 This is Think Tech Hawaii. The community matters here. Welcome to Making Leadership Work on Think Tech, and I'm your host today, Caramon Lee. Our show today is called Jill Takuta, Candidate for Lieutenant Governor. And we're going to talk with Jill about her vision and effective leadership. Thinking higher office takes more than just dedication and hard work. So if you want to ask a question or make a comment, you can contact us at thinktechhi or call us at 808-374-2014. Senator Takuta is the representative from Senate District 4, which is... It's the Kanuhi-Kailua area, so Winrid O'ahu where we grew up. And she is running for Lieutenant Governor in the 2018 race. How does she distinguish herself from the other candidates? Well, we'll discuss that and some of her other accomplishments as senators. So, welcome. Thank you. Good to see you. Good to see you. We've worked for years in the past and now when you were chair of education in the Senate. So tell us a little bit about how long have you been in the state Senate? Well, it's been 11 years. It's amazing how quickly time flies, but it's been 11 really great, very humbling years to be with my colleagues in the Senate, chairing everything from, as you mentioned, education, the agriculture and Hawaiian affairs, the last three years as Ways and Means, which gives you an amazing opportunity to see the entire landscape of issues, all of the different departments as well as having to really rein in all the resources of the state and really look at where the priorities should be placed, especially since it comes out of all of our pockets and has to be balanced on the backs of taxpayers, which is a very humbling decision-making process, I assure you. And that really gave me some very interesting, very tough decisions that I had to make as well. Well, was it just about some of those tough decisions? Oh, maybe some of the successes and some of the failures. What have you, in your last 11 years, what do you consider your major accomplishment? You know, that has probably been the toughest thing to do is take a look back at your entire career, if you would say, in the last 11 years and really point back to some of those things that were the highlights and where are those things that you'd really want to continue on? You know, education especially was a big, continues to be a big passion for me. You know, I'm the mother of two little boys. At the end of the day, the beginning of each morning, I'm a working mom. And so what specifically, what legislative feels past that you were very involved in and feel very proud about? When it comes to education, one of the things that I really recall working very hard on was early learning and putting in place, for example, the framework for our early learning system, because I do believe that making sure that our youngest of Kiki, they have to have the building blocks for success when they start kindergarten. That is so important. It was a huge success for us to put in place that executive office on early learning at the same time while that was a success, putting that together. To me, that was one of the things that we have left on the table, that we have to continue to do more. So when was that, when did that pass? That pass, and that was put into place back in the beginning of 2012. It was a series of years when we really took a look at putting that office into place and rolling out continued funding for it. Even over the last few years in putting additional funding on the table for those public pre-K classrooms, as well as making sure that there was resources for family child interactive learning programs as well. So it's been a continuous work in progress. But to me, we're not moving fast enough. When you take a look at our youngest of children that don't have access to highly effective, high quality early learning opportunities in their own backyards, start kindergarten without those experiences, that is not fair. You're already starting them without that strong foundation. And when I start the school year off every morning and I walk my babies to school every day, you can tell that there's some kids that just haven't had those opportunities. And that's really not fair for them. And it's going to show as the years go on. And to me, that, again, was a success. But that was also an area where we did not do enough. And we have to continue to do more in those particular areas. OK, well, let's talk about it. I appreciate hearing about that. But I know one thing that I've been very interested in is the Women's Caucus, the work in the Women's Caucus. So tell us a little bit about the accomplishments and maybe some of the failures in that area. You know, I think the Women's Caucus has really been a bright spot to me over the last few years. So tell our audience, what is the Women's Caucus? You know, I wish there was actually more publicity about the Women's Caucus. I think we have a picture. Let's see. We have some images of your time at the legislature. OK, well, we'll wait for that to come up. So tell us a little more. To talk about it, the Women's Caucus has really a long history going back where it's a bipartisan effort in the legislature, where women lawmakers come together, whether Republican or Democratic. We sit at the same table. The Irish and City Council are also involved now. And City Council as well. So Councilmember Kobayashi, Councilmember Fukunaga. Some of them have sat in our building as well in the past and have now gone over to the Council as well. It's a recognition, though, that as women leaders at the legislative branch, but also as advocates, we all need to come together to take us down on those issues that we care about. And it's also a recognition that it's not just about women's issues. These cross over to issues that matter to families. They build stronger communities. So it has been very significant in terms of being able to move the needle on things that have made a difference. So what are a couple of the things that it did? Whether it has been issues on domestic violence, sexual assault. You've heard specifically what? Looking at things like the rape kits. If you took at Title IX issues. Making sure there was adequate funding for that at the school level. Not just the university level, but at the Department of Education level. When you talk about Title IX too, for example, it's not just about sports. When Patsy Mink created Title IX, she wanted to be about equity across the board for educational opportunities to make sure that it was about civil rights. And so it was really about doing her right in compliance. And that meant putting the resources and increasing the capacity at the school level and at the university level. And in the last couple of years, in fact this past year, we put millions of dollars towards those compliance efforts at the DOE and the university level. I think it really took women's caucus working with advocates to put a push towards that. And it took having the right women's caucus members chairing the right committees to say that this is what we need to do. We had key members of the legislature chairing key committees, whether it was health committees, whether it was the money committees, whether we had partners at the city council, council women that were there pushing for other initiatives. Being there at the table chairing different committees meant