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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Aug. 10 Primary 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 Gene Ward, Republican candidate for State House District 18, which covers Portlock, Hawaii Kai and Kalama Valley. He has no opponent.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the Primary Election Ballot.

1. What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what would you do about it?

The biggest issue is overdevelopment, followed by HECO blackouts, followed by homelessness and traffic holdups.

Regarding development concerns, “Luana Kai” was the name of a recent high-rise project in Kalama Valley that put our community up in arms. Luana Kai came after a developer’s project a few  years earlier to build cabins on the Ka Iwi Coast, which was also preceded by my community fighting an oceanfront housing project that created the Save Sandy Beach Movement.

The point is we want Hawaii Kai to remain Hawaii Kai and not some developer’s paradise; though there is now another imminent threat on the horizon, and that is SB 3202 that the Legislature passed to allow two- to four-plus accessory dwelling units on properties. This is unacceptable and the overdevelopment that my community has fought for years is now being foisted upon us again.

In the meantime, HECO blackouts are a big problem. I’m also trying to get a handle on the homeless 24/7 fake fishermen who have populated our beaches, while crime is going up and some unfriendly neighbors on the Kalanianaole Highway corridor continue to cause weekly traffic jams.

2. How do you feel about the massive income tax cut just approved by the Legislature and the governor? Do you have any concerns that it will force reductions in state services in the years to come?

It is the best news the poor in Hawaii have ever had. It’s a chance for them to keep more of their money in their pockets.

I just find it disgustingly embarrassing that we as legislators are finally doing this after our poverty rates have continued to climb year after year and we have been the highest taxed state in the nation for decades.

3. Hawaii continues to struggle with pay-to-play politics and corruption in government. What meaningful reforms do you think would change state government for the better?

It looks like window-dressing to me. We say one thing and do another. Seventy-two percent of voters want “term limits” but get lip service. Part of this is a structural flaw in the way voting for or against a bill is organized in the Legislature.

Recall this refrain, “I can kill a bill any time I want to!” famously stated by a state senator who went to prison for accepting a bribe for doing what he was bragging about.

Duly elected members have no votes in committees when a chair states a bill is to be “deferred,” aka killed, without a vote. So don’t hold your breath to expect any ethical changes in the Legislature until our rules are changed to prevent this type of undemocratic and corruption-breeding behavior.

4. Candidates often say they will support reform proposals in the Legislature. And yet major reform proposals don’t pass. Will you back good-government proposals even if it means going against leadership? If you are an incumbent, can you point to an example of a reform that you supported?

My answer here was partially covered by the former question. I have introduced term limits countless times in the House, and also other reform bills. The problem is the “spoils system” that runs much of the Legislature, if one goes against “leadership” one could be punished by losing titles, chairmanships or even office spaces.

Ask former representatives Cindy Evans, Rita Cabinalla or Calvin Say and Sharon Har, if this is not true. Reform unfortunately has got to come from outside the Legislature, as in the adage, “When the people lead — the politicians follow.”

5. Do you support comprehensive public financing of elections for candidates who choose to participate? Why or why not?

I support it, and that’s why I voted for it. Enough said.

6. Hawaii is the only Western state without a statewide citizens initiative process. Do you support such a process? Why or why not?

Of course I support this process and have introduced initiative, referendum and recall countless times in my time in the Legislature. Again, if the people lead, politicians follow.

7. Thanks to their campaign war chests and name familiarity, incumbents are almost always reelected in Hawaii legislative races. Should there be term limits for state legislators, as there are for the governor’s office and county councils? Why or why not?

Of course there should be term limits and I have introduced bills to do this countless times. One person called the committee chairman ends up killing these bills each year.

Until there are rules changes in the legislature regarding the power of the chairs, term limits will never pass, unfortunately. House rules are temptations to corruption by House chairs but this fact had been largely ignored until two legislators went to prison. Now it appears that staunch reformers have gone back to sleep. Thank you Civil Beat for creating the Sunshine Blog and keeping a few hot coals alive.

8. What will you do to ensure accountability at the Legislature? Do you support ideas such as requiring the Sunshine Law to apply to the Legislature or banning campaign contributions during session?

I support all of the above, but legislative leaders will never allow this to happen short of a groundswell of support or demands from the public for reform. Again, I appreciate Civil Beat keeping ethical reforms before the public, but its interest is waning and there is not a reform movement afoot to fan the flames. Low voter participation is the result of this apathy.  

9. How would you make the Legislature more transparent and accessible to the public? Opening conference committees to the public? Stricter disclosure requirements on lobbying and lobbyists? How could the Legislature change its own internal rules to be more open?

It took two legislators going to prison before this issue was taken seriously, and now the heat of the issue has died down, although the structure of the system remains as big a temptation for corruption by committee chairs as usual. 

Bottom line, all bills heard by a committee should  be voted on by all members of the committee, not just dictated by the chair. If you compare committee chairs’ campaign coffers with non-committee chairs’ campaign coffers, you will see what I mean. 

10. Many people have talked about diversifying the local economy for many years now, and yet Hawaii is still heavily reliant on tourism. What, if anything, should be done differently about tourism and the economy?

Actually the Legislature does not take this topic seriously. It is given lip service or at most a study, but does very little about it, and when faced with a golden opportunity like “Hawaii becoming the Hollywood of the Pacific,” we balk at the opportunity.

We’re not rated the “Most Unfriendly State in the Nation to Do Business” for no reason. The problem is, that pejorative label is true, and we don’t think like creative and innovative entrepreuneurs think, we think and act too much like bureaucrats to keep the status quo. Very sad. And half of our population continues to live in poverty. 

11. An estimated 60% of Hawaii residents are struggling to get by, a problem that reaches far beyond low-income and into the middle class, which is disappearing. What ideas do you have to help the middle class and working families who are finding it hard to continue to live here?

Considering the fact that almost half of our citizens in Hawaii are the working poor (aka ALICE families), we legislators are not doing our job. If you were a doctor and only half of your patients were kept healthy by your treatments, you should lose your licence to practice medicine.

The statistic that grieves me even more is when the governor said in his 2024 State of the State message that 63% of Native Hawaiians are ALICE families, I thought for sure we are failing the people of Hawaii, especially the host culture, and I am embarrassed as a legislator when I’m reminded of this “benign neglect.”

I cannot believe we have allowed the grip of poverty to so strongly envelop us, that the solution of choice is for 15,000 of our citizens to seek refuge in the mainland every year, and half of those remaining here live in poverty trying to keep a roof over their head and food on the table.

Not a pretty picture — and now our kupuna living in condos on fixed incomes have to pay hundreds if not thousands of percentage increases for their condo insurance. 

Bottom line, the Legislature is not doing its job because it refuses to seek economic solutions to the problems of our people.