 Think Tecawaii. Civil engagement lives here. Aloha. Welcome to Think Tecawaii and my show today, Making Leadership Work. With my special guest, Kim Koko Iwamoto. Welcome, Kim. Thank you, Carol. Kim Koko is running for Lieutenant Governor in a crowded race this year. She and I served on the State Board of Education just before it changed from an elected board to an appointed board. That's right. I did. So I wanted to ask you, so first of all, tell us, Kim, why are you running for Lieutenant Governor? Well, if I can quote one of my political inspirations, Nina Turner, not any blue will do. I think within the Democratic Party, especially in Hawaii, although they are more socially liberal, there's a lot of fiscal conservatism that actually makes our state look more Republican in terms of the way we don't adequately fund public education, our mental health services, the fact that we have the homeless crisis at a level that's beyond any other state in the nation, our lack of affordable housing. All of these issues are issues that Republicans don't care about. And that's concerning to me as a Democrat and as a progressive Democrat who cares about Hawaii's people. Okay, so I know you identify yourself both as, of course, a lawyer, you're trained as a lawyer, and environmentalist. So you mentioned environmental issues. So exactly how do you propose to, as Lieutenant Governor, change our current situation in our mental health? First of all, we have to look at the way the Lieutenant Governor's office has been underutilized. It is the same exact footprint as the Governor's office. It's the same size, it's just on the ever wing of the Capitol. And it has a large staff, and yet we see very little coming out of that office. And it's no offense to any of the previous Lieutenant, the current or the previous Lieutenant Governors. But I do think what we see oftentimes are Lieutenant Governors are silent understudies to the Governor. They just see themselves waiting their turn, perhaps waiting for something to happen to the Governor, God forbid. But there seems to be a lack of initiative. Again, when we hear about the huge disparity of economic power in Hawaii, everyday families, another family stepping one step closer to homelessness, it's too, we have too much of an urgent situation for anybody to just be sitting around waiting to be assigned a task by the Governor. I think that office could become the people's office, and we have a great opportunity to bring the people who've been working on the front lines of issues like homelessness, the environment, economic justice, bring them, make that be their office, they can convene meetings, they invite in key legislators and executive administrative people, and everyone get on the same page and do substantive change in a timely fashion. Right now, the current model, a lot of the activists go door knocking at the legislature, and oftentimes legislators go, oh, well, that's too much, that's not practical, we have to be pragmatic about that. And the nickel and diamond issue to death. Literally, by the time anything gets implemented, the problem's gotten so much worse that whatever tiny little solution they were going to offer is no longer appropriate. And so we're changing the whole dynamic of what we could see that office being. But that's a wonderful point, except that statutorily or constitutional authority of the Lieutenant Governor is limited. Actually, Carol, so I know you're an attorney, and I'm sure we've read the Constitution and what's outlined in the statute. And actually, there is nothing prohibiting the Lieutenant Governor from taking a more active role. The Lieutenant Governor is elected by the people and therefore accountable to the people. There's really nothing stopping a Lieutenant Governor from convening meetings. And I do that myself as an individual community organizer. I convene people who are working on prison reform issues, and they meet in my home, and they hold meetings and everyone strategizes about how we're going to proceed. And I partner with different organizations. And we get on the same page. We're doing it now. People are doing it now. But what happens is that the Capitol, even the design of the Capitol, when you look at it, and if you ever visit the Capitol, it's built like a fortress. It's built in a way to keep the people away from the decision makers. Think about that. It's sometimes it's hard to find, how do you get upstairs, right? Everything's hidden. Like the entryways are hidden. The stairs are hidden. Everything's hidden. But I think we can totally change that if the people are on the fifth floor, which is where the Lieutenant Governor's office is, I think they'll definitely be more integrated access to solving our problems collectively. So I disagree that there is any kind of statutory or constitutional limitation on what the governor can do as a convener, as a mobilizer, as an advocate for the people. I see. And the Lieutenant Governor. Yes, Lieutenant Governor. Okay. So assuming that we get through the fortress and we get upstairs to the fifth floor. That's right. So then once you've convened these wonderful organizations and come up with maybe an action plan, how will you implement any decision makers? And that's for, once again, the people who are working on the front lines of a particular situation. I'm not going to be the kind of candidate that says I have the answers because I have not been working for decades as many of my friends and colleagues