* This is the 10th in a series of stories on candidates who will be on the ballot for Maui County Council and state legislative seats in Maui County. In Friday's Maui News, the featured race will be on the contest for the 12th House District (Upcountry) seat. More on the candidates can be found at the Election 2008 link at www.mauinews.com
WAILUKU - State Rep. Joe Bertram III sees parallels between his race with challenger George Fontaine for the 11th House District and a certain national campaign.
While Fontaine, a retired police captain, emphasizes his background managing MPD's largest patrol division and working with budgets, Bertram stresses his grass-roots experience, which includes being active with the Kihei Community Association and advocating for greenways.
It's not unlike the presidential race, Bertram said, in which John McCain has touted the gubernatorial experience of his running mate, Sarah Palin, while Barack Obama plays up his community work.
"Here's someone who says administrative experience counts," he said. "What I emphasize is community organizing."
Bertram is seeking a second term representing South Maui in the state House of Representatives. Fontaine is a first-time candidate.
Fontaine said he has an edge on understanding financial issues. "I was a police administrator for 20 years and had to deal with the county budget," he said.
Fontaine was concerned about Bertram's lack of experience with budgets, and by his opponent's admission of not being very good with money.
"My opponent doesn't seem to grasp finances very well," he said.
Bertram said most legislators didn't need detailed financial knowledge to do their jobs because the leadership and money committees "do the number crunching."
"All we can do is set up the policies and the programs we want to defend," Bertram said.
Over a decade ago, Bertram went through bankruptcy after getting into credit card debt while coping with an illness.
While the Republican Party has called attention to Bertram's money woes in campaign materials, he said his experiences working in the community made him a better legislator. He noted that he serves on a task force looking for ways to support social services, including credit counseling and financial education, something he experienced personally.
"They're trying to distract voters by saying, 'He didn't do so well,' " he said. "But hey, I made it through - doesn't that count for something?"
While Fontaine and Bertram agree on some issues affecting their district - both supported a hospital in South Maui - they split on many others.
Bertram has said he would cut funding for new prisons, and that he feels there are other options for handling defendants involved in nonviolent crimes. Defending his position opposing construction of new prisons, he said too many people are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes. The state should look at more rehabilitation, probation and house arrest as alternatives to prison, he said.
"It's way too expensive, it's counterproductive and it hasn't produced one solid, good result," he said.
Fontaine strongly disagreed, saying prisons were a critical part of the law enforcement system. "We cannot afford not to have prisons and put people who prey on our people out on the streets," he said.
Fontaine also said he would support renewed efforts to decentralize the Department of Education.
"I would like to see us have local school boards and funding that's on parity for charter schools," he said.
Bertram opposed local school boards, saying the state needs to give school reforms already in place time to work. The reforms passed in Act 290 include giving more control over budgets to school principals.
"To get into a whole new thing, we don't have the time, we don't have the money," he said.
On other issues, Fontaine said he would support tort reform to reduce medical malpractice insurance costs for doctors.
He also said he would support eliminating the general excise tax on food and medical services, even in a year when tax revenues are already down.
"We have to provide tax relief to reduce the cost of living for people," Fontaine said.
He said the state should address its budget shortfall by reviewing programs case-by-case, looking for government inefficiency and reducing duplication of services - such as highway departments and civil defense agencies at both the county and state levels.
While the state will need to cut budgets, he said social services should get priority funding.
"What I am not in favor of is simply doing an across-the-board cut," Fontaine said.
Bertram also said he would prioritize social programs.
"We need to make sure that the safety net is there, because we are coming into some rough times," he said.
Bertram's top issues include promoting agriculture and "food security," such as by funding transmission systems to send reclaimed water to lands above Kihei that could be farmed.
He said he would oppose new money for major highway projects, shifting the funding to walking and biking paths and public transit systems. He said he would propose legislation for "complete streets," requiring all roads to accommodate walking, biking and transit.
Bertram also said he would reintroduce a proposal that would give counties the option of adding a half-percent to the general excise tax and using the revenues to fund public transportation. The City and County of Honolulu is using a half-percent tax to pay for its proposed rail transit system, but Maui and other counties said they would not use it.
"They didn't understand what they were turning down before," Bertram said.
While Fontaine is running as a Republican, he said he would work across the aisle if elected.
"I'm not about party affiliation as much as I am about getting the job done," he said. "I'm a team player."
Bertram said that while he didn't agree with partisanship at the Legislature, he knew his status as a Democrat would be an advantage.
"Now is the time we really do have to have a strong Maui contingent that can work with the majority," he said.
* Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@ mauinews.com.
