Political File
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Kauai’s Kanoho says 20th Legislature will be his last
As he prepares for the 2006 legislative session, Rep. Ezra Kanoho says it will be his last.
"It's time to move on," said the 78-year-old Democrat, who has represented the Wailua-Koloa district on Kauai since 1987. "I need to spend some time with family."
Kanoho, chairman of the House Water, Land Use and Ocean Resources Committee, said he plans to devote his 20th and final session to securing the Democrats' legislative package on agriculture.
The proposals focus primarily on funding for repair and maintenance of Hawaii's aging public and private irrigation systems and providing incentives for private landowners to maintain irrigation systems formerly used by pineapple and sugar growers.
Democrats also want to transfer some functions of the Department of Agriculture to the Agribusiness Development Corp.
"For Kauai and the state, this is the No. 1 important issue," Kanoho said.
He also plans to promote bills aimed at protecting Hawaii's marine and ocean resources and native Hawaiian issues.
Kanoho, a retired Kauai manager and safety director for the former GTE Hawaiian Tel, said he plans to stay active in the community.
"Like anyone else, I still have a need to contribute meaningfully to the community, so I'll be doing a lot of that," he said. "Exactly what, I'm not sure, but I'll find a niche."
Mayoral bid a long shot
LIHUE » Running against an incumbent after a decade out of political office, Jesse Fukushima has an uphill battle to get the Kauai mayor's job in November.
But Fukushima said last week that he is willing to climb every hill on Kauai to knock on every door to get his message out.
The 55-year-old Kapaa resident has spent the past 10 years helping to raise his children after serving as a County Council member for 15 years, from 1981 to 1996.
"I knew somewhere, sometime, I would be back in politics," Fukushima said. "Ten years has been a long time. It was good to step away from it, bring a (different) outlook."
The landscape contractor and yard designer said he is looking forward to a positive campaign against incumbent Bryan Baptiste.
"Word of mouth will be very important," Fukushima said. "These legs are going to do a lot of walking."
The three major issues affecting Kauai, as Fukushima sees it, are traffic, real property taxes and affordable housing.
While traffic is not really an issue for the mayor, since most of it concerns the Garden Isle's state highways, more consistent lobbying efforts are needed to get a bigger slice of state funds. Kauai has grown economically in the past few years, but residents have suffered from high prices and taxes.
While the County Council has been trying to curtail tax rates, Fukushima said, "the appraisal lies strictly with the administration."
He said leadership is his major qualification.
"I think any candidate ... the basic question is we all care," Fukushima said. "How we care is the question mark we put out to the voters."