These are my answers to a questionnaire posted by the Advertiser:

What do you think is the most important issue facing the 2nd Congressional District?  Provide a detailed description of how a solution could be legislated or implemented.

Threats to our Nation, large and small, long term and short term abound.  Choices for action also abound but I note the “Fiasco” in Iraq as my choice for initial action.  Iraq is a true cancer on our Nation.  It kills our young people and makes new enemies for our children and grandchildren.   It bankrupts our national spirit and it bleeds our national resources.  It was ill advised.  I opposed it from the beginning and I am sad to say that I was right.  Congressmen who continue to try and cover up their errors in Iraq are hurting our country.  We have to leave now and then move forward to build up human cooperation and understanding.  It can be done.  We need real faith.

Do you support a rail or other mass transit system on Oahu and would you try to seek funding for it?

Yes to rail. Yes to federal funding. Yes to changing our transportation habits. No to double decked highways that blight our beautiful islands. Times change. So must we.

Do you think the No Child Left Behind Act is improving public education? Would you seek to leave it the same, repeal it, or amend it?   Please explain.

It helped by clarifying reading and math levels. Now we need creative funding. Money for mock hotel industry reservation centers, money for at risk students to learn construction trades by repairing state parks bathrooms, fixing vacant public housing units, etc.  School-government cooperation saves taxpayer money.

Do you think the United States should withdraw troops from Iraq quickly or wait until a stable government is in place?  Why?

The Iraq “Fiasco” is wrong and it hurts America every day.   It also makes us less safe every day.  If we love our Nation, we leave within six months.

Do you think the federal government needs to do more to help Native Hawaiians and, if so, in what way?

All Hawaiians should register to vote in this election and gain real sovereignty by having a representative government that meets all of our needs.

This is my answer to a question posed by the Star-Bulletin:

Do you believe that the NSA’s domestic spying program is an
effective deterrent to terrorism and what changes (if any) would you seek if
elected to Congress?

I do not support domestic spying on my friends and neighbors.  I doubt that the efforts to review library cards is effective in promoting a world in which people cooperate together rather than plan to blow each other up.  Giving up our right to privacy and handing over our Constitutional rights will not make us safer.  It only makes us more fearful and less free.

As a law student in Chicago many years ago I was highly offended to see policemen taking pictures of persons picketing a Federal Courthouse.  Those photos did nothing to promote peace in our communities and world.  Sneak photos of citizens protesting is not the image of America that I seek to promote and protect as a Congressman.

We need to stop allowing politicians to turn us into fearful beings too afraid to promote world peace and international understanding.   My proposals for a Second Front on the War on Terror will do a lot more to increase our safety than any fear promoting domestic spying program.

I strongly believe in the time-honored proverb, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” That is in my personal mind, in my national mind, and in my legislative and political mind. I am proud to say it was also in the mind of the majority of the speakers who attended a recent Hawaii Restaurant Association issues forum Thursday in Honolulu.

I was the first speaker and noted my belief that every issue we discuss in the campaign has to be with a backdrop of the fact that the Iraq War is a national and international disaster and that it is bleeding our national spirit, damaging our international and historical reputation and bankrupting our children and grandchildren. The politicians who continue to hide behind their huge errors in judgment in sending our troops to the wrong country and keeping them in the wrong country to protect those same mistaken politicians need to be replaced.

I then spoke in favor of an increase in the minimum wage because:

1. Our “Family Values” Congress gave itself nine raises over almost 10 years but gave no raises over those same years to mothers and fathers supporting families on minimum wages.
2. If it is a choice between giving tax breaks for the richest Americans or minimum wage increases to the minimum wage earners, I choose to provide relief to the families on minimum wages.
3. Our present federal minimum wage does not come close to allowing a person to live above our national poverty-line wage. How can we rejoice in our abundance while knowing that so many of our fellow (national family) members are struggling to support their families?

So for me it is an easy decision. The federal minimum wage needs to be increased immediately without that legislation being tied to any further “tax give aways” to the richest Americans.

I believe in balanced burdens and benefits. That means the poor get a minimum wage increase now.

Postscript:

• Congratulations to my fellow campaign opponents on the Democratic side who spoke up eloquently and passionately for a minimum wage increase.
• To the two Republican candidates who could not bring themselves to the point of supporting any minimum wage increase for minimum wage earners even though Congressmen got 9 raises — what the heck are you thinking about and who is important to you?