 Aloha and welcome to Ehana Kako, we're here every week on the Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network. I'm Kili Ikeena, president of the Grassroot Institute. Well everyone knows it's political season, but there are some interesting things happening that are not so ordinary. The state of Hawaii, it's no secret, is ruled in many ways by a single party, whether that's Republican or Democrat, whatever that single party is, that's not always good for competition in the political world. But there is competition rising within the Democratic Party here in the state of Hawaii, and there are new voices emerging with new positions that haven't traditionally been held in the last several years by Democrats in power. Today we have with us a Democrat contender for the office of the United States Senate, Makani Christensen. He's a businessman who's very successful on the island of Maui, and he's also a graduate of Annapolis and served in the United States Marine Corps, discharged as, honorably discharged, that is, as a captain. We're delighted that he's with us today, and he's going to share his views on why he's running for office. Makani Aloha, great to see you today. Great to be here. Well you know, you graduated from Annapolis, and then you served in the U.S. Marine Corps. That was in what field of duty? I was in supply chain management, logistics, and I was with 3-3, their battanette. All right. So you were in Iraq and in Afghanistan as well. That's correct. I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. And then you went into business? Yep. Shortly thereafter, in 2008, started a business called Keave Adventures, based on what I love to do. Which is have adventure, or help other people have adventures. And it wasn't easy though. It was started off in 2008 as a basic concept. I saw a niche, I went after it and made it happen. You've done very well. You've got 13 employees. What do you take from your military background and your business background that you bring to running for the United States Senate? So when it comes to running my business, it's about leadership, no matter where you are. Treating people right, treating people with compassion. And the basics of running a business, planning, organizing, communication, execution, and belief that it will work. And obviously hard work, a lot of hard work. Well you bring a lot of leadership skills to the task as well. Yeah. Yes. And it's having commitment to duty, to honor for my family, my country, courage to make those decisions and challenge yourself to go further than you ever thought you could personally go. Well, talking about challenges, you certainly have chosen a very big challenge. You are running against Senator Brian Schatz, someone who has been well-established in the Democratic Party, somebody who is poised, well, with the resources in order to defend his incumbency in the United States Senate. Have you ever been given feedback from people that this is a Herculean task, this is an amazing thing you're doing, that it's almost impossible? You know, I was told not to run. I was told, you know, you shouldn't run, it's going to ruin your business, it's going to ruin your credibility. You shouldn't run. And I was also asked to run. It wasn't a decision that was made easy, because this is a, it's like putting on the uniform again. Yes. You're representing Hawaii, the people of Hawaii, your country at a national level. And you know, anybody running for office, it shouldn't be a decision that's based on I want power, I want this, it should be always people first. So when you look at the resource situation, Senator Schatz has a long career in politics, he's well situated in the Democratic Party, he has union support, he's got large coffers in his campaign account and so forth, and his name recognition, well, everybody knows his name in Hawaii, when you looked at all of that and compared them just to your resource level, how is it that you decided to go ahead? So what, it wasn't about the money or bringing in money. It was more about the problems that Hawaii faces every day. Real problems that demand attention from our national delegates. It has to happen. Otherwise, the cost of living is not going to change. We can talk about it all day, but unless we actually make a decision, actually make moves to fix those things, for instance, small business, small business is very difficult here in Hawaii. In fact, I think we're ranked 48, 49. Yeah, on a good day. On a good day. And it's not easy starting a business, I know from a personal experience. You've got a lot of experience understanding how difficult it is with our regulatory climate as well as federal regulations, in fact, there's one in particular, now that you mentioned small business, that you talk about a lot differently than many of the leaders in the Democratic Party, and it happens to be a 1920 federal law called the Jones Act. Tell us what you think about that. So right now, the Jones Act actually increases cost of living by 30 percent, shipping. So that impacts not only small businesses, it impacts the consumer, it impacts everything in this state. Right, and when we talk about sustainability, for example, we're looking at farms, small farmers, the cost of running