This is the last in a series of stories on candidates who will be on the ballot for Maui County Council and state legislative seats in Tuesday's general election / county special election. More on the candidates can be found at the Election 2008 link at www.mauinews.com.
The contest for the Senate 5th District seat has provided voters plenty of election year fireworks with charges and countercharges from candidates unafraid to trade political jabs.
Democratic Sen. Roz Baker calls Republican challenger Jan Shields "a novice" who has distorted Baker's record.
The Republican Party is doing the same, Baker charges. She points to GOP mailbox campaign advertisements that claim she raised taxes and blocked a proposed medical facility in South Maui - allegations she said are simply untrue.
"It's really sad," said Baker, a 16-year legislator and chairwoman of the Senate's powerful Ways and Means Committee. She said local Republicans have imported a Mainland party strategy to attack a Democratic incumbent because it can't build on the positive attributes of its own candidate.
A registered nurse specializing in obstetrics and a small-business owner, Shields came into the public eye in 2006 when Dr. Ron Kwon, a former Wailuku family physician, unsuccessfully sought state approval to build a private 350-bed hospital in Kihei.
Shields aggressively lobbied for the proposed Malulani hospital, joining other Maui supporters in testifying to the state panels for approval of the proposed acute-care facility during an appeals hearing in January 2007. When the decision appeared not to go her way, she interrupted Dr. David Sakamoto, the State Health Planning and Development Agency director, when he delivered the decision denying the Malulani application.
She lobbied in the 2007 legislative session for a waiver for the Malulani project from state laws requiring a certificate of need process and lobbied again to kill the State Health Planning and Development Act that requires the review of proposals for medical facilities.
Shields has repeatedly blamed Baker for the defeat of the private hospital proposal. Baker responds that Republican Gov. Linda Lingle's administration was responsible for the decision against Malulani and not her or the Legislature, noting that Sakamoto - who still defends his decision as being based on the requirements of state law - was appointed by Lingle.
Baker says she and her Maui colleagues introduced legislation to support Malulani, but the measures did not advance.
"It's really nothing personal. It's a total difference in philosophy. We are on opposite ends of the spectrum," Shields said.
"Maybe I brought this on myself," Baker said. "I don't say: 'Oh, look at me. I'm great. I'm wonderful.' I don't do that. That's not my style."
Baker said she chooses to let her performance as a legislator speak for her effectiveness. In the 2008 session, she said she brought millions of dollars in appropriations for programs and projects for the West Maui and South Maui districts, plus millions more for the rest of the county.
A key allocation is $20 million for planning and design of a new high school in Kihei.
She claims a role in winning legislative approval for state funds for an emergency helicopter ambulance service in Maui County, for expansion of the Maui Community College nursing program and for a stipend program for paramedics to upgrade their skills.
Shields said she moved from Pukalani to Kaanapali last year to be eligible to challenge Baker for her legislative seat. She said she tried to get other people to run against Baker, but "no one stepped up to the plate, so I did."
Shields quit her job after about a year at Maui Memorial Medical Center in 2006 because she says the facility lacked professional development opportunities and equipment needed to carry out her job as a registered nurse in the Obstetrics Department.
After leaving Maui Memorial, Shields commuted to Oahu to work for Kaiser Permanente where she says her lobbying efforts for Malulani were not supported. She left her position as a neonatal intensive care nurse after only five months.
Shields earns a living these days through royalties she receives from patents for a breast milk warmer and as an owner of two vacation rentals in West Maui.
In July 2007, the state Department of Taxation placed a lien on her and her husband, Paul's business Sunshine and Rainbows for failing to pay more than $27,000 in general excise and transient accommodation taxes.
Shields said they settled with the state on a payment plan and paid off the overdue taxes earlier this spring. She said they had fallen behind on the taxes in part because of the costs of repairs and overall maintenance to one of the rental units.
Both Baker and Shields say they care deeply about improving the health care system on Maui. Both support efforts to build a small private hospital in Lahaina.
Baker said she wants to return to the Legislature to do more in health care, but also to address issues relating to energy, the economy and education.
Shields said she is unfairly described as a one-issue candidate because of her strong, vocal support for private hospitals.
"I care about education too, and I want to do what we can to support small businesses," she said.
Baker said that since her victory in the primary, she has stepped up her campaigning with paid advertisements as well as door-to-door visits and sign waving on both West Maui and South Maui's highways.
Shields is often seen with a group of friends attending forums as well as sign waving and walking from house to house to solicit votes.
"It's been great fun," Shields said. "I've loved meeting people."
Baker said she has received tremendous support from constituents in her district as well.
Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.
