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Other Candidates in the race for Governor (Republican Primary)

Six other candidates are running in the Republican Primary for governor. They are Duke Aiona, George Hawat, Moses Paskowitz, BJ Penn, Heidi Tsuneyoshi and Walter Woods.  Aiona, Penn and Tsuneyoshi declined to participate in the live broadcast. All six were invited to share their positions on the issues in written form up to 750 words. Only Paskowitz met the deadline.

Moses “MoMo” Paskowitz

1.  The biggest issue is our Homeless, not our Houseless problem. As we are an Island, we need to ensure that our local residents, starting with Hawaiians, have a home. If I’m elected, I will establish a six-month period for any unhoused non-resident or guest to leave the islands. During that time, we will ensure that every lawful and legal resident is able to obtain housing.  We will NOT allow our Kapunas & Keikis to live on a beach or the bushes.

2.  Tourism is the backbone of our economy; however, we need to expand the body of tourism to develop more opportunities for locals by investing in our human resources, such as training for customer service, management, and related skills.

3.  Before any new spending is undertaken, we need to perform comprehensive audits of every departmental budget to find out where the funds have been going for the past decade. We know that we have corruption and mismanagement by our politicians; for example, with the Rail, so we need to address this before any new spending.

4.  Hawaii’s residents are struggling to make ends meet because of monopolies and over regulation by our state and local government agencies.  Some concrete steps would include working with our congressional delegation to remove the Jones Act, which will increase the availability of goods and materials at much lower cost and provide competitive alternatives to current bottlenecks in energy, shipping, and government regulations.  Additionally, we need to increase the availability of our labor resources by increasing the minimum wage.

5.  DOE needs to be audited to determine why our schools are ranked last in the nation despite spending per pupil being in the top one-half of all states.  It’s clear that our taxpayers deserve more choices for their children, such as charter schools, school vouchers, and more input in the way their children are taught.

6.  Corruption is a serious issue that is just starting to be addressed by the Federal government, as you can see through the recent trials and arrests of politicians and public servants at all levels of Hawaii’s government.  I believe that we need to hold our officials accountable, so if you do the crime, you Will go to Jail!  Not only do we need Sunshine Laws, but we also need to establish clear objectives and metrics to hold our lawmakers accountable when the laws they pass do not achieve the stated outcomes.  For too long, our politicians have been elected over and over without having to answer for their policy failures.

7.  Climate Change, whether believed or not, affects each of us individually.  I believe that the local government should have clear guidelines and resources available to help the individual homeowner preserve and protect their property.  Currently, there is a great deal of ambiguity and confusion about what is best for all; therefore, we need to focus on empowering the individual to make the decision that is best for them and their families.

8.  The growing division in Hawaii is because the people do not feel connected to their politicians.  The pandemic revealed an astonishing lack of preparation by our local government, ranging from the incompetence of the Health Department to Unemployment Office not being prepared to address the public’s needs during an emergency.  We need to restore the responsibility of our communities by ensuring that their vote counts!

9.  For too long, the politicians have acted on behalf of special interests and paid token attention to the voters.  All officials must be able to voice their concerns and ideas as well as advocate what their community needs are.  If I am elected as your Governor, my job will be to listen to all sides of the aisle in order to make the best decision on behalf of the Peoples of Hawaii.

10.  The pandemic revealed that our politicians have been asleep at the wheel for too long and have focused on the present rather than the future.  We do not need to reinvent Hawaii; we need to rediscover the values of our Hawaiian kingdom that brought us together in the first place.  It is critical that we bring everyone together to rebuild Hawaii for the future.

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