Realtors to start
endorsing candidates

Members want Oahu's largest trade
organization to enter the political arena

By Rob Perez
Star-Bulletin

The largest trade organization on Oahu has decided to flex its political muscle during the coming campaign season.

For the first time in its history, the 4,000-member Honolulu Board of Realtors plans to endorse candidates running for city offices.

Its first endorsements are expected in next year's City Council races.

The trade group said in a written statement that the new policy was approved in response to members wanting the organization to get more involved in the political process. The board said it will provide financial support and volunteer help to candidates it endorses, while spreading the word about the selections.

Industry and political figures said support from Realtors, whose business depends on knowing lots of people and being active in the community, could be critical in deciding tight contests.

"In a close local race, it could make a great difference," said Nick Ordway, a University of Hawaii business professor and real estate expert.

Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-Moanalua, said such an endorsement will help a candidate counter the widespread perception that isle lawmakers are anti-business.

And while the Realtor group can't match the political muscle of the state's largest public-worker unions, it will bring a significant new voice to an endorsement arena now dominated by labor, Sakamoto and others said.

"Maybe this will help balance the multitude of different union endorsements," Sakamoto said.

Mike Imanaka, government affairs director for the board, said the group will decide endorsements based on candidate questionnaires, interviews and, for incumbents, voting records too.

The organization will look particularly at the candidates' positions on issues of concern to the industry.

The goal of the board is to award endorsements to candidates who get the unanimous support of the 21-member board and widespread support among the general membership, Imanaka said.

"We want to make sure our members are happy with the selections," he said.

The board decided not to issue endorsements to candidates for state and federal offices, deferring to the Hawaii Association of Realtors, which handles statewide issues.

That organization does not make endorsements.

Realtors say their trade groups have not endorsed candidates in the past partly because the organizations didn't want to chance supporting candidates who eventually lost, creating ill will with the winners.

But that neutrality has hurt the industry and has enabled unions to better influence government decision-making, said Ron Nakatsu, a Waipahu broker.

The associations' lack of lobbying clout has become more pronounced as their memberships have shrunk, pummeled by the longest real estate downturn in state history, some agents say.

With that backdrop, agents welcomed the Oahu board's new policy.

"I love it," Nakatsu said. "I think we can be a formidable force in politics."