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Organic farmer and journalist seek open Lanai residency seat

Johnson, who had most votes in primary, battles de Jetley

Alberta de Jetley • Age: 75 • Residence: Lanai City • Occupation: Journalist • Volunteer or community organization experience: Currently a board member for Na Pu‘uwai Native Hawaiian Health Care, advisory board member for Lanai Chamber of Commerce and board chair for Lanai Academy of Performing Arts. Previously with Lanai Animal Rescue Center and the Cat’s Meow Thrift Shop (now the Lanai Cat Sanctuary), Coalition for a Drug Free Lanai, Lanai Cancer Fund, Lanai Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Lanai Chamber of Commerce 5th Friday coordinator, Lanai Hospital Serenity Garden Committee, Lanai Planning Commission, Lanai Community Plan Advisory Committee, Young Brothers Grants Review Committee for Maui County, Maui County Cost of Government Commission, Liquor Commission and former stakeholder for Hawaii Electric Companies Integrated Grid Plan. • Military service: No • Family: Two sons, six grandchildren and three great-grandsons.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Maui News will be featuring the profiles and platforms of candidates in the lead up to the Nov. 3 general election. Today’s story focuses on the race for the Maui County Council Lanai residency seat. Stories on other races will be published in the coming weeks, with a special general election issue to be published on Oct. 24.

There is respect all around for longtime Maui County Council Member Riki Hokama by those seeking to replace him.

But those vying to take his vacant Lanai residency seat say they are different from the council member, who cannot run for reelection due to term limits.

“I have a great deal of respect for Riki Hokama, he is the master of the budget . . . understanding where money comes from and where it goes, and how it should be spent,” said candidate Alberta de Jetley.

For many years, Hokama chaired the council’s budget committee and scrutinized administrations’ spending, until he was replaced two years ago, which the 75-year-old de Jetley said was a “huge, huge, mistake.”

Gabe Johnson • Age: 47 • Residence: Lanai City • Occupation: Organic farmer • Volunteer or community organization experience: Maui County commissioner (Lanai representative) for Americans with Disabilities Act. • Military service: No • Family: Single father of one daughter.

While offering respect, de Jetley has strongly opposed some of his efforts. This included the county’s purchase of Dole Park at the center of town and the possible ban on feeding of feral animals in public areas.

Hokama has said the feral feeding ban addresses a health and safety issue. The feeding of the animals leads to feral populations and allows parasites and diseases to spread, he said.

De Jetley is an animal lover and noted the pushback on the proposal from many in the county “and all over the world.”

As for the park, de Jetley said the county cannot maintain of all its parks now. “Over my dead body,” said the former publisher of Lanai Today, a newspaper which she sold to Pulama Lana’i last year.

Pulama Lana’i is the operations arm of Larry Ellison, the tech billionaire who owns most of the island.

Respect for Hokama also comes from 47-year-old Gabe Johnson, who has run against him.

“Riki and I rarely see eye to eye on many things,” said Johnson, an organic farmer who lost to Hokama in the last two election cycles. But Hokama has institutional knowledge, and Johnson described him as a “policy wonk.”

“That is a very important tool for your council member,” Johnson said of knowing where and why pieces of legislation exist.

“I’m a policy wonk, I love that about him,” Johnson said. 

Change is coming with this election for the seat, he said. For the first time in decades, there will not be a Hokama or a Kaho’ohalahala in the Lanai residency seat. Johnson was referring to Hokama’s stints on the council along with Hokama’s late father, Goro, who served 41 years on the council and the earlier Board of Supervisors. Sol Kaho’ohalahala served on the council from 1995 to 1998. 

Voting results

In the primary election, Johnson garnered the most votes, 13,221 or 30 percent; de Jetley followed with 10,702, votes or 24 percent and Matthew Mano with 8,956 votes or 20 percent. There were 11,052 blank votes or 25 percent.

Both candidates were disappointed with the number of blank votes, with Johnson wanting to do more to educate the public about voting countywide for council seats, while De Jetley pushed forward with sending out mailers to get her name out to areas where she did poorly or had many blank votes.

In the primary, Johnson said he came in first, then followed by blank votes, which he said “bothers me.”

“I feel there is room for me to reach out to more people. I think a lot of it has to do with voter education. Some don’t know they can vote for all nine (council) seats.”

He acknowledged that running previously for the seat could lead to more name recognition. Prior to the pandemic, he had done some door-to-door campaigning, including on Maui.

Johnson also was pleased that he received at least one union endorsement, from the AFL-CIO. “For a grassroots guy like me that means a lot,” he said.

When asked about his campaign funding totals as compared to de Jetley, who has raised thousands of dollars more than him, Johnson said, “Money doesn’t buy votes, plain and simple.”

In the final primary election report, de Jetley reported having a surplus of $8,883 and through the cycle had raised $26,625. Johnson had a surplus of $2,500 and had raised $8,583.

Johnson felt he raised enough money to get his message out in the primary.

De Jetley is using her campaign funds to purchase mailers in areas where she did poorly or that had lots of blank votes. These areas included Lahaina, Makawao and Pukalani, along with the Maui Waena Intermediate and Iao Intermediate voting districts in Central Maui, she said.

