By PETER SUR
By PETER SUR
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Gil Kahele and Donald Ikeda have some things in common.
Both are 69-year-old incumbent Democrats who support energy independence, food sustainability and funding for the University of Hawaii at Hilo. And they’re both running for the same Senate seat.
Ikeda is a four-term Hilo councilman prevented by term limits from seeking re-election. Kahele is a freshman senator, appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who is facing his first election in the newly redrawn 1st District, which encompasses Hilo and its surrounding communities.
Both say they want to continue the work they’re doing for their constituents.
“I can’t run for council anymore and I chose the Senate because it contains most of the district that I’m very familiar with,” said Ikeda, who lives in Kaumana.
He spoke at length about the need to resolve flooding issues in the upper reaches of the Hilo watershed, much of which flows over state land. Ikeda said that U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye was able to steer some federal money toward flood control projects on lower sections of Alenaio Stream, but Ikeda would like work to start in the mauka areas, which have experienced flooding in 2000 and 2008.
Asked about other priorities, Ikeda said “I really believe that we’ve got to be self-sustaining,” and supported the creation of farming co-ops to do so. And he’d like to improve health care services.
“We always criticize the hospital, but we’re not really doing anything” for them, he said.
“Education has always been a big thing for me,” he said, and would like to see more local control in the Department of Education. He also would like the Big Island to be fully powered by geothermal energy and the savings that should be coming from that, but are not.
For his part, Kahele says he’s enjoying the work that he’s doing and want to continue helping the people. He hit on some of the same themes that Ikeda mentioned, including energy, the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and economic growth.
Kahele’s 2nd Senate District is a vast one that includes South Kona, Ka‘u, Puna and Waiakea Uka, where he lives. But the Reapportionment Commission put Hilo in one district, Puna in another and Kona in a third.
Whoever wins the 1st District primary election on Aug. 11 — and some other names are rumored to be considering becoming candidates — may face a yet-unnamed opponent in the general election. Because the Senate terms are staggered, the winner would serve a two-year term through 2014 and a four-year term after that.
Kahele and Ikeda have known each other for a long time, but they aren’t familiar with each other’s policies.
“We might have different philosophies. I don’t know,” Ikeda said.
One area in which they do differ is on the use of plastic bags. In the Legislature, a bill to add a 10-cent fee on paper and plastic bags has stalled in the Senate Finance Committee. And in the County Council, Ikeda opposed a ban on plastic checkout bags in Hawaii County, although the bill was signed into law.
“I would support a plastic bag ban. I really do,” Kahele said. “The mayor, I really think he did the right decision.” Kahele said he grew up without plastic bags, and could do so again, though he finds them useful.
Ikeda said those secondary uses for the bags, and the relative lack of environmental damage they cause, are reasons not to ban them.
“Many people I know don’t discard the plastic bags. We have uses for it,” he said.
Ikeda also opposes measures that would affect the way of life for long-time residents of Hawaii, including the assessment of impact fees on new construction. Ikeda also says he doesn’t agree with Abercrombie on all points, especially his dispute with the public employee unions.
Kahele also sought to distance himself from Abercrombie on the governor’s fight with the Hawaii State Teachers Association, saying he wishes the dispute could have been resolved during the collective bargaining process.
“I’m not in lockstep all the way with the governor,” Kahele said, although he supports most of the administration’s proposals and says Abercrombie has done a “great job” in reaching a settlement with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Both would prefer finding savings in government rather than raising the general excise tax.
Email Peter Sur at psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com.