Retired judge offers stiff challenge to Maui County’s incumbent mayor

On the strength of his primary election night showing, Richard Bissen, a retired Maui Circuit Court judge and former Maui County prosecuting attorney, appears well positioned to wrest away the county’s top post from Mayor Michael Victorino.

Bissen finished ahead of the second-place incumbent by some 1,660 votes, collecting nearly 35% of the vote to Victorino’s 30%. Together, they qualified for November’s general election runoff by outpacing a field of eight, including Kelly Takaya King and Mike Molina, both of whom gave up their County Council seats to run for mayor.

The Maui race is one of two neighbor island mayoral contests on the Nov. 8 ballot. On Kauai, Mayor Derek Kawakami appears to be cruising to a second term after trouncing his competition in the primary. He captured 79% of the vote, compared with 12% for Michael Roven Poai, his general election opponent.

It’s a different story on Maui.

In his first term, Victorino faced headwinds from a progressive-led County Council and maneuvered Maui through the hardship of the COVID-19 pandemic and then a tourism rebound that was unwelcomed by many. In 2021 he survived a recall campaign by residents angry over COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other grievances.

The 70-year-old former insurance executive, McDonald’s restaurant manager and father of ex-Major League Baseball player Shane Victorino was elected mayor in 2018 after reaching a 10-year term limit as a Council member.

Bissen, 60, retired as chief judge of the 2nd Circuit Court in 2021 after 16 years on the bench. Before that he served eight years as Maui County’s prosecuting attorney before working stints as first deputy state attorney general and acting director of the state Department of Public Safety.

Bissen threw his hat into the mayoral ring early and has been running hard in a well-organized, high-profile campaign. Along the way he has met with community groups and organizations of all stripes.

With his triumph in the primary, Bissen was able to score some key endorsements that don’t usually go to a political novice, including from the Maui Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Government Employees Association and Hawaii Carpenters Union Local 745.

As for campaign fundraising, Bissen has matched the mayor with a total of about $580,000. Victorino edged Bissen in the latest campaign spending reporting period, $102,000 to $92,000, but Victorino’s tally included a $15,000 contribution from the candidate himself.

Political analyst Colin Moore said Bissen has to be the front-runner at this point.

The director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center said Victorino’s underdog status is probably due to a combination of things, including backlash to the restrictions the mayor imposed during the pandemic and opposition from Maui’s well- organized progressive community unhappy with his pro-tourism and development positions.

With progressives generally faring poorly in the primary election, Maui voters may also be fed up with the ongoing divisiveness between the progressive and pro- tourism and development factions. Bissen, Moore said, might represent a neutral alternative.

“The Bissen campaign is about being above the fray, a respected judge who is rising above the politics,” he said. “The fact that he is a respected apolitical figure who isn’t caught up in the fights is part of the appeal.”

Veteran journalist Deborah Caulfield Rybak, who writes the Politics on Maui blog, said a lot of people may not be aware of Bissen’s political positions, but they do see him as a well- educated, well-spoken and respected jurist — a Maui boy who did good.

On the other hand, Victorino, who’s been in office almost 15 years as a Council member and now mayor, is a savvy politician who continues to announce “a Santa’s bag of gifts for various constituencies,” Rybak wrote in a recent blog post. That includes the acquisition of 45 acres of prime shoreline and other properties from Alexander &Baldwin that was announced the day before the primary.

“He can politic with the best of them,” she said.

Maui consultant Rod Antone, a former Honolulu journalist who served eight years as spokesperson for former Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, said he thinks the race between Victorino and Bissen is a lot closer than many believe.

There’s a perception that most Maui County progressives will vote for Bissen, but Antone said a sizable number are actually leaning toward Victorino because “he’s the devil they know.”

What’s more, while Bissen’s fundraising and campaign started strong, Victorino, who has vast community connections, has been working hard to catch up, according to Antone, and it appears his campaign has done so. Some private polls still show Bissen ahead but not by much.

“This is a lot more competitive,” Antone said.

On the campaign trail, one of the hottest topics is the lack of affordable housing on Maui, where the price of the median home has ballooned from about $775,000 in 2018 to $1.2 million.

“The shortage of affordable housing is the biggest issue facing our community,” Victorino said. “Maui County’s working families are struggling to find homes they can afford.”

The mayor said his administration is actively searching out federal funds to help pay for the infrastructure needed to expedite construction of nearly 2,000 approved affordable housing units in the pipeline.

He also said he’s working to reduce regulatory barriers that impede home construction, having moved the building permit application process entirely online and meeting with homebuilders early in the process to identify and overcome obstacles to construction.

Bissen, meanwhile, has pledged to approve 100 accessory dwelling units — “granny flats” — in the first 180 days of his administration by offering at least three pre-approved floor plans to help fast-track projects.

The candidate also hopes to identify and repurpose vacant commercial space for conversion into housing. For example, an underused shopping center might have space for a multistory apartment building.

“The water, sewer and parking is already there,” he said.

Bissen’s five-point long-term “Kama‘aina Housing” plan would make the county a partner in development, with the government not only putting in the infrastructure, but helping to arrange volume-discounted mortgages for buyers.

Another idea the retired judge aims to pursue is using county land to rent or sell affordable homes as leasehold, which would keep the asset for the county.

“Right now there are two prices on Maui: expensive and out of reach,” he said.