Rail, traffic and the sometimes confrontational behavior of City Councilman Tom Berg are leading issues in the District I council race, with five candidates vying for the seat that includes Kapolei and the Leeward Coast.
Berg and first-time candidate E.J. Delacruz both oppose the rail project, saying they disagree with the way the project is being executed, and don’t believe the benefits from the rail line justify the $5.26 billion cost.
Three other contenders, including Rep. Kymberly Marcos Pine, former state Rep. Alex Santiago and former Teamsters Union leader Mel Kahele, all say they support the 20-mile rail project as a way to ease the worsening traffic congestion in West Oahu.
District I extends from close to Kaena Point to the Ewa area, and includes Ko Olina, Campbell Industrial Park, Makakilo, Kapolei, Kalaeloa and parts of Ewa Beach.
Another major issue for the district is the controversial Ho‘opili project by developer D.R. Horton that won state approval last month. Berg and Delacruz oppose Ho‘opili, while the other three candidates support the project.
Ho‘opili calls for 11,750 homes and 3 million square feet of commercial space on 1,554 acres of farmland in Ewa.
Political watchers believe Berg may be vulnerable in this election, which has helped to attract some widely known contenders to the race.
Berg won the Council seat representing the area in a 2010 special election to fill the final two years of the term of ToddâApo, who resigned to take a job with Disney’s Aulani Resort. That special election drew a crowded field of 14 candidates. Berg, a former legislative aide and tea party activist, won with 2,308 votes, or 18 percent of the 12,500 ballots cast.
Since then, Berg has been an outspoken and sometimes volatile member of the Council.
He is often on the losing end of Council votes, such as his lone vote against the city budget this year. Berg said he is helping to shape city policy by asking tough questions.
Two examples Berg cited were his lone vote against what he saw as a bloated operating budget for the Hono-lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation last year, and his strong opposition to the distribution of coloring books, key chains and other trinkets to promote the rail project.
HART Executive Director Daniel Grabauskas this year abruptly reduced the size of the public outreach staff for the rail project to save $2.8 million, and eliminated spending for rail promotional items such as coloring books. Berg said he sees those announcements as personal victories.
"Talk about being effective!" Berg exclaimed. "Had I not been on the Council, you’d still be getting coloring books. It was through my outbursts and rants that put a stop to it."
"When the votes are eight to one, I’m more effective," said Berg, 48.
Other outbursts by Berg outside of Council meetings have triggered public criticism, including a prolonged, videotaped argument between Berg and Secret Service agents outside a Waikiki hotel.
In the Waikiki incident, Berg was trying to gain re-entry to an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation reception on Nov. 12 to recover a cellphone, but officials would not let him pass because he did not have proper credentials. Berg accused the staff at the checkpoint of lying, and demanded that one of the security workers be fired.
Berg acknowledged he was drinking that evening, but denied being drunk. Police said he was intoxicated and that they smelled alcohol on his breath and clothes. Police later released a video recording of the encounter that has had thousands of YouTube views.
Pine’s House district includes portions of the Council district where she is now challenging Berg. Pine has served in the House since 2004.
Berg was Pine’s office manager for part of her time in the House, but Pine said she has been disappointed in Berg’s behavior.
"You can’t get anything done for your community if you make so many enemies of everybody," she said. "You can still fight for your community, but still have respect. That’s how you get things done in government."
Pine, 41, is a self-described fiscal conservative and former director of the House Republican Research office, and said she is the only candidate in the race who understands government budgeting. That will be a essential skill on the Council if the voters decide they want to proceed with the rail project, she said.
"I think I’m the only one who has the experience to know what waste looks like, and to propose changes to save taxpayer money," she said.
Pine also joined in some tea party events, but said she has distanced herself from the group more recently because it opposes rail. She said she has been a consistent supporter of rail.
While media attention has focused on the rail project, Pine said the biggest issue in the district is jobs. She said she worked with businesses to help organize a major job fair in the community, and said one of her priorities as a councilwoman would be to work more closely with Leeward businesses to press them to hire more Leeward residents.
Kahele, 60, is a lobbyist with the Iron Workers Union Stabilization Fund, and a former principal executive officer for Teamsters locals 996 and 681.
A 39-year resident of Makakilo, Kahele said traffic is the top issue for the district. As a Teamsters leader, Kahele said, he pressed for a bus rapid transit system, or BRT, to help ease congestion, but the city later abandoned that plan.
If the city won’t press ahead with BRT, then the city should push rail to create jobs, and to obtain $1.55 billion in federal funding to help pay for the project, he said.
"If we lose that, we basically are going to be caught up in the same situation that we are in right now, stuck in traffic," Kahele said.
Kahele said he has lobbied for bills at the state Legislature to try to get better emergency medical service for the Leeward area by basing an emergency unit in Waianae.
House lawmakers finally approved a resolution calling on the Hawaii Army National Guard to provide emergency air transportation from Waianae.
Kahele said he also lobbied to support two bills to make $80 million in special-purpose revenue bonds to assist St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, although those bills failed to pass.
Santiago, 55, represented the North Shore in the state House from 1990 to 2000 before becoming a consultant and lobbyist. He is now executive director of PHOCUSED (Protecting Hawaii’s Ohana Children Underserved Elderly and Disabled), which lobbies for additional funding for services for the needy.
He said he is returning to politics because he believes the district needs more effective leadership, and Santiago was concerned that Berg was frequently the lone "no" vote on Council issues.
"The coast where I live right now is in need of a strong advocate to allow for the things that the community wants to come to fruition," he said.
"The voters of the district have to go beyond the surface, glossy brochures that they are receiving, and they need to look at the candidates, look at their qualifications, look at their track records, and choose wisely," he said. "I will match my record to all of the candidates combined."
Santiago said rail should be a unifying issue instead of a polarizing issue, and argued that "it’s something that we cannot afford to not to do at this time. It’s not about us, it’s about the generations to come."
On the issue of Ho‘opili, Santiago said the City Council is in a position to demand more from the developer, and "we should not be a rubber stamp for what they are proposing to do at this time."
Santiago said he reserves the right to renegotiate density with the developer or demand that more of the Ho‘opili land be preserved for farming.
"I have looked at what they have talked about doing, and I think we can do better," he said.
Delacruz, 19, is a Leeward Community College student who believes the public has been misinformed on rail. He predicts the project will have major cost overruns, and said people tell him they will not use the system.
"If everybody has that answer, where are the riders coming from?" he asked. "The good it’s going to do isn’t worth the price it costs."
Delacruz said homelessness is another top issue for the area, and said he has some ideas he has heard in discussions with community members.
"My inexperience will cause me to go to the people more," he said. He said he plans to keep his campaign Facebook site open while he is in office so people can send him suggestions.
The current government gridlock at the local and national level is caused by people who are "set in their ways," he said. "I think that’s what I have to offer, that I am not set in my ways."