have on issues. They've been living, they've been fighting the fight every day. And I would never want to disrespect their degree of knowledge about the issue, nor their understanding of what kind of solutions we need. So I would defer, I would just try to create a stronger platform. Corporations are spending millions of dollars to make sure their voices are elevated at the Capitol. I just want to make sure that the people's voice is heard, right? Their concerns, their solutions, the people, it's their, it's their capital. Okay. Yes. And yes. And if I may share something actually about the corporatocracy that we kind of exist in, I was at a meeting at the Hawaii Community Venture, the Hawaii Venture Capitalist Association, and one of the government spokesperson was there, and they actually said that the corporate tax rate in Hawaii is one of the lowest in the nation. So think about that. The corporate tax rate in Hawaii is one of the lowest. They are under investing from our revenue tax revenue position. They're under investing, yet they have one of the largest voices. That's a problem. So is that something that you would support is raising the corporate taxes? Or taking away, you know, it's not even about just raising the corporate tax rate. It's about getting rid of all of the tax credits they get. You know, like for instance, we give real estate investment tax credits for the person who builds an air conditioned storage facility on the same footprint that we used to have affordable housing. We're actually saying here, we are rewarding them for building air conditioned storage facilities in the urban core. Think about that. Think about driving around Honolulu. Oh, look, here's another air conditioned storage facility. Know that that investor got tax credits from Hawaii. Instead of using that for affordable housing, I'm so excited to bring all these issues to you. And so then as Lieutenant Governor, how could you change that? Well, I think making sure everyone's on the same page, when one of the things that really frustrates me as a voter, as an active participant in our democracy, is when I see other elected officials, they know the shenanigans that's going on at the legislature, but everyone's silent. No one wants to rock the boat. No one wants out somebody's conflict of interest. You know, and that to me, we have a very polite culture. And unfortunately, that politeness has put us on a trajectory that isn't a good one. We're not going to survive if we stay on the current path, if we remain the status quo. I mean, think about it, homelessness, affordable housing, the cost of living, the rate of pay, everything is so out of whack here. And I'm sorry. And, you know, we think better is what I'm saying. And we need to start that healing process so that we can be strong and vibrant by actually checking people, checking elected officials. You're getting a lot of money from Ansantha. You're getting a lot of money from Sinjenta and Dow and all these multinational agrochemical corporations. And you're blocking now after you're getting all that money. You're saying go ahead and spray next to our schools. So are you saying then that your role as lieutenant governor, in addition to convening and bringing in people from various interests, the public to your office and articulating issues and maybe coming up with an action plan, the step of actually implementing any plan would be to somehow persuade, whether it's corporate or individual who have some kind of an obligation or loyalty to some particular interest. But I'm not sure exactly how you as lieutenant governor have that. Yes. Well, first of all, I think it's really important that the people know that somebody is speaking on their behalf. I mean, truly that I'm not or whoever is in that position is not beholden to any special interest group, not beholden to anybody but the people who elected her into that position. That needs to be affirmed constantly by speaking the truth, by speaking the truth to the power, to the establishment. I mean, our democratic, we are truly a very blue state. Like I said earlier in quoting an intern, not any blue will do. We are a very blue state, but that's, that does nothing for us if we don't hold the Democrats to the Democratic Party platform, which is very progressive. When you think about the hard work that the people who are in the party, in the field, in the community level, they go through all of, they develop resolutions, they create the party platform, they spend a lot of time debating issues, and they adopt a progressive platform. And then when people who run for office claim that they're Democrats, they're not held accountable to the party platform, and that needs to change. And then people get frustrated, I'm frustrated. So I think that's the start. So it's just a start to clearing the field and calling truth out, and then working and building from there. Okay, so I assume when you decide to run for lieutenant governor, you analyze whether you could run for legislature or even governor's position. For me, I just said, what is the most under utilized office? Where can I have the greatest impact given what's already, what's currently available in the marketplace? Who can turn it? Right now, I'm running against other candidates who are part of the status quo, who've invested heavily, heavily into keeping Hawaii on the path that it's on right now. Are they going to challenge the state to become better? Do they even have that capacity? Do