Money, backing a big contrast in Boone, U‘u-Hodgins race
Candidates are competing for the Makawao-Haiku-Paia council seat
Boone
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series on Maui County Council and mayoral candidates in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 general election. Today’s story focuses on the race for the Makawao-Haiku-Paia residency seat. Stories on other candidates will be published in the coming weeks, with an election guide to be featured in the Oct. 22-23 Weekender edition.
Two longtime Maui residents, each backed strongly by contrasting sides, will face off in the race for Maui County Council’s Makawao-Haiku-Paia residency seat.
Nara Boone and Nohe U’u-Hodgins were the top vote-getters in a five-way primary race that saw U’u-Hodgins come out with 12,008 votes, or 30.2 percent, to Boone’s 7,651 votes, or 19.3 percent.
The 36-year-old U’u-Hodgins of Makawao has gotten support and donations from the construction and development industry and labor unions. Her contributions total $128,338.45 since the start of the 2022 election period, with $30,177.74 left in her coffers at the end of September, according to state campaign spending reports.
Boone, 49, of Haiku is supported and endorsed by the progressive ‘Ohana Coalition and has pulled in $15,970.89 over the entire election period, with $5,879.37 leftover at the end of last month.
U‘u-Hodgins
“I think that the main thing is the glaringly obvious disparity financially, as far as our donors,” Boone said.
“My donors are mostly just local people supporting me and supporting this campaign and investing in the campaign with their hard-earned money. From what I see her money is mostly (from) developers, real estate, realtors and that kind of thing, and there is so much more of it.”
She added that “it makes me worried for Maui’s future. Because why are they investing so much money in a local campaign?”
But U’u-Hodgins says that her donations, too, come from “hard-working individuals, not just corporations.”
“If you look at my donations, I have a broad base support, I do have support from those in the construction industry and that is important to me. It means a lot to me, including the unions. Those are hard-working people,” U’u-Hodgins said. “And we understand that we need affordable housing, we understand at this point in our affordable housing crisis we need to work together.”
The union support, she added, is “nothing I take for granted, and it’s nothing that I’m ashamed of, and I don’t think this is anything that should be demonized.”
U’u-Hodgins said her development industry backing doesn’t mean she’s not a proponent for the environment on an island that’s been “my family’s only home for generations upon generations.”
“I think for many local people, whether they work in the unions or not, or they work in the construction industry or not, we absolutely love this place and we absolutely respect the environment,” she said. “And for us this doesn’t have to be one or the other. It’s about finding a balance that works for us in this world and works as we respect this place.”
Boone said the larger campaign contributions for U’u-Hodgins and other candidates are why the “Onipa’a 2022” movement was created, as she and seven other progressive council candidates are touring the county and pulling their resources together.
“We are trying to create a movement, similar to the GMO moratorium or Huli 2018 to get people mobilized and to realize that we are actually the ones with the power,” Boone said. “Money doesn’t vote, but the people vote.”
She said that in the past two years with progressive council members being in the majority, “we have finally been able to make good changes for the actual community and not only catering to tourists.”
“We had to come together as there is no way we could stand up to that amount of money,” she said.
WATER AND HOUSING
U’u-Hodgins and Boone also have different takes on a major issue that could impact parts of their district — a proposed charter amendment to create county water authorities to oversee water collection and delivery, including, potentially, in areas of East Maui that the state currently leases out.
“I find that to be so exciting that finally, this is the first time in our lifetimes, all of our lifetimes that there is an opportunity to take back control of our water, our waters’ delivery system,” said Boone, who supports the proposal.
She pointed out that water is being lost now in the old diversion systems. Maui County could use federal funds to repair and improve the system, which could also help with drought, she said. If Maui County controls the water systems, then it in turn can charge private companies such as Mahi Pono for the water.
“So we get money coming in, we get federal funds for upkeep, and we have control. So it seems like a win, win, win.”
While U’u-Hodgins, however, questioned the cost-effectiveness of a water authority, pointing out that ultimately, it is the state that determines water usage.
“So I’m not too sure how beneficial a mid-level body by the county would necessarily be except expensive, where the state ultimately controls our water. They determine how much water is able to be pulled out of the streams and used and majority of that water that is being pulled out of the stream is for Upcountry residents,” U’u-Hodgins said.
She also noted the unknown costs of establishing the authorities, after Maui County Auditor Lance Taguchi said in a report last week that it is unclear how much it would cost the county to carry out the proposal.
“While I don’t disagree that our county should have more control of our water, which is why I think we should invest in our own water resources … right now the state has authority of those waters,” she said.
Both candidates want to see more affordable housing, with different ideas on how to address the shortage.
U’u-Hodgins said that proposed developments that come before the council “should take some time to be properly vetted and planned.” However, given the time crunch for some approvals and the current housing crisis, the council should start approving more “good projects.”
“We should not let perfect be the enemy of good,” she added. “And understanding that not everybody will love a project and not all projects are perfect. But some projects are really good and we need housing, we need our local people to continue to live here.”
She said the council needs to look at how the county can help with utilities and infrastructure, which can sometimes stall projects. Asked how this would work, U’u-Hodgins said, “I think the county should take the lead in helping addressing the infrastructure issues,” including water, which she says “has been an issue for a long time, and I think we should try our best to reduce and reuse the water that is coming out of the Iao and the Lahaina aquifers. We can be reusing, which is what we should be working with the state with.”
Boone knows all too well the shortage of affordable homes and rentals. A singer and voice teacher, she is currently looking for a place to rent but pointed to the high costs and restrictions on pets.
Boone said she “might have a different approach to all of this,” although she does see “hope” in workforce and affordable housing as different projects are coming up across the island.
“What I would love to see is rent-to-own programs,” she said. “Because so many of us, our money is going to pay somebody else’s mortgage.”
Asked what kind of legislation she could propose for creating or assisting with rent-to-own projects, Boone said “that’s what I want to look into” if she is elected.
She also supports more first-time homebuyer classes, to ensure residents are qualified for a home if they are picked in lotteries.
* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.
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