Because the mailers cost thousands of dollars, she had to pick and choose where to send them. She could only send mailers to a portion of Molokai where she “bombed,” saying that her performance hurt because she was born on Molokai.

De Jetley sent the mailers to women voters on Molokai, in hopes they could pass on the word.

As for her campaign donation total, she attributed that to mailers going out early in the election season, which led to early donations. Her “seed money” came from writing personal letters to more than 200 people she had come to know over the years.

She began writing the letters during the pandemic because her taxi business was shut down.

De Jetley has been backed by a number of unions. As for the AFL-CIO endorsement Johnson received, de Jetley said that the union does not represent workers on Lanai. 

COVID-19

Both candidates applauded the current food drives put on by the county and nonprofit organizations, saying they not only help the needy but assist the local farmers, whose produce is bought to be given away at the distributions. They say funding and support for these drives should continue, especially with county funding.

Johnson noted a news report he read about state-funded nurses brought in to help during the pandemic. Johnson said Lanai could benefit from government support, maybe not necessarily to bring in nurses, but to give the island’s health care system a “boost” under regular circumstances, not just during the pandemic.

He pointed to Lanai residents traveling elsewhere for health care during the pandemic, including Oahu, where COVID-19 cases are high. He also referenced the Lanai resident who went to Maui Memorial Medical Center for treatment of pneumonia but caught COVID-19 and died. Having better advanced health care on the island could have helped, he acknowledged.

Johnson also would like better COVID-19 testing on the island, but added that Lanai doesn’t have the population and the big gatherings like on Maui. 

“That’s a blessing, that’s why we haven’t had any COVID,” he said.

While De Jetley reminded people to wash their hands and social distance, she also looked at COVID-19’s impact on the economy.

“We have to open up our small business. Look at how many small businesses we have lost,” she said.

De Jetley acknowledged that the county already has programs that address her concerns, adding that those programs should continue. Businesses should be provided affordable loans, consulting services, assistance with business plans and expertise from those who can help. 

“We can give them the education they need to hold on and bring their business back up,” she said.

On the community level, she said the county needs to continue helping those who are unemployed to pay for medical care, rent and feeding their children.

Pulama Lana’i

Both candidates applauded some of Pulama Lana’i’s work on the island and added that their past relationships with the largest employer on the island would not impact their decisions if elected to the council.

Johnson, a former invasive species technician for the company, likes Pulama Lana’i’s conservation efforts and hydroponic farm venture.

Still, there remain long-standing issues, such as a lack of affordable housing and the need for better health care, which are issues that have been on the island prior to Ellison buying more than 90 percent of Lanai in 2012.

“They have been going on forever,” Johnson said. “Now we got to form the ask, we got to ask for those things. Hopefully, he can see our point of view.” 

Asked if his former employment with the landowner could impact his decisions on the council, Johnson said no. He looks at things from a worker’s point of view since those are the types of positions he has held. 

“I see the problems, the issues and concerns of the working-class guy,” he added.

There could be better paying jobs, lower rents or reasonable prices in stores, he said.

De Jetley said her public perspective of the company is different from her personal view. 

“If I were working for Pulama, I would get down on my hands and knees and  thank God that Larry Ellison has deep pockets and could keep as many people on payrolls as long as he did,” she said.

The company paid workers salaries for months during the pandemic, despite the resorts being shut down. Furloughs finally were announced in August.

With the starts and stops of the interisland travel quarantine, no matter how rich someone is, there needs to be business decisions to keep the company afloat, she said.

Last year, de Jetley sold her Lanai Today newspaper to Pulama Lana’i. When asked if that would have an effect on her decisions if elected to the council, she said “no.”

“I have always had a good working relationship with the company and also with David Murdock, the previous owner. It’s all about communicating information and discussing things openly,” she said. “I still find myself stepping into reporter mode.” 

Overall, she said the company’s model for high-end tourism is working. She said she saw some tourists come back when the interisland travel quarantine was lifted for a couple of months in the summer.

“It’s proving there are still travelers willing to spend that kind of money, especially if they have that privacy that they can get especially at places like Koele (Sensei Lanai, A Four Seasons Resort),” she said. 

Short-term rentals

Both candidates agree there should be restrictions on the amount of short-term rentals on Lanai, which currently has no cap.

Last week, the Maui County Council passed a bill that calls for a moratorium on transient accommodation permits on Lanai for up to one year until caps on bed-and-breakfast home permits and short-term rental home permits are established.

Johnson said he supports grandfathering those short-term rentals that exist on Lanai but not allowing new ones.

“Our economy should not be based just on high-end tourism, we have room for hunting tourism,” he said of local families that may rent their ohanas to hunters. “Lanai hunting is world renowned.” 

His concern is that non-Lanai residents can buy a home and turn them into short-term rentals.

De Jetley said she supports a cap on short-term rentals. She had a short-term rental house next to her and liked meeting new people. The owner of the short-term rental even told her guests that if they needed help to see de Jetley. 

But she understands that her situation may be in the minority. 

“Other people want their privacy, and they don’t want to be disturbed by vacationers,” she said.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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