they have the courage to do that? I questioned that, but I do know who I am, and I do know the fights I've been fighting all my life, and I know that I'm willing to fight for the people of Hawaii. Well, let's talk about some of your fights, because I'm sure you're known as a community activist. And so tell us a little bit more about... Thank you for asking that. And this is how we met Carol on the Board of Education. In 2008, when I was elected. And I was elected in 2006. And I ran for the Board of Education, because I was foster parenting at that time, actually, from 2004 to 2006. And I was a foster parent to teenagers. Teenagers who've been homeless, teenagers who've... Actually, I pulled some teenagers out of the youth correctional facility, because their parents wouldn't sign them out. So they were left in youth prison to just rot away. It was really bad. So I worked... I got licensed as a therapeutic foster parent, and I would take these kids into my home, open my heart and my home to them. And in my role as their parent, I was also their education advocate, making sure that they were getting the resources and the access to public education that they deserved. So in working with them, and many of them were being bullied and harassed at school. Some of them were gay, some of them were transgender. And they said to me, they were being bullied and harassed, and we tried to make complaints to the principal, but they were falling on deaf ears. So they asked me, would you please come with us and testify at the Board of Education? So of course, I'm going to... That's my role as your parent to advocate on your behalf for your safety and your access to education. So I did that. I testified about the state of the situation for them and others like them. And literally, the Board of Education stared back very blankly. There was no acknowledgement. Once again, this is why it's important that the voice at the table is affirming what the people are saying. So there was no indication, no acknowledgement that that was not okay, that the kids deserved better. So I realized that they would be accountable or they had a plan of action to make it to change it from the current path it was on. So I realized at the moment, you know what, these kids, my kids, kids of Hawaii, they need to advocate at the table on the Board of Education. So I decided to run in 2006. And with the help of a lot of family, friends, kids, a lot of young people, we took to the streets and sign waived and put up signs. And 16 people were in that race that year. And we were able to come to the top three, which is what we needed. And we were able, once we did get on the Board of Education, we were able to implement a lot of the changes around bullying and harassment that the kids wanted. And you were part of that change to then when you came on too. Wow. Well, on that interesting note, we're going to take a short break. We'll be right back. So we're with our guest, Kim Koko Iwamoto, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. We'll be right back. I'm Ethan Allen, host of Likeable Science on Think Tech Hawaii. Every Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., I hope you'll join me for Likeable Science. We'll dig into science, dig into the meat of science, dig into the joy and delight of science. We'll discover why science is indeed fun, why science is interesting, why people should care about science and care about the research that's being done out there. It's all great. It's all entertaining. It's all educational. So I hope to join me for Likeable Science. Aloha. I'm Kili Ikeena, and I'm here every other week on Mondays at 2 o'clock p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii's Hawaii Together. In Hawaii Together, we talk with some of the most fascinating people in the islands about working together, working together for a better economy, government, and society. So I invite you into our conversation every other Monday at 2 p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network. Join us for Hawaii Together. I'm Kili Ikeena. Aloha. Welcome back. This is Carol Manly on Think Tech Hawaii's making leadership work with my special guest, Kim Kokoiwamoto, a lawyer and environmentalist who is currently running for Lieutenant Governor for the State of Hawaii. Welcome back. Thank you for having me. So among I know your many community activities is the current one that we're all interested in is, of course, the women's movement, the women's march. I think we have one image that we can show to our viewers. So let's describe this picture for our viewers. The way I like to, my campaign, I like to have a win-win situation. So in this picture, my supporters and volunteers on my campaign, instead of just marching in the ML, well, this is actually from the MLK parade at Magicka Island. That's the beginning. So, you know, this is from the recent MLK parade. And so what we do is we like to fuel the resistance. That's our model instead of, because we're in all of this together. Right. So it shows you pulling a cart full of fruit. Healthy, healthy breakfast items because everyone runs out of the house to get to the parade on time. And they don't adequately feel for the march all the way to Kapilani Park. But we did the same thing at the women's march, too. And we called it refueling the resistance. And again, it's that win-win opportunity where we get to engage with other women, other activists, other allies, and also share food and share, I mean, we're