Name on ballot:

Ernest Caravalho

Running for:

State House – District 28

Political party:

Aloha Aina

Campaign website:

www.ernestforhawaii.com

Current occupation:

Health Care

Age:

61

Previous job history:

paralegal

Previous elected office, if any:

n/a

Please describe your qualifications to represent the people of Hawaii.

My age and wisdom make me qualified for this office. I am a U.S. Air Force Veteran, I am the former Vice Chair of Neighborhood 13 and a sitting board member of Neighborhood Board 13. I am the President of the Honolulu Chinatown Lions club, the Treasurer of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, An Officer for the Aloha Chapter of the Knights of Rizal and a appointed officer of the Hawaiian Lodge Free and Accepted Masons. All of this plus me schooling in paralegal make me more then qualified.

What is the most pressing issue facing residents in your district and how would you address the problem?

Crime and Homelessness is the biggest problem we have in our district. I have already been involved with both issues as an activist in my district. I will reach out to our city counterparts to work on getting more police into our community on the ground. We need foot patrol officers in our neighborhoods and working cameras at every corner. While being compassionate we must instill tough love.

With crime and homelessness comes alcohol and drug abuse. I will work with the state in building a state-of-the-art rehab center that will address this addiction along with mental health issues.

Rising inflation has significantly worsened Hawaii’s already high cost of living. What can be done at the state level to help Hawaii residents cope with high consumer prices?

We must address our high cost of housing that benefits no one in Hawaii and only opens the market to mainland and foreign investors. We have not addressed our housing issues. We are out priced. We have no standard towards investing in affordable housing which is truly needed here in Hawaii.

The state must look into challenging the 14-amendment equal protection law. We do this by enforcing a residential law which will make it illegal for anyone not from Hawaii to be able to buy property in Hawaii without having lived here for seven years.

Hawaii’s rising gasoline prices are among the highest in the nation. Should Hawaii lower or temporarily suspend state taxes on gasoline to help ease the pain at the pump?

Although the majority would say yes, I will have to say no. We in America continue to complain about gas prices while our counterparts in Europe and the world pay more on average for gas then we do.

We need to continue to learn from covid. We should continue to allow our work force to work from home, thus cutting down the amount of people on the road, leading to a cleaner environment. We must invest in clean energy, moving Hawaii into the future and helping our people to Malama Aina. We must invest in more bike paths so we can ride our bikes safely and continue to stop the congestions on our streets from cars. These and many more options give us the freedom not to be dependent on gas fluctuation now and in the future.

Do you support or oppose efforts to slow or limit the number of tourists to Hawaii? Please explain.

I support the efforts to limit the amount of tourist to Hawaii. Personally, I believe that we should have a lottery determining the amount of people that can visit our islands, with exceptions.

We are overcrowded and if we continue in this direction there will not be a Hawaii for us to share with our generations to come. Hawaii is for our people and not for overstocking of tourist so others can get rich while the rest of us become indentured servants.

Tourist should also not be allowed to change the demographics of any of our communities and by reducing tourist we can now open space for the building of affordable housing.

Can Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy be diversified, and, if so, what can state government do to support the effort?


It is not a matter of can our tourism-dependent economy be diversified, but instead it’s a matter of diversifying our economy from tourism now.

We cannot allow tourism to be our base economy and must start changing our economy. The state can help by giving more incentives for people to diversify into farming and moving us to a cleaner environment. We should build an education and health care center in which Hawaii can change not only its image but attract a new type of tourist.

What is your plan to increase affordable housing in Hawaii, and to help the counties deal with homelessness?

I believe that I have touched on this question already. The state must look into challenging the 14-amendment equal protection law. We do this by enforcing a residential law which will make it illegal for anyone not from Hawaii to be able to buy property in Hawaii without having lived here for seven years. This will help on the building of affordable housing and the slowdown of the building of luxury housing which does nothing for our people but increase homelessness on our islands.

as stated above this is one way to address homelessness but the reality is we must address the inequality between the tourist and the local so that we can get to the root of homelessness in our islands.

Everything is built for the tourist while we continue to do nothing for our people. Many are homeless because we as a society have allowed this to happen. Unless we change our attitudes and educate our people homelessness will not go away.

We must also remember that homelessness is not a one size fits all but instead it is like the many arteries we have pumping blood into our hearts. So, we must address alcohol, drug and mental addiction. We must educate our children so we can stop the bleeding which is destroying our people.

The state must address all these before then can come up with a comprehensive plan that can be used effectively on all our islands based on each island’s needs.

What would you propose to help protect Hawaii residents’ health during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic?

I believe that covid-19 will be around just like the flu is. The bottom line is that we must encourage and educate our people to get their shots which will become a yearly shot just like the flu. We will continue to monitor covid throughout the world so we can make decision that will protect us all in real-time scenarios.

Hawaii isn’t likely to see a repeat of this year’s $2 billion revenue surplus which allowed higher-than-normal spending on state programs and projects. If elected, what will your top spending priorities be?

My top spending priorities will be focused on Crime, Houselessness, and Education.

What, if anything, should state government do in response to the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs Wade?

We were the first state to legalize abortion. Abortion in Hawaii will still be legal. This is now a state issue and Hawaii will continue to respect the right of the women to her body.

The question to me is how we prepare for what is to come from this decision and what Justice Clarence Thomas has hinted at. Many rights that we have attained are now in jeopardy so everyone should be vigilant in what our next moves must be to protect all rights even the reversal of the recent decision of Roe vs Wade.

What should state government do to support and improve public education in Hawaii?

I believe that the state should be reducing how much money they are spending elsewhere. An example would be to take the money we give to the Hawaii Tourism Authority and put it straight to education.

The world knows of Hawaii without us having to advertise. This is a no brainer. Let’s start using our money efficiently where it matters and stop wasting it on what does not matter.

What reforms, if any, would you propose to make local government more transparent to the public?

I believe in term limits and taking big money out of politics. We cannot allow anymore big money to come into our state that buy off our elected officials. No money outside of Hawaii should be allowed in campaigns. Special Interest and Lobbyist Should not have free access to our elected officials while the people are sidelined.

I will encourage public funding and accessibility to all committee meetings. I will fight to continue to have all these meeting on zoom or other links to allow everyday citizens to have full access. No more behind the scenes or backdoor dealings.

Do you support or oppose the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the Big Island and why?

I do not support the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna a Wakea.

For me the state and those involved in this project tried to push this through without even gauging or getting the community involved from day one, especially those on Moku O’ Keawe.

We already have 13 telescopes on Mauna a Wakea and should not be building anymore. We have to many telescopes on this Mauna which is scared to many natives on our islands.

Is there anything more that you would like voters to know about you?

This is my quest:
For all of our people, I will fight to reverse the corruption that exists in our government.
I will fight for the rights of the people to live a life that is befitting all human beings—one that is fair and just. I will fight for the right of our ʻāina to be cleansed of the filth and pollution that has been brought upon her. I will fight for the rights of our future generations, that they too may be able to live in a Hawaiʻi that is truly pono to all our people.
I will reach out for that unreachable star, and in doing so, I will fight for all of us.

Ernest David Kaimana Caravalho