a farm and actually ordering supplies from mainland distribution points to Hawaii, it only adds to the overall cost. That's right. We don't necessarily know exactly what that cost is. It's up there, people feel it and so forth. So what's fundamentally wrong about this Jones Act? So it doesn't allow that free market competition. So it's a regulator price, U.S. ships, U.S. ports. Now if we can potentially modify it for Hawaii, then we actually have a chance to reduce the cost of living and gain supplies from other venues that will basically help the people of Hawaii. Well, you talk about free market competition here, but you're not saying what some people often talk about and that is repeal this nearly 100-year-old federal act. You said modify. You seem to take a more middle-of-the-road approach toward it. You know, whenever you deal with change, change is something that it's hard for people to accept, no matter what you do. And as far as this, the Jones Act, it's been in place for a very long time. To have the individuals, unions, the shipping industry to come to the table and say, you know what? I agree. Let's make it right for the people of Hawaii. Let's reduce the cost of shipping and this is how we propose we do it and want to do it together. Well, Makani, you know, you're taking a position that differs from the leadership of the Democratic Party, but there are a good number of younger Democrats in office who take your stand. But in another issue, there are some very senior members of the Democratic Party who seem to agree with you. And I'm talking about Governor Ariyoshi, Governor Kaitano, and even Senator Akaka. And that has to do with the vast body of water that surrounds the Hawaiian islands into the Pacific. We're looking at a very aggressive act now by our federal government to expand its jurisdiction over what we call a national monument. Tell us a little about that because you have some strong views on that. So basically what's happening right now is you have a national marine monument on Northwest Hawaiian Islands that circumference 50 miles around the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. And what's being proposed as part of a legacy project to a legacy project now. All right. It means that we're going to be paying for it forever. Right. Well, and it's a personal legacy project, you know, and it's under the Antiquities Act to expand the area from that 50 mile radius to a 200 mile radius around the islands. Now that's the size of Texas, California, Oregon, and Washington. Now in a lot of ways, this is something that if you're in favor of the expansion of federal power over a state, you'd be cheering on. Right. And if you in some way your contracts were dependent upon that, you'd be cheering that on and so forth. But you come from the point of view of a small businessman who doesn't see this kind of federal action as benefiting the locals. Right. And so one, there's no actual evidence that shows that anything that basically we collect 1.5% of the fish from the Pacific. The rest is caught from our counterparts in Asia. That's right. And they're actually coming into our U.S.S. water, the EZ. In other words, you don't accept the claim that our fishing around the White Islands is depleting the Pacific Ocean. Not even close. And you know, also the other aspect of it is we have a Hawaiian group that's saying it's a cultural area. That's right. If you've been 50 miles out, it's blue water. So I'm not sure what these individuals are talking about, but they're bringing up a case with unfounded documentation and it will affect the people of Hawaii. People will lose their jobs, the price of fish will go up, will end up buying gas fish from Asia for $25 a pound. And rather than having our long line fleet be sustainable, because you're not only affecting the long line fleet, you're affecting all the distributors, you're affecting hotels, you're affecting the overall dependence on the mainland for food. Well, two former Democrat governors and a former United States Senator, Senator Akaka, agree with you that they agree that we should not have this expansion of federal territory in federal waters. And in many ways, younger Democrats and the Democratic Party now have the power that seemed to be out of sync with that. It seems as though you might actually represent, would you think, some of the more classical Democratic values as opposed to some of the more recent ones? Yeah, you know, what I've seen from the Democratic Party is that there's a split, progressive versus conservatives and people that want to just tear the system apart. You know, being a Democrat, I'm proud to be a Democrat. And at the same time, you know, the leadership, just changed leadership. And, you know, I believe that it's going to take some time to smooth out all the wrinkles. Well, what's interesting here is you say you're a Democrat and proud to be a Democrat. I'm listening to you on the first two issues we talk about. Modify the Jones Act and restrict federal overreach within the state. You sound just like a Republican as well. It says if the positions you take aren't dependent upon party branding. They're not. It has to be dependent on the people, the people that we sign up to serve. Because it is. You