STAR-BULLETIN / 1998 Comedian Kaui Hill, better known as Bu La'ia, has decided to make another run for governor, this time as a Natural Law candidate.

Bu’s back and he’s
in governor's race

The ribald comedian claims he's
as serious "as a heart attack"

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By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

Kaui Hill, better known as Bu La'ia, is running for governor of Hawaii again, and for those who think it's just a lark for the 36-year-old comedian, he says, "I'm serious as a heart attack."

Now a Maui resident, Hill said he offers "a Hawaiian voice."

Hill filed his nomination papers Friday as a Natural Law candidate.

"I am shooting for the Hawaiian issues, basically," he said.

He said he has no money and isn't asking for any. "I'm asking people for votes, not their money."

Hill's first try for governor in 1994 was blocked when officials found he was 28, two years under the legal age for candidacy. He had used his brother's driver's license to file nomination papers.

He wanted to run for governor in 1998 on the Green Party ticket, but party officials said he wasn't a member and didn't go through their candidate-screening process.

His ambitions weren't helped when he was arrested in July 1998 for allegedly damaging a sticker vending machine.

"Run from the law, run for governor," he joked in a telephone interview yesterday.

"I'm pretty much a Democrat. I ran under that the first time. I was going to the Democratic ticket (this time), but I don't think I could win that (in the primary) and get to the general," he said.

Hill, who was born and raised in Waimanalo, has been working almost three years on Kahoolawe, doing subsurface detection for the Navy's subcontractor, Parsons Infrastructure and Technology.

He helps a friend, Mark Ellman, market the Maui Tacos restaurants, works weekends in a taro patch in Wailua and does some stand-up comedy. He was recently in a comedy show in Honolulu with Andy Bumatai and Matt Kazam.

He hosts a cable access show, "Back Door," and in exchange will be able to do some campaign commercials, he said.

Hill said he will do whatever he can afford to campaign across the state, "but I don't want people to pay my way because then I'm going to owe favors," he said. "I think everyone should run with the same amount of money or no money."

A 1984 Kalaheo High School graduate, Hill feels strongly that Kamehameha Schools should not accept non-Hawaiian students, as has been done on the Maui campus.

"I tried myself to get into Kam Schools three times, catching the bus from Waimanalo with my mom," he said. "The bus don't go up the hill. We had to walk up the hill three times.

"They gave me the test and said I scored below what they're looking for. I think they should take the ones who need help the most, who aren't as smart as the ones that get in.

"I prefer my kids go to Hawaiian Immersion School, which is more of a real Hawaiian school than Kamehameha Schools by far," he added. "They make parents learn it too and, as you learn the Hawaiian language, it's an awesome language."

He said he learned it on his own, taking classes. "It changed my life."