Hapai said she would bring those skills to the county. She said county government should focus more on raising revenue through grants and other means without raising taxes.

“If we have resources, let’s use them to bring in more revenue,” she said.

Hapai is a former science educator at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and former member of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents. Her husband is former Republican state Rep. Archie Hapai.

Hapai’s resume includes working as an associate dean at the UH-Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and director of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center during its construction phase.

“Whenever there was major conflicts sometimes with culture and science, we just worked it out,” she said, regarding her time heading ‘Imiloa. “… I could understand the importance, the value of science and also a sensitivity to the cultural part.”

Currently, Hapai is the president of the Hawaii Island Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and sits on boards for the Hui Malama Ola Na Oiwi Native Hawaiian Health Care System and Alumni &Friends for St. Joseph School. She said she is overseeing creation of a Portuguese heritage center.

Hapai was raised in Honokaa, a former sugar town on the Hamakua Coast with which she still holds close ties. She is the fourth-generation manager of the Andrade building.

Hapai said she witnessed the impacts to the community from construction of a bypass road and the demise of the sugar plantations.

“I talk about Honokaa as the little town that could,” she said. “The community realized they had to help each other, the community had to help the businesses to stay alive.”

To help Honokaa, and other small former sugar towns, Hapai said the county should highlight their history.

“Getting historic labels helps,” she said. “People want to know the history of the place. We can keep Hawaii, Hawaii and just focus on what we have.”

Hapai said she wants to see the county pay down its debt.

The Government Finance Officers Association recommends a ceiling of no more than 15 percent of expenditures going to pay off bonds.

The county’s debt service percentage is at 8.98 percent but that would go up to 13.41 percent if all of the bonds the County Council authorized were issued.

With the county embroiled in Kenoi’s pCard scandal, each candidate was asked what they think needs to be changed.

Hapai said she would prefer that county officials use their own credit cards and seek reimbursement for county-related expenses. She said she didn’t use a pCard as associate dean for CTAHR when they were introduced at the university.

“I think reimbursements are better,” she said.

Hapai didn’t have any specific proposals for reforming how county staff use the cards, which act as county credit cards.

“If we need to see if the rules and regulations need to be modified, then so be it,” she said.

Hoffmann

Pete Hoffmann of Waikoloa is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served eight years on the Hawaii County Council, including two years as its chairman.

And he’s not one to beat around the bush.

“I’m running for mayor because I can do a better job than the previous two administrations,” said Hoffmann, 75. “I think I have the background, the experience and the knowledge of county affairs to make a difference in how the county is run.”

He said the county needs a new direction. That includes changing how county officials view their job.

“What I see is that some people think they work for the mayor and that they are loyal to the mayor and they can’t say anything when they see something wrong,” said Hoffmann, in an apparent jab at Lau, his biggest opponent on the west side.

“We don’t work for the mayor or the department head or the division heads. County officials and employees work for the citizens of this island.”

When asked about the pCard issue, Hoffmann said the solution is a change in command. He said he would not use one himself. “If you get someone who is not trustworthy, I think the rules are there,” Hoffmann said.

His military experience includes 25 months in Vietnam and two years working for the Pentagon’s Army Chief of Staff. Hoffmann retired as the U.S. Defense Attache in the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

After moving to the island in 1997, Hoffmann became the first president of the Waikoloa Senior Center and served on the UH Board of Regents, in addition to other agencies.

He said his “overriding priority” is reducing poverty on the island.

“All too many people are in this condition and I believe it is the responsibility of the county to take a leadership role in order to address this issue,” Hoffmann said.

Ways the county can help include encouraging more locally grown food, which he says can be cheaper and healthier, by preserving agriculture land or acquiring farm land and leasing it to local farmers, he said.

Hoffmann said the county should be more aggressive in developing affordable housing, even if that means the county becoming a property manager.

“If we cannot reduce the number of people who need some type of affordable living, I got to tell you, you are not attacking the problem adequately,” he said.

Hoffmann said he would support the community development plans, which he thinks are being ignored. “That attitude, I promise, when I’m mayor, will change,” Hoffmann said.

Some of his other priorities include addressing the county’s wastewater and solid waste issues that he says have not gotten enough attention.

“These are the big-ticket items the next mayor will have to address,” Hoffmann said. “They have been ignored in the extreme.”

He said roads need to be improved but he opposes raising the general excise tax to pay for infrastructure improvements, as the Kenoi administration proposed.

“Kenoi may have done good a lot of other places, but some of the roads here in Hilo now need to be addressed,” Hoffmann said.

