Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.
The following came from Patrick Largey, Republican candidate for U.S. House 1st District, which covers urban Oahu. His opponent is Democrat Ed Case.
Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.
1. What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what would you do about it?
The high cost of living. It’s a direct cause of crime and homelessness. In fact, I refer to these issues — high cost of living, high crime and homelessness — as The Triangle. It’s all interconnected.
We need to fully fund the HPD to plus-up on their manning. Increase training, increase pay and increase police presence in high-crime areas. The homeless here need help. We need a strong drug Interdiction program with mental health counseling, housing and job training.
Subsidizing local farmers to increase production at a lower cost to consumers will give us food security. Go back to clean burning coal for power generation and cut our electric bills in half. We would also cut down shipping costs where food produced locally will be in our supermarkets quickly.
Speaking of shipping, many aren’t familiar with the Jones Act. It’s a maritime law that increases our daily consumables costs by about 20% or more, depending on inflation. If the Jones Act is repealed, we could save an estimated 20% on our consumables, which is a great rebuilding effort for Lahaina and give working-class families a break on daily consumables costs, as well as more jobs for longshoremen to meet our needs.
2. What can the U.S. Congress do to reduce gun violence?
Abide by the 2nd Amendment in the intent of our forefathers. Yes, there should be background checks before approval, such as criminal history and mental health. The 2nd Amendment encourages all citizens to have gun ownership to defend themselves from a tyrannical government. People carrying self-protection are less apt to become victims. If you go to a place like Switzerland, where gun ownership is mandatory for some, and Vermont, where gun ownership is strongly encouraged, you will find there is little to no crime there at all.
On the other side of the spectrum, in places like Chicago, they have the strictest gun laws and very high crime and murder rates. My analysis is that the people are unable to protect themselves because of their state’s strict gun laws. Maybe the military-style weapons and armored piercing bullets should be restricted to military and police, if it doesn’t impede with the intent of the 2nd Amendment.
3. The polarization in Congress is worse than ever. Some say democracy itself is in trouble. How would you work to end the political polarization that divides both the Congress and the country?
Term limits. Hold representatives and senators accountable for bad acting, unprofessional behavior — like pulling a fire alarm because they didn’t like the legislation — as reported by news channels.
4. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while currently financially sound, risk future funding concerns because of changing demographics. What would you propose to shore up the country’s major safety net programs?
Increase the minimum retirement age to age 66 with no earnings or income penalty, and each year that a person works will increase that person’s work and income record. This would put more money into Social Security and make older Americans better off and healthier by working longer, decrease Medicare and Medicaid costs.
With our national debt sitting at about $38 trillion and another trillion more every 100 days, are we really financially sound?
5. Is the U.S. on the right path when it comes to mitigating climate change and growing renewable energy production?
Yes, however, Congress should be considering more innovative ideas toward greener vehicles. Basic science says plant more trees. Electric cars have more problems than solutions. Reports from fire departments say their battery fires are difficult to extinguish. Some parking garages forbid electric vehicles from parking there. There are also reports, out of Florida, of electric car batteries catching fire in floods.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my Prius Prime Hybrid plug-in, but I know I’m taking risks by driving it. Windmills kill our birds — our pollinators. As far as I know, to dispose of a windmill it must go to the landfill because they are not recyclable.
6. What is your view on the U.S. role on foreign policy? What can the U.S. do to build better relations with the Asia-Pacific region?
We must stop funding other nations’ wars. It builds bad blood between nations, and we have a history of doing that. We need to stop being bullies. We are not the world police. I will not vote for funding foreign wars that are not ours.
I will support our treaties and try to change the ones that are one-sided. Equal respect among all nations.
As far as the Pacific region, where China’s behavior is problematic right now, we’re getting to a point where we need to ask why are we doing business with China. Maybe we should encourage doing business with nations other than China. China has a terrible record on the environment (example: dumping chemicals in rivers). A strong military presence in that area would stabilize that area. Looking at the big picture, all countries must participate and patrol that area — to show China our message of solidarity.
7. Should the state renew the U.S. military’s leases on training grounds in Hawaii? Should there be new conditions on the leases and if so what?
Yes, it’s our national defense and it’s great for our economy to renew the leases. Should there be new conditions on the leases, and if so, what? Yes, we must renew the leases, but with safeguards — like environmental impact statements with clean-up provisions to make it whole.
As a 23-year Air Force veteran, I’m very pro-military and I love Hawaii. The military community brings a lot of good people here, and we worship with them in our churches, we pray for them and their families when they leave on their deployments. They are our ohana — the retirees who remain here give so much to our communities and ask nothing in return.
Professionals like teachers, neighbors and those in our military, our friends bring so much to our communities.
Regarding the renewal of leases, yes, it should be done, but with semi-annual environmental climate assessments.
As a private citizen, my only hope is that they are good stewards of our environment. But if not, they should be held accountable to make us whole. We can add language regarding environmental safeguards into the lease at the renewal period.
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Publish date : 2024-09-08 12:09:00
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