Leadership qualities, rail and COVID-19 dominated mayor’s race

Tuesday’s general election will determine who takes over the third-floor corner office at Honolulu Hale when Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s second term ends Jan. 2.

In choosing first-time candidates Rick Blangiardi and Keith Amemiya in the August primary as their finalists for the job, Oahu voters sent a clear message that they want fresh blood at City Hall.

As a result, each candidate continually trumpeted his “outsider” qualifications — and how those qualifications translate into the type of leadership skills that would make him the better mayor.

The two other main issues confronting Oahu voters in deciding on a mayor: who would be better at tackling the current and future challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and which of them has a more sensible approach to dealing with the vexing, $10 billion-plus rail project.

Blangiardi was general manager of Hawaii News Now while Amemiya was a vice president of Island Holdings, parent company for Island Insurance and Atlas Insurance Agency.

Blangiardi touts HNN’s coverage of key issues, including homelessness, domestic violence and political corruption involving former Police Chief Louis Kealoha, among his accomplishments. Before leading HNN, he was president of Telemundo, the nation’s second-largest Hispanic network, and brought it success, he said.

Amemiya is best known as the onetime Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive director and touts successes there, including helping raise money for school programs and bringing together different factions to create a statewide high school football championship.

Blangiardi has a long list of community service organizations he’s worked with, including stints as president of the Aloha Council of the Boys Scouts of America and chairman of the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce. Amemiya’s camp said while HHSAA is the only nonprofit he’s led, he’s sat on the board of many others.

Both said their leadership styles will bring inclusiveness and diversity to City Hall.

Blangiardi and Amemiya emerged from a pack of 15 candidates that included seasoned politicos such as former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, onetime Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann and City Councilwoman Kym Pine.

Blangiardi and Amemiya were both already selling themselves as the outsiders even before the primary, and that continued during the general election contest.

Not only had neither man ever run for elective office, neither was appointed to a city board or commission by Caldwell.

Amemiya was a Hannemann appointment to the Honolulu Police Commission in 2006. He resigned from the commission in 2009. Amemiya has served on both the state Board of Education and state Stadium Authority.

An independent super Political Action Committee noted that Amemiya resigned after it was reported the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers donated $25,000 to a Save Our Sports fundraising campaign that was led by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. At the time, Amemiya was HHSAA’s director. Amemiya pointed out that the money went directly to schools, not the association.

The same super PAC attempted to tag Amemiya as an ally to the current administration by pointing out that Managing Director Roy Amemiya, Caldwell’s second-in-command, is the candidate’s first cousin.

Karen Chang, Blangiardi’s wife, was appointed to the Police Commission by Caldwell in late 2018; she resigned after her husband announced his mayoral candidacy earlier year.

Blangiardi has also had to deal with stories that surfaced from his past — pertaining to lawsuits filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. against him 35 years ago in an alleged bank fraud scheme. In response, Blangiardi maintained he was a victim in the bank scam and had testified against the ringleaders, who went to prison.

Several Caldwell appointees are supporting Amemiya. Amemiya has played up in ads that he’s a registered Democrat and was endorsed by the Democratic Party. Three former Democratic governors chastised the Democratic Party for endorsing him in the nonpartisan mayor’s race. Amemiya also won the endorsement of Pine, who finished fourth in the mayoral primary.

Blangiardi has the support of former Republican Gov. Linda Lingle and former Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano as well Hanabusa, who finished third in the mayoral primary.

Besides Pine, Council members endorsing Ame-miya are Brandon Elefante, Joey Manahan and Tommy Waters, as well as Ikaika Anderson, who resigned from the Council last month. The Blangiardi campaign said some Council members support him but were told not to make it public to avoid dividing the Council.

Amemiya has won endorsements from the labor unions representing the largest number of city government employees — the Hawaii Government Employees Association and the United Public Workers — but Blangiardi captured SHOPO’s endorsement.

The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly endorsed Blangiardi. Both split among support from the construction and trades unions.

The Hawaii Carpenters Union Local 745 endorsed Blangiardi, and Be Change Now, the super PAC financed by the affiliated Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters, has funded about $873,000 in independent advertising in support of Blangiardi.

BRINGING OAHU OUT OF THE PANDEMIC

Both candidates have come up with position papers aimed at dealing with pandemic-related woes that touch on many areas but are largely short on specifics.

“COVID-19 has forced us to confront uncomfortable truths,” Amemiya states in his 10-page Recovery Plan for a Healthy Honolulu. “Our vision for the next decade and beyond is rooted in the belief that a healthy Oahu depends on healthy people, a healthy economy, and a healthy environment.”

“Proposing ‘plans’ comprised mostly of pre-COVID-19 ideas and solutions, and wrapped in a new cover, is not a viable approach to address an economy in full crisis,” Blangiardi states in his 14-page Roadmap to Recovery, Creating Opportunities from Crisis.

Both men said they generally support Caldwell’s tiered approach to reopening the island back up to specific businesses and activities but said they’d push for more free coronavirus testing and contact tracing more quickly, expand worker training programs and take steps to create a more diversified economy.

Amemiya said he would establish a Health Emergency Resiliency Fund and an Office of Community Engagement, implement “green visitor fees” to help preserve natural resources and start a Small Business Innovation Fund.

Blangiardi said he would establish an economic recovery business roundtable to set the metrics for reopening the economy, fast-track city-sponsored construction work to help jump-start the economy, and look into using property owned by the city “for economic development in partnership with the private sector.”

THE RAIL DILEMMA

Increasing costs and delays coupled with free-falling excise and hotel tax revenues have placed heightened awareness on the city’s troubled $10 billion-plus rail project, which is supposed to run from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center. The option of stopping the rail before Ala Moana to save money is being debated.

Both Blangiardi and Amemiya said they support the project and want to see it go to Ala Moana but are willing to pause the project if available revenues sources fall short.

They’ve both struggled in trying to articulate a clear position beyond that, noting that they aren’t privy to discussions taking place on key decisions that need to be made before Caldwell leaves, including whether the city should continue to seek a public-private partnership, as well as the related issue of $755 million in grants for the project that have been held up by the Federal Transit Administration.

“There are so many unknowns, and I have tried and tried to figure out if I can get any insight, but to be candid here, it’s all speculative,” Blangiardi said at an Oct. 13 forum. “We have a tremendous financial challenge, we all know that … but at the end of the day, I’m in favor of building this project as projected from East Kapolei to Ala Moana. And I will do everything in my power to see if we can get the financing to take it as far and make it as good as possible.”

Amemiya suggested at the same forum that Blangiardi had changed his position about pausing at Middle Street upon getting the endorsement of the carpenters union, among the project’s biggest boosters. “I’ve been consistent in saying that rail needs to be completed at Ala Moana,” he said. “Sure, I’m as frustrated and upset as everyone else at the status of the rail project up to this point, but we need to get it completed.”

In August, Blangiardi said, “I would absolutely want to examine stopping it. I don’t know enough about … if we could stop it at Middle Street, but that would be for me the ideal location. … We could reengineer and convene surface transportation.”

Amemiya also seemed willing in August to consider stopping short of Ala Moana. Everything needs to be done to try to finish rail, including modifications to the project to reduce costs, he said. “But if we’ve exhausted all alternatives, then of course we need to put a pause, but I don’t think we’re there yet,” Amemiya said.