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A political veteran and a relative newcomer are vying for the Democratic nomination in Oahu’s largest Senate district, covering an expansive rural area from Ahuimanu to Mokuleia. 

The district includes communities that are already feeling the effects of sea level rise. On a calm day, waves splash onto the edges of Kamehameha Highway. Owners of beachfront homes have gone to great lengths to prevent them from falling into the ocean.

Clayton Hee, who left the Legislature in 2014 to run unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor, and Ben Shafer, his opponent, agree that climate change is the biggest issue facing the district. 

The candidates say swifter action needs to be taken to plan for the inundation of roads. State officials estimate that the cost to protect Hawaii’s coastal roadways will be in the billions of dollars.

Hee and Shafer differ on some other priorities.

Hee, 71, wants to initiate conversations over invasive species and cesspools, and find ways to advocate for farming.

Shafer, 65, wants stronger oversight of executive branch agencies and has several proposals for reducing the cost of living in Hawaii. 

Each has political figures in his corner.

Former Govs. John Waihee, Ben Cayetano and Neal Abercrombie all endorsed Hee. Shafer has support from former senators who represented the district, including Gil Riviere, Mike McCartney, a former aide to Gov. David Ige, and Charles Toguchi.

The winner will face Republican Sen. Brenton Awa in the general election.

Involving The Community

Shafer feels government agencies don’t always listen enough to the community

He spent years as a member of Keep The Country Country, an activist group that opposes most large development projects on the North Shore and Koolauloa. He was part of the effort to halt the construction of 568-foot tall windmills that now tower over Kahuku.

“They’re just trying to beat up our side of the island,” Shafer said, adding that residents are now facing other issues like the military training area in Kahuku and new proposed developments near Turtle Bay.

“It’s going one after the other thing, knocking the whole community down,” he said.

Shafer is a retired airman and reservist. He now works as a stage technician. He wants to get the community more involved in government decisions that affect them. 

In one example, he favors a statewide setback for wind farm projects of at least 1.5 miles from residential areas, a distance he bases on community feedback.

Shafer said the community also needs to be involved in deciding what happens with its coastal roads and other issues related to climate change.

Flooding roads in Waiahole may need a different approach than traffic issues near Laniakea beach, and it should be up to surrounding communities to decide how each problem is addressed, Shafer said. 

Shafer wants to push the state Department of Transportation and the Senate to provide funding of road and bridge improvements to alleviate flooding during heavy rains. 

He’d also like to see the DOT speed up the planning process for dealing with sea level rise. Shafer thinks a mix of inland routes and an elevated coastal highway would be needed to keep traffic flowing alongside rising seas. 

He also has some specific proposals on cost of living issues.

He suggested creating two tiers for vehicle registration fees, with lower costs for older cars. That would alleviate some of the financial burdens on families who have had to hang on to older, heavier cars because they could not afford newer models

Although property taxes are generally the purview of the counties, Shafer also suggested freezing property tax rates for retirees living on fixed incomes.

He believes there are many more ideas on the economy and other issues to be found in the volumes of studies that state agencies have commissioned over the years but failed to follow up on or implement.

He thinks legislators should take a more active role in ensuring state agencies pursue the recommendations laid out in those reports.

“We really need to be tough with the departments. We need to be on their butts about everything,” Shafer said.

Read Ben Shafer’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A survey here.

Generational Issues

Hee has spent most of his time farming since leaving office. He grows sweet potatoes and kalo among other things on a 2-acre property he owns. He recalled a recent afternoon when his  family came to help in his loi patch. 

He said he’s trying to set an example for future generations.

“Now when I look at where I’m at, it’s for future generations as opposed to myself,” Hee said. 

It’s a sentiment he plans to take back into office. Hee believes some of Hawaii’s biggest issues — such as climate change and food security — will take generations to solve. He wants to kickstart the conversations on many such issues if elected.

He said that the question of whether the highway should be fortified or moved inland needs to be resolved soon. He wants to initiate conversations between the community and the state on what should be done, and who should pay for it.

Hee also believes that the state should provide assistance to rural residents who need to convert their cesspools to septic systems, an issue that affects Hee’s district in particular. The North Shore has a preponderance of cesspools compared to more urban parts of Oahu.

Proposals to provide tax credits or low-interest loans to households that need to convert from a cesspool system all failed to pass this session.

Hee also wants the state to renew its focus on combating invasive species. He’s particularly worried about the spread of coconut rhinoceros beetles and little fire ants.

That battle hit what some see as a stumbling block earlier this year when Gov. Josh Green slashed some of the funding allocated to pest management.

Hee knows many of those issues won’t be resolved in his lifetime.

“Hopefully, they’ll be completed in my son’s lifetime, but I have my doubts,” Hee said.  

Hee also said the state should provide more opportunities for farmers. A subsistence farmer himself, he doesn’t think all farming needs to be on a large scale.

As a member of the Hawaii Parole Board, he recalled touring Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo and seeing a hydroponic farm run by inmates. It inspired him to create a similar system on his own farm.

He believes the state could make more opportunities for small-scale farming by setting up hydroponic and aquaponic programs to get average citizens interested. For larger operations, Hee said the state could provide low-interest loans for new farmers to get up and running.

Hee served as a lawmaker for more than 30 years in Hawaii, and served as chairman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees. He also spent many years as chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee.

Read Clayton Hee’s Civil Beat Candidate Q&A survey here.

Reporter Blaze Lovell will host a discussion with Awa, Hee and Shafer on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Haleiwa at the Historic Haleiwa Gym as part of Civil Beat’s election-themed pop-up newsroom event series.