sacrifice everything for the people. Well, Mccani, let's get back to the question of your relationship to the challenge, to your challenge to the incumbent now. Senator Schatz is completing his first term. So really, this election will be a test because generally, we tend to think here in Hawaii once somebody has been in Congress or Senate for a while, they're somewhat vested. So this would be a window of opportunity to challenge that. How do you compare yourself in this race to the positions that Senator Schatz takes? You know, so well, as, you know, well written in the Honolulu Star Advertiser that his main priority for Hawaii was climate change. All right. My main priority is the people of Hawaii. We're a climate change and when we talk about so a difference would be sustainability. Is it a fashionable sustainability or is it true sustainability for Hawaii? Well, there's some terms here that have almost become sacred buzzwords amongst many people. And I know that you like to look for the substance behind them. When you think of sustainability, what role do you think the government needs to play? We need to definitely make it cheaper for farmers. We encourage our fishermen to obviously fish sustainably. This expansion is definitely not part of that plan. We also encourage the access to our mountains for hunters. So on top of this, you know, I started the Hunting Farming Fishing Association. And the Hunting Farming Fishing Association basically gave the people of Hawaii a voice. The people that are down in a dirt digging. The people that are up in the mountains looking for food to feed their families. The fisherman that goes to the beach to bring back a couple fish for the rest of his Ohana. Those are the people we represent that didn't have time to look up and see what was changing around them. And when that happened, when I saw people losing more than they possibly ever dreamed that they would, their way of life disappeared in a second. We decided to formulate a cohesive unit of individuals from throughout the state, increasing communication, basically letting people know what's going on. So you've been a networker in many ways and I know that during your campaign you've been traveling the islands meeting with many of these people. We're going to come back right after a short break and I'm with Makani Christensen who is a candidate for United States Senate. Don't go away. Watching Think Tech Hawaii's Ehana Kako will be right back. Aloha. My name is Josh Green. I serve as Senator from the Big Island on the Kona side and I'm also an emergency room physician. My program here on Think Tech is called Healthcare in Hawaii. I'll have guests that should be interesting to you twice a month. We'll talk about issues that range from mental health care to drug addiction to our health care system and any challenges that we face here in Hawaii. We hope you'll join us. Again, thanks for supporting Think Tech. Thanks for watching Think Tech Hawaii, meeting people we may not have otherwise met, helping us understand and appreciate the good things about Hawaii. Great content for Hawaii from Think Tech. Aloha. My name is John Wahee and I actually had a small part to do with what's happening today. Served actually in public office. But if you don't already know that, here's a chance to learn more about what's happening in our state by joining me for a talk story with John Wahee every other Monday. Thank you and I look forward to your seeing us in the future. Welcome back to the concluding portion of Ehana Kako here every week on the Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network and again I'm Kaley Iakena with the Grassroot Institute. We call our program Ehana Kako after a very well-known saying here in Hawaii, a Pule Kako. A Pule Kako means let's pray together. The Kako is a way of saying we do it inclusively with all people. So at the Grassroot Institute we love to say Ehana Kako, let's work together. Let's work together for a better government, society and economy. Think of the terrible alternative of not working together. And so we're very proud of the fact that we work together with the Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network and my hat goes off to Jay Fiedel, the producer in general here as well as all of the great team who put this program on, 35 hours a week of original content coming out from Hawaii you can see it at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Now back to US Senate candidate Makani Christensen. Well Makani you've really been off a big challenge running against an incumbent Senator Schatz and you say you do this because you really want to fight for the people and one group of those people happen to be the business people whose voices you feel have not been heard. What are the challenges that business people, small business people in particular face here in the state that you think you could change in the US Senate? Well you know one of the biggest things is to encourage rather than discourage. And when I say that I'm talking about a couple instances that happened within the last six months. One was a blatant attack on VRBOs, the attack on by Senator Schatz. Well let's go back to that first one. You're talking about what has been emerging here as