He said the county should not spend money just because it has it but he feels comfortable with its current level of borrowing.

“I see nothing wrong with what was done,” Hoffmann said.

Kim

No name on the ballot will be more familiar to voters than Harry Kim.

The former Civil Defense director who served as mayor from 2000 to 2008 is running again for the county’s top post after losing to Kenoi, his former executive assistant, in 2012.

The reason, he said, is because he wants to restore trust and faith in government.

“I’m very concerned of the distrust we have with government,” said Kim, citing the pCard scandal and perceived biases in county hiring practices.

“I’ll never betray this most precious of gifts.”

As he has for the past three runs, Kim, 76, of Hilo is running a shoe-string campaign. He said he is not soliciting donations, leaving it up to supporters to craft their own signs to show their support.

As of June 30, he came in third in fundraising, with $12,037. He followed Hoffmann, who raised $19,532, and Lau, who raked in $183,705.

Kim says he is a “fiscal conservative,” though his critics note he added about 300 positions as mayor.

He said that was to add much-needed police and fire positions. Similar increases in county staffing also have been seen the past eight years.

Regarding the county’s current fiscal picture, Kim said he “is very concerned about our expenditures.”

“All I know is we are borrowing a lot of money and I need to have a comprehensive review to know the status,” he said.

Kim declined to list any of his spending priorities, saying he would need to get a “fiscal picture” and needs assessment done after getting into office. “I don’t know what I don’t know,” he said.

“A fiscal review is going to be a very critical part of the first part of the month” in his administration, Kim said.

“I can tell you this, we can’t afford anymore tax increases.”

Kim said he would implement recommendations from the county’s 2015 pCard audit but didn’t think any changes to the program were necessary.

“There’s nothing wrong with the system,” he said. “There’s a point when you have too much control, it’s cumbersome.”

Kim lost by 3,508 votes to Kenoi in 2012, with West Hawaii proving to be one of his weak spots.

He said he wasn’t doing anything different this time around to court those voters who sometimes feel neglected despite generating the most tax revenue.

“My job as mayor is not to see who paid more,” Kim said, adding his focus is to spend money where it is needed.

“If people really took a look at government expenses (during his terms) they would be pleased with the fairness in how the money was spent,” he said.

Lau

After working in Kenoi’s administration for seven years, Wally Lau says he is ready for the county’s top post.

Kenoi hired the 68-year-old Kailua-Kona resident as deputy managing director in 2008 and later promoted him to managing director in 2012.

Lau, who before joining the county was executive director of The Neighborhood Place of Kona, said his job was to coordinate with county departments and oversee various projects, such as construction of the West Hawaii Civic Center.

He quit the top deputy post earlier this year to run for mayor.

“Over that time, I’ve seen the decisions government makes, how it affects all of us, our families,” Lau said. “When I see that, it just encourages me … to continue to serve.”

He said his priority is to ensure the county maintains what it has, addressing homelessness and improving the county’s permitting system.

“We need to find a way to help them,” Lau said of the county’s homeless population. “We can’t take a backseat.”

Providing more microunits for homeless and “safe spaces” for people who live in their cars to park overnight are part of his plan.

“If we don’t get a grip on this thing here it will change the quality of life as we know it,” he said.

Lau said he will remain a Kona resident if elected and split his time between Hilo and Kona.

But he is also running at time when his former boss is facing trial for charging personal expenses to his county pCard, including while Lau worked as his right-hand man. Kenoi says he paid the charges back.

Lau said he was not in charge of overseeing Kenoi’s pCard charges and was never made the pCard coordinator for the Mayor’s Office. He said a review of his own pCard charges found no misuse.

“I adhered to all the rules that were there,” Lau said.

According to the Finance Department, the pCard coordinators for the office were William Takaba from Dec. 1, 2008, through Nov. 30, 2012, and Randall Kurohara, from Dec. 3, 2012 through present.

Asked if he knew there were issues with Kenoi’s pCard use, Lau paused before stating “No.”

His attorney, Stan Roehrig, who was present during the interview, advised him not to answer questions that could affect Kenoi’s trial, set for October.

Lau said he would follow all the pCard rules if elected and expect his staff to do the same.

“For me, it’s about standard practice,” he said. “These are the rules you follow, the rules along the way.”

Lau provided the county’s response to the pCard audit that noted misuse by the Mayor’s Office and within the Department of Liquor Control. He said then that the audit’s recommendations would be implemented.

Lau said the Finance Department was instructed to follow through, though by the time he left the county six months later, he wasn’t sure what progress had been made.

He said he would make sure they are implemented as mayor.

Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.