5 House candidates share their views in forum

While they may have different points of view, the five candidates vying for the U.S. House seat in Congress agreed on most issues during a candidate forum luncheon hosted by the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii in downtown Honolulu Wednesday.

Lt. Gov. Doug Chin, Rep. Beth Fukumoto, Rep. Kaniela Ing, Sen. Donna Mercado Kim and City Councilman Ernie Martin answered several questions covering a range of topics — from taxes to tariffs, minimum wage to paid family leave, workforce development, national security and how to balance business with sustainability.

All five are running for the 1st Congressional District seat representing urban Honolulu vacated by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who is running for governor.

Some of the candidates have similar background stories but played up their varied experiences and generational differences.

Chin, 51, is the son of immigrants, a mother who worked as a librarian and a father who worked as a civil engineer. The former attorney general of Hawaii who announced his candidacy earlier this year said what separated him from the other candidates is that he has taken on President Donald Trump regarding his travel bans targeting Muslim-majority countries.

“I’ve taken on President Trump in court and I was able to be successful on multiple cases in multiple courts,” Chin said. “If I were to make it to Congress, I would be one of the very few members of Congress who’s actually done that.”

Fukumoto, 35, the granddaughter of a labor leader in New York who made a well-publicized switch from the Republican to the Democratic party last year, said it was time for a change in the status quo. She cited affordable housing as her top priorities, along with energy grid and cybersecurity.

Ing, 29, a Kamehameha Schools and University of Hawaii at Manoa graduate who lost his father as a youth, said he wants to bring a new voice to Congress and represent local families, with the goal of restoring “some civility and aloha in this Donald Trump crazy era we’re facing today.”

“I just want to say if any mistakes were made, I’m taking full responsibility and I’m sorry if I let anyone down,” Ing said in his opening statement, regarding campaign spending allegations, before fielding questions.

Both Kim and Martin came from humble beginnings and are the only ones from their families to have graduated from college, but learned early the values of hard work.

Kim, a single mom who ran a business before becoming a veteran state senator, said she understood the challenges that small-business owners face. Martin, chair of the city council, grew up with a large family in public housing and is the son of a retired U.S. Army veteran.

All five candidates said they supported the concept of paid family leave, and understood the need for it, particularly with Hawaii’s aging population. Kim said she thought it was best left up to individual states.

Chin said he would support raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour for the sake of future generations as an “important down payment we’re giving to the next generation.”

As someone who’s worked for minimum wage at Longs Drugs and Walmart before getting more pay cleaning locker rooms at the Four Seasons, Ing said he definitely supported an increase to $15 per hour and that it was important for someone with that experience to represent the working people in Congress.

Kim agreed the minimum wage should be raised, but said she supported giving businesses time to factor in the increase, and that there needed to be a balance, to keep businesses viable.

When asked what she thought the top national security issue would be that could affect Hawaii businesses, Kim responded: “President Trump and his tweeting, and some of his policies on terrorists and not thinking things through.”

The false missile alert in Hawaii on Jan. 13 was a wake-up call to be prepared, she said, and reinforces the state’s need to support the military.

The candidates also said they did not perceive Trump’s specific tariff plans for Chinese industrial goods as beneficial, considering that many of Hawaii’s businesses are run by foreign-born entrepreneurs and the state’s reliance on import-export trade. Fukumoto said she believed tariffs are a “legitimate tactic for making sure we can build our local economy,” but did not support Trump’s specific tariff plans.

All agreed, as well, that affordable college tuition was a top priority, in addition to workforce training, and that Hawaii’s environment is an essential part of the state’s economy, with tourism being the No. 1 industry.

“I think the mistake that is often made is that the two are mutually exclusive — the economy and the environment,” Fukumoto said. “In Hawaii, the environment is our economy. Sustainability is something that Hawaii businesses need to be able to survive. The economic issues that we face in Hawaii are things that can be fixed by increased environmental laws and increasing our clean-energy goals.”