a shared economy and everything from people sharing an empty seat in their car through the ride share programs or sharing an empty bedroom going online and advertising that. And so what are your concerns about this? Well when it comes from the federal government this should be handled by the state. The state should be able to better manage the VRBO and better breakfast arena as well as Uber. When the federal government overreaches without being really in touch with what's going on and saying this is going to be the solution to our housing crisis and our cost of living then we should really re-examine who we're putting into office. Well I hear two strains of thought over here coming through both of them complimentary. The first one is you care about the economic impact upon the people. Absolutely. The individual's rights to conduct business, make it a little extra money, a few dollars and so forth and the availability of that. But the second thing I'm hearing you say, correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm hearing you say that you have a strong preference for the state having rights rather than the federal government coming in and taking those rights from the state. Are you a strong believer in putting power back into the hands of the states? Well in this case yes. The state would have a better know-how to challenge the issues that come up on a daily basis. You know if we're doing an overreach by the federal government here in Hawaii then I just got to stop you there for a second and then I'll let you continue overreach by the federal government. You sure aren't talking democratese. I thought the mantra had been for many years let's get as much federal funding as we can get but you're talking about the fact that there have to be limits. Let me let you continue to talk about what are your concerns about that federal overreach. So what's happening is it's hurting small business. So when federal overreach impacts our businesses here in Hawaii and impacts the way we do business then that's not a proper way to utilize the federal government. Now you've got concerns also of the federal government's policies toward agriculture for example all the rules about clean water sounds good but in many ways they regulate the state in a way that the federal government couldn't understand or the food safety act and so forth. So what are your concerns about farmers being able to survive with these federal regulations? Well as you know the cost to do business in Hawaii is already extreme. We don't have farmers. We need farmers here in Hawaii and that would be also a if we can at the national level encourage farming to I'm not going to just say throw money at it but come up with a well-executed plan on how can we make Hawaii more sustainable encourage those that produce food to come to Hawaii and let's make the land produce for all people in Hawaii. Then we actually talking about true sustainability. Also when it comes to agriculture you know there's a difference between everybody's fighting the GMO process and fighting the you know small farmers and you got the organic farmers. Right. It's going to be imperative that all farmers work together to come up with a solution to fix what we have right now. Well we've certainly seen a good deal of extremism in these battles between environmentalists and small farmers and I think you're absolutely right we have to find a middle ground to which we can can work work together and how would you bring about creating that opportunity to work together toward a common end as opposed to the divisiveness that it exists now. I believe that the best way to do this is to have a common theme and the common theme would be producing food for Hawaii and if you're producing food for Hawaii and everybody comes to the table you can actually come up with some great ideas from the farmers organic non-organic and the fighting is just dividing our community and the people of Hawaii where people have the opportunity I mean you look at Hawaii for example you have an area of 5,000 individuals in on the west side if the GMO crops and the seed companies left the economy on the west side would implode on itself without no recourse to the people there so when individuals fight the GMO issue come up with a solution on what is the best way for the state to go about and make it right rather than just say it's wrong all the time what would be the best solution instead of you know because if we allow Hawaii to implode on itself we allow Molokai to implode on itself and people don't have jobs you know you're looking at a thousand jobs on Kauai a thousand jobs on Molokai or less how does that benefit our economy and the people of Hawaii you were talking earlier about sustainability and sustainability would apply definitely to agriculture yeah agricultural practices and yet you're you're cautioning against the the extremism that would say no GMO or no no no practices that don't hit this certain mark we've got to find a way to work together yeah absolutely working together has also put Hawaii into a very successful place for many many years in providing health care we had one of the highest rates of coverage in the nation in our public-private partnership here that required businesses to