Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014

     Bateman contended that “65 percent of kids in North and South Kona down to Ocean View go to school hungry and get their two basic meals at school. On the south side of the island, from Na`alehu to Puna, 85 percent of the students go to school hungry,” he said. “This is totally unacceptable.”

     Bateman said his goals include working to improve agriculture. “My plan for all of Hawai`i is to replace 85 percent of food we import with food we produce here. ‘Grow Local. Buy Local.’ This is a $3 billion a year economy; we’ll keep the money here. Spin that once, that is $6 billion infused into the economy of the Big Island.”

      The candidate said he wants to “keep the money in our pockets by cutting taxes. The effective rate of 8.5 percent should be 6.5 percent for most people. All of the personal income taxes should come down 20 percent. This will help small businesses that pay taxes through personal income.”
      Bateman said that regarding the General Excise Tax, he would like to eliminate taxes on food, medicines and medical supplies. He also said he would like to support farm-to-table buying by exempting the GE tax for the first sale of products off of ranches – meaning farm-to-consumer direct sales. He said he calls his proposal for agriculture the Hawai`i Agricultural Recovery Act.

     Regarding education, Bateman said he has talked to many teachers, “and they all like my idea of eliminating the only remaining vertical education system in the U.S. – to move education to local control at the county level so parents, teachers and principals can work together to determine what classes should be taught to local students.”

     For Ka`u and South Kona, he said, “There needs to be new education in agricultural sciences and businesses, two-year agricultural degrees.”

     Bateman claimed he can help turn the economy around. “The current and past leadership has failed to do this. We are in serious financial straights.” He pointed to Republican legislative leader Sam Slom who “has predicted that by 2016, revenues to the state will be down $264 million through GET and income tax collection reductions. The solution is to increase new investments, but we can’t do that if we are the fiftieth state – least desirable place to do business. Overburdening and overtaxing businesses have led to the reputation.”
      Bateman also talked about legalizing marijuana, which he said he totally opposes. He said he served as a military attorney who prosecuted drug cases and is confident that marijuana is a gateway drug.
     Regarding the quasi-state Hawai`i Health Systems Corp., which runs Hilo, Ka`u and Kona hospitals, he said, “I believe we need to transition the state out of the health care business under the HHSC and bring in qualified, knowledgeable and experienced not-for-profit provider(s) who have the know-how and purchasing power to begin to turn around these deficits. There are at least two qualified care providers on O`ahu who could be a partner. We don’t need to reach out to out-of-state providers. I favor joining with a local private partner so all of the income generated by the new partner stays here in the state. Existing Hawai`i Government Employees Association (union) employees under HHSC would be vested to their earned state retirement plans. They will transition over to the new private partner and start with new retirement plans. This should help reduce the high labor cost factor.”
      Bateman declared that “the vision of the leadership over the last 50 years has been short-sighted and not helpful to improving quality of life for residents of Hawai`i. We need new vision, new direction, and we won’t get that unless we have new political and business vision at the state Capitol. I represent that vision and change for a new and better Hawai`i.”

      DEMOCRAT RICHARD CREAGAN, who currently holds the state House of Representatives seat for west Ka`u and South Kona, told The Ka`u Calendar newspaper that as a physician, he has been weighing in on the Ebola issue: “While it is unlikely that Ebola would come here from Africa, our state needs to be ready, and we should take this opportunity to improve our policies and our infrastructure.

      “One of the things we have to consider is that Ebola could be used by a bioterrorist organization. When I worked for the Health Department as a Bioterrorism Preparedness Epidemiological Investigator, one of the scenarios we reviewed was of a terrorist who was willing to die infecting him or herself with Ebola and then coming to America during the incubation period and then when they became sick spreading the virus around before they died.” 

     Creagan said he would like to see “better screening at airports, quarantine locations at airports (our new Kona airport fire station has such a quarantine room), and a unit set up at one of our major O`ahu hospitals to deal with infections caused by Biosafety Level-3 (BL-3) and Biosafety Level-4 (BL-4) diseases. We really have no dedicated unit that is properly set up for such emergencies. While our legal infrastructure and laws were strengthened during and after the SARS epidemic, we need to look at that again and improve its functionality.

     The candidate said that wastewater treatment is a big issue. “The proposed changes to the wastewater treatment rules are an egregious attempt by a lame-duck administration to ram through draconian measures that will hurt homeowners throughout Hawai`i, but especially on the Big Island (estimated 50,000 cesspools). At a recent gubernatorial forum in Kailua-Kona, all candidates asked that the Health Department defer any decisions or rule making until a new administration was in place.”

     Creagan called for home rule on wastewater regulations. “I believe that Hawai`i Island is different enough geologically and demographically that we should be able to determine our own rules on this issue. This is another area where home rule is needed.”
     A second potable water well at Ocean View is an important goal, Creagan said. “I was able to have appropriated $725,000 to plan and do site development for a second well for Hawaiian Ocean View Estates. On Oct. 23 Loren Heck chaired a meeting of the ad hoc committee of volunteers who will develop a plan for this second well. I have discussed this with Quirino Antonio, the head of the Department of Water Supply, and he strongly supports this well and the community involvement and will be available to meet with the ad hoc committee. I have assurances from my House colleagues that funding to finish the well should be available when the planning is completed. The reality of the House with 44 out of 51 members being Democrats – it is extremely unlikely that a Republican could obtain funding for a project in his or her district. That is why there are (Republican) representatives and senators only on O`ahu, where CIP money is less important and religious issues such as gay marriage can predominate,” Creagan said.