that we could really stand up on those issues of importance to women and families. Caregivers, you take a look at the first ever Kupuna caregivers program in the country that Hawaii is now being held for as a leader. And we're breaking ground on it now and we have to come back and still move forward on this. So this is something that you and the women's caucus spearheaded in terms of passage. This is something that's been worked on for decades. This is not something new in terms of really having a push behind it, but actual passage and where you're seeing forward movement on. Again, sometimes it takes having the right individuals in the right roles and having people come together to say that this is important. The women's caucus is a gathering place for both ideas and it's a place where we can add our collective strength to issues that matter. So are there some issues that are still, as you say, on the table or that you see for ongoing legislative efforts? I think there's one thing that we recognize as individual leaders and collectively as a caucus is that the fight never ends. So many of these things and we have to always be vigilant. And that like peeling back layers of an onion is when you think you've got through one thing, you're gonna find another, which is great because I think when you look at the caucus, you have some very strong advocates and you've got tough people who are always looking to try to make sure that this is not just surface in terms of our advocacy. We wanna make sure this really gets done and gets done well. So when we're looking at various issues in terms of even pain leave issues, when you take a look at what does it require to really make sure that you have equity in the workplace, making sure that people have the supports they need at home and other things. The fight's not done and we have to keep continuing. So there's a lot of issues that are ongoing and that continue to need our support. And a lot of times it's not just money. It's policy issues. In some cases, it may not even be the passages of laws. It will be culture changes and shifts in the workplace and in government first and foremost as the example. So it may be conversations that we're having amongst ourselves and with the departments and also looking at what legislative shifts can take place. I think there's some exciting potentials of paid leave. There were some discussions last year. There's some studies that are gonna be coming out that could really change the landscape. And that has its effects in so many other areas and so many other dynamics. Right. Do you consider yourself a feminist? You know, I think most of us do consider ourselves feminist but first and foremost, I think we believe that we're there to advocate and empower people, our people. And I think for myself, especially as a mother of two boys, I believe that when we lift up women, we all rise. The tide lifts all bolts, there's that saying. So for myself, I do believe that, whether you call it feminism, or it's the belief that when we advocate for these kinds of policies, it's good for everyone. It's a, we build stronger communities. We build stronger families. Right. You know, when I raise, I look at how I'm raising our two sons, it's without a gender bias. Right. And sometimes it's a criticism, you know, from some perhaps, but to me, that's the way it should be. It's about competency, it's about the character, you know, it's about the kind of quality of life that we want for our children and our families. And I think when we do these things and put forward these policies, it benefits not just women, it benefits every one. Well, let me, let's move into, we all know you're running for a lieutenant governor, and I know there's a large field, right? And what was the latest poll? I read one poll that you were in the lead, is that still the case? You know, there have been a few polls, you know, but we're still, as I tell people, seven and a half or eight months out from the primary election, and they have been favorable, but as I tell everyone, I never take anything for granted. And how big is the pool for candidates right now? We probably have about six or seven candidates in the race. By the time filing actually takes place, you could have more at that particular point. And I know several of the other candidates, and of course our current governor, all have background in the legislature. So tell me how you distinguish yourself between, let's say, even the current governor and the other candidates and your particular experience. You know, briefly. Briefly. You know, and I think that is gonna be the challenge, right? When you've got potentially anywhere from seven to eight candidates that will be on the ballot at the election, and people are gonna just be looking at a list from A to T, and by the way, being T, I feel like an old school board of education. Not to bring up what you used to say that I'm right, but I'm gonna be T right there towards the end of the list likely, and that is the great question. How do you distinguish yourself? I think for me, just like every time I've run in my Senate seat, I can't help but just be me. I think to me it is about trying to be authentic to who you are. You know, like I said from the beginning, I'm a working mom. Well, how is your preparation? Well, maybe let's just say, how are you preparing for the role of lieutenant governor? And actually, as we all know, in stepping up to governor, whether it's by choice later on or because of circumstances. So what have you been doing to prepare for the leadership role? You know, I do believe that the last few years, especially in the chairships that I have had, have definitely put me in a very good position to prepare for that kind of role. But beyond that, beyond, of course, your role as a chair of Ways and Meads and in the Senate, but beyond the Senate, because we all know that as governor, you're in lieutenant governor, your jurisdiction is much broader, right? You know, from the neighbor islands and, of course, national issues come here. And so in how, and how have you been preparing for a role that might include those types of responsibilities? You know, I think for myself, I do believe that in everything that I have been doing over the years, it has been a constant preparation for what's next. You know, I've been very blessed and fortunate that even in my own district, it is a very diverse population, you know? And I've always been, by being very authentic and true to myself, been able to relate well with individuals, speaking with them individually, you know, sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't, but just being able to connect with them. Well, I'm thinking more formally and I'm bringing back something from the last presidential election when Katie Couric, I believe, interviewed Sarah Palin, who was running for vice president. Yeah. She asked Sarah Palin, what do you read on a daily basis? What kind of newspapers, journals, magazines? And so I'm just wondering what do you read to keep up with local, national, international events and issues? What do I read? Yeah, really. Well, fortunately, I just don't follow Twitter because I don't think that's the way to do it. But definitely for myself, it is about making sure that I am up to date on what's going on nationally, even conversing with a congressional delegation on