actually pay for the health care their full-time employees right and then while we were held up as a model really across the country there were five other states studying our system thinking of using it we had a federal law called the Affordable Care Act often known affectionately as Obamacare which sent us into a downward spiral in terms of our own public health care system our health care system public-private partnership and left a lot of damage cost us a lot of money and we're in the aftermath of reconstructing our coverage here in Hawaii what are your thoughts about the Affordable Care Act so right now what we're looking at is it has to be ratified it has to absolutely be ratified there's people right now not receiving help because if you look at the Medicare Medicare funding went towards the general overall of health care and our kupuna suffer because of it the doctors no longer want to take the Medicare because it's not pain and you meant it has to be fixed it has to be that's right that's correct and you know the this is something a lot of people are afraid I think in the political season especially in races for for us senate and congress across the country and perhaps in Hawaii a lot of scare is interjected into the campaigning that if we tamper with this at all if we update it as you're talking about a fix it somehow the benefits of the seniors are going to be lost and then anyone who wants to bring about reform is often portrayed as somebody who is threatening the Medicare benefits of the seniors but what is your response to that when when that's leveled against you well you know whenever you bring a new idea into fruition if you will you have this idea you have this concept it's not going to be perfect but you work to make sure that it gets there I mean look at the Constitution yeah I mean we've amended it that's right we fixed it I mean there's been 11,538 attempts to amend the Constitution to make it great document imagine where we'd be if we didn't have those amendments right exactly we couldn't even talk about it without the first amendment so you look at you look at that concept is yeah we started it but we can make it better we can see where the flaws are and say you know what my constituents back home are not getting health care like they used to and we need to fix this Hawaii I mean I got 10 Kupuna's calling me up and what are we going to do well that's an important value to us in Hawaii glad to hear you'd be committed to working the very best solution for our Kupuna from Washington DC now let me throw you a tough question this one the little hairy politicians have to take a poll as to who they're talking to before they answer we're talking about amendments let's go to the second amendment okay nobody is blind to the violence that we've seen across the country and the battles over the second amendment the right to bear arms that have emerged you happen to be part of an association to the founder of one that is called hunting farming and fishing that's correct hunters of course need to have the appropriate weapons to the appropriate guns and so forth to use what are your thoughts on second amendment at Hawaii the second amendment should be preserved we have the toughest gun laws in Hawaii as we speak one of the rules that came out from the state recently affected a lot of people that for example our military you know I've been in contact with a lot of our veterans who shoot guns and also came back from Iraq and Afghanistan that suffered from post-traumatic stress because of the new law that says you know if you have a mental illness which is post-traumatic stress you have to turn in your eyes and this has ramifications in the next 10 15 years or and shorter where as an outlet they would you go and shoot guns now people wanting to go with help or need help will no longer go and get help because they like their weapons and also you know we have to preserve the fact that you know hunters and sports enthusiasts use these weapons to roll the hunters go out there and catch food and the sports enthusiasts use it for competition and you know they have a rifle team up at Kamehameha schools well just listening to you I'm somewhat marveling I'm thinking here's a Democrat who is pro-second amendment who is for changing the Jones Act who is pro-small business and so well as we close today let's talk about the party what kind of reaction are you getting from party members as to your stands you know I've gotten the mixed reviews if you will from Democrats Republicans and you know a lot of what Daniel E. Noy stood for I mean I've seen his decisions that he's made and a lot of the decisions he's made I would probably have made the same same decision well that's a good note to close on Daniel and oh yeah and I mean he's a warrior yes he's been there I've been there so Makani I wish you the best in your run thank you for being on the program today my guest today Makani Christensen candidate for United States Senate running against Ryan shots we'll be watching carefully and see what happens and also keeping an eye on Makani as his career goes forward until next time I'm Keeley Akina president of the grassroots Institute wishing you a Hanukkah go let's work together aloha thank you for watching