here to support each other. And that's what, for me, that's what that outreach was about. It's about saying what you're doing is important. I'm here. I got your back. Have a banana. So you can continue marching. So you can continue fighting and we can continue fighting together. And that's what we need to do on a lot of issues. If we attach, I mean, if we, you know, pursue issues around sexual harassment that way, domestic violence, if we do it as a unified front, we're going to get so much more. And the same issue around homelessness. We can do that so much. That's your big issue for the state. That is, I think, the number one issue. And I have to share that when my first job as an attorney, coming back to Hawaii, was I was the, I did clinics, legal clinics, free legal clinics and homeless shelters. That was my responsibility to make sure that the legal issues that may have put a person into homelessness, whether it was a financial situation that they couldn't declare bankruptcy and then their wages were being garnished and suddenly they can't afford to pay their rent and they find themselves on the street. We had bankruptcy clinics at that time. The bankruptcy laws were a little different in 2001. Of course, the corporations, the financial corporations lobbied and made it much more difficult for people to declare bankruptcy and to get away from creditors. And that's one of the reasons why we see more homeless people today, because if you can't escape the creditors, you then, they garnish your wages, you cannot pay your landlord. So that's part of the cycle. And what would you do now as lieutenant governor then to help them? Well, I think, you know, we, so there are federal bankruptcy laws, but we can also have our own statutes addressing some of these issues and we do need to change them. Are there any right now in the legislature that are pending or been introduced? I mean, you know, there are three other candidates running this race all, you know, and they all recognize homelessness as being, you know, but are they looking at the root causes? And I think that kind of critical analysis is really important. And what sets me apart? You know, as a, so I do know about landlord tenant life. So when I mentioned earlier about what happens to families, I have an apartment building. So I'm a small business owner as well as an attorney environmentalist. I'm a small business owner. I have an apartment building near Alamoana shopping center. It's in the urban core. I purchased it when I was foster parenting because I wanted to have more flexibility. So I thought, you know, I'm going to fix this building up. You know, I was literally, we tore down walls. It was kind of a slum. We pulled down ceilings and we put new drywall and I was holding the drywall up there. So I got really involved in fixing it up. Within the first year of owning that building, a realtor came by and said, you know, I can, I have somebody who wants to buy your building for 100% return your investment. And this is around in 2004. Like, oh my God. I'm like, I never thought this was possible. And it was tempting. But I said, you know what? How are my tenants going to afford double the rent so that this new owner can afford double their mortgage? And I thought about it and said, you know what? I can either be part of the problem or part of the solution. Affordable housing in the urban core. We need more of that. I'm not going to sell out and create a situation where these local families couldn't afford to stay there any longer. So I kept it. And I have to tell you, it's been one of my most solid, strong investments as a business owner. And not only does it have financial returns, right? And they're, you know, they're comfortable, but excellent. They also have social impact returns. I mentioned this earlier, win-win. I don't like to sell my self-short or the state short. We can have multiple wins. So how, again, does this translate to the Lieutenant Governor's office to be able to? Well, you know, having a sense of understanding business, having an understanding of the different pressures, the different incentives that create the problem. So if everyone's speculating on real estate, just not even as somebody's home, but as something you buy and trade, you buy and sell, buy and sell. And you're just getting these commissions and you're flipping buildings. You're totally not paying attention to the human lives being impacted. Don't you think we need more people in government who are aware of the ramifications of just doing business in Hawaii? But one of the stories I wanted to share with you about my building where more than 50% of the units are housing previously homeless families, as well as families who would be homeless, but for the Section 8 voucher they receive. One of the families was before moving into my building, was living in a van with his three kids for three years. He was working at the same job for seven years. When he came and he saw one victim, that's all I had at the time. And he says, I'll take it because I said, but it's not big enough for your family. He's like, it's way bigger than my van. Once he was able to have stabilized housing, he got a promotion. He got three raises. Within a year, he was no longer eligible for that subsidy. Amazing. That's what we want to see. And I'm still able to pay for my mortgage. You know what I'm saying? We can do this. We can do this Hawaii. We can. We just need to do it together. You know what I mean? That's