Thought for the Day:

Bad Officials Are Elected by
Good Citizens 
Who Do Not Vote.
George Jean Nathan
(1882 - 1958)

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." - 
(Winston Churchill)

ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT:

We need more transparency in government.  We need to have total accessibility to our government leaders. We vote for them to represent us and so, we have the right to know if they are doing so. 

On the Issues:

Healthcare

My main issue is healthcare. We need private hospitals on Maui. In order to increase efficiency and quality, Maui Memorial should also be privatized.

We must abolish the CON – the Certificate of Need laws, so that we can allow our free market to run hospital businesses. The CON has been used to stop competition in Hawaii to existing facilities. It has been used on the mainland to stop competition there too. Competition is healthy for any business, to decrease costs and increase quality. The CON has been used all across the country to stop competition by the very hospitals it was meant to regulate.

I am for medical tort reform. This will help attract the doctors we need, and keep our current doctors here, in Hawaii. Regulating medical tort reform has been proven to attract doctors. Over the past three years, some 7,000 M.D.s have flooded into Texas due to their tort reform legislation.

I support increasing our doctor’s reimbursement rates. We must increase physician reimbursement up to at least Western mainland levels. We cannot expect our doctors to work with the reimbursement they currently receive, and then pay the high Hawaii cost of living. We must increase access to care and this can be accomplished by making sure our doctors are paid the salaries they need to live and work in Hawaii

Read Jan's statement regarding healthcare in-depth...

Education

The future of Hawaii rests in the hands of our students.  It is the responsibility of the government to provide quality schools for our children.  I am for equal funding for all of our Department of Education students, including our public Charter School students.  We also need to get more of our school tax dollars into the classroom.  We can do this with local school boards that adhere to state standards of excellence. What we are doing now is not working.   

We need Maui Community College to grow into a four year university center along with our increasing population. We need to meet the needs of our adult learners as well as our newly graduated high school students.  We can do this with expanded remote learning  classes. We must also integrate the new hospital with the nursing program at MCC.  We need a classroom within the hospital designated for the nursing students. We need to give students who show aptitude for nursing, scholarships which will then be paid back with paid years of service at one of the Maui County hospitals.

TAXES

Hawaii currently has the 4^th highest tax burden in the country.  This, along with our high cost of living, is placing a very difficult burden on our Hawaii residents.  We cannot expect parents to work 2 to 4 jobs so that they can take care of their families.  We must lower taxes and streamline government.  An efficiently run government will not be such a burden on the citizens that they serve.

INFRASTRUCTURE

We need to encourage private construction companies to build truly affordable housing.  We cannot expect our young people to stay in Hawaii if they cannot afford homes of their own.  We must take care of our own people first.   

We must update our water system so that we can get the water to the people.     

We need a road from upcountry down to Kihei to alleviate the traffic congestion.  The pali must be widened now.  It is time for action.  

Our harbors will be upgraded and expanded by the Governors “Harbor Modernization Plan”. She has given us $200 million for our Maui harbor improvements. Hana Harbor will also be improved.  

We have outgrown our airport. The governor has allocated $115 million for Kahului
Airport improvements. This includes a new access road and expanded parking lot.  

ENERGY

Hawaii needs sustainable energy. We have wind, solar and hydro power all around us. It is only a matter of harnessing this energy and making it work for us. We must become energy independent.

Hawaii is in the most energy fragile state in the country. 90% of our energy comes from oil. Of this 90%, 99% of it is imported oil from foreign countries. We owe it to ourselves and to our country to stop this excessive use of oil. Each year, we are sending $7.1 billion dollars to foreign countries for oil. This weakens our economy and strengthens the economy of these other countries.

Wind farms, solar panels and wave energy will not only keep our Hawaii money in Hawaii, it will create new jobs. 

The governor has given Maui the opportunity to be home to the first wave energy project in the United States.  We will be the first test site for the National Wind Technology Center outside of its headquarters in Colorado.

Maui is abundant in natural energy sources: wind, solar and water.   We need to break free from imported foreign oil to clean energy sources. We must also expand our windmills and add solar to as many homes and businesses as possible.

ENVIRONMENT  

We need to have curbside recycling.  It is starting in some parts of Maui County , but we need it state wide.  With our delicate island ecosystem, we must be very careful of the environment. As visitors are now coming from many different countries, we must be very careful to give the tools to the state Department of Agriculture to be able to stop invasive species. 

ECONOMY

We must diversify our economy to have a sustainable economy. Relying mostly on tourism leaves our economy in an economically fragile position. We should take advantage of our location to export crops such as coffee and whole pineapple. We should look to manufacturing for our own needs along with exporting to the mainland and the Asian market. 

We need to increase our school programs to include the STEM subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math so that we can compete in a global economy. 

Our infrastructure projects, along with energy independence projects will stimulate our economy and provide jobs. 

The governor’s administration is committed to improving the Kahului Harbor, the state’s third largest port, where approximately $118 million in upgrades are planned, which includes improvements to the Hana Bay dock.

The administration’s Airports Modernization Plan calls for investing more than $115 million in improvements for the Kahului Airport.

When we get started on our new hospitals, there will be many skilled jobs generated from construction to hospital workers.  This will bring a sustainable Maui economy for many years.

We need to look at agriculture increases on Molokai and Lanai so that we can provide jobs to these islands and also, so that we have food sustainability.

VETERANS  

Our veterans have risked their lives for our safety and freedom.  We must make sure that they have all of the services they need when they return. The neighbor island veterans are experiencing difficulty in their medical care. There must be counseling provided for both our returning soldiers and their families, if needed.

HOME RULE 

We need to allow each county greater local control. The individual islands should make the decisions on subjects such as healthcare needs and school administration.


CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION (CON CON)

Let’s Can the CON with the CON CON!

We need to vote FOR a Constitutional Convention (CON CON)  this fall. This is our way of being able to get what we want in our government.  If this CON CON we would elect people from each district to look at our current constitution and decide what, if any, changes are needed.

One change that I would like to see is the end of the Certificate of Need (CON) process. The CON stifles competition in healthcare.  This leads to increased cost and decreased quality of healthcare services.

We could also get local public school control and therefore, get more money into our classrooms.

We could vote for more local control.