what I'm saying. And I think it's important to show people that you're willing to walk the talk. Well, we've really covered them. Thank you. We've covered education. We've covered homelessness. We've covered a little bit about the environment. Do you want to talk something about some of your environmental issues? Well, you know, one of the things actually, if you move the environment, you know, who's addressing the environment ferociously, the neighbor islands, Maui, Kauai, the big island. There's so many environmental activists out there who are inspiring. They are taking on their city councils, taking on the corporations. But what's happening is our state legislature, because we're so Oahu-centric at the capital, their voices on the neighbor islands often go silenced. Maui, for instance, has created satellite offices and they are able to take remote testimony. They are able to engage in the political process remotely because, you know, there's a lot of rural areas. We can do that for our neighbor islands. We can set up remote satellite offices. People can tele-testify at the legislature. Right now, a bill gets scheduled on the agenda. You have 48 hours to go buy a ticket, find a babysitter. You might have to find a place to stay, run a car. That's so cost prohibitive for a lot of people on the neighbor islands to come. Can't we just set up a mechanism with technology today to give them a voice? I know I, when I'm sitting in the hearing rooms at the capital, I would love to hear what the neighbor island activists are doing and what their perspective. So many of the issues at the legislature, well, many of them specifically only affect some of the neighbor islands, yet they have no voice. But you know who does have a voice? Corporate lobbyists. They have a very loud voice. The corporate lobbyists who want to take the water, the water access, who want to take the land from the people on the, on the neighbor islands, they have a voice at the legislature. They hire lobbyists, they spend millions of dollars, right? They are heard from often, loud and clear. So we have to shift this dynamic again. And you know, it's about making sure the people are heard. And it feels like the whole system is set up to not hear them and not value their contributions to our state as a whole. Okay. Well, let me backtrack a little bit on what the lieutenant governor's office used to do. They used to be in charge of elections and that's been removed from their authority, from its authority. Do you think that that's something that should be re-established? Yes. I think, again, there's so much more. What, actually, yes, I'm sorry. I meant yes, that's something that we can look into. I think the reason why it was removed from that office, because it's an elected office. So kind of a little bit, you know, weird to have an elected official in charge of the office of elections. So what do you think about right now the primary, the lieutenant governor, is separately voted on. And then the governor, so it's kind of like a blind marriage when it comes to the general election, right? You're paired up. No, you know what? I don't think of it that way. I think of it as we both serve, and we would both serve in very important roles. Obviously, the governor has, is the lead of the state, right? There's no question about that. But I think it's important when you're thinking about a lieutenant governor candidate, do you want somebody who's going to just always been locked step, who's going to keep all the secrets of the governor? You know, and I say that because there's an opportunity to be a voice of courage within the inner offices of the governor's office. To not be afraid to tell the emperor, excuse me, emperor, you have no clothes on. Excuse me, emperor. You're deviating away from your own campaign promises. You're deviating away from the Democratic Party platform. I want to tell you this very gently, politely, and inside, because if you continue on that path, I would need to, I cannot remain silent and complicit. Okay. Well, we just have a few more seconds left. First, I'd like to show one last slide, and then you can look in the camera for, and what are we looking at on this slide? I am so honored to, when I started my campaign, the first call I made was to retire judge Dan Foley. And, you know, he's been an amazing, amazing steward, protector, salt work protector of our liberties. He was with the ACLU previously. He was the lead litigator on the same sixth marriage case. He takes on the difficult fights. He has the courage and so I approached him and he said he would love to be my chair. What an honor. Do you have a parting message to our audience? Yes. The message is to please register and vote and make sure your voice is heard. And I'm going to partner with you at the, from the Lieutenant Governor's office and make sure it's your office. Thank you. And on that note, maybe we can show one last slide that we have with Maya. Yes. Notoro Ng. She reached out to my campaign after she heard my launch speech. Somebody did a Facebook live of that speech and she happened to see it. And then she reached out and said, I want to support your campaign. And on that note, I'm going to say thank you so much, Kim Koko. Thank you so much. Thank you. We wish you the best. I appreciate it. And again, my guest has been Kim Koko Iwamoto, who is running for Lieutenant Governor from the state of Hawaii. This is Carol Monly, Think Tech, Hawaii, and we'll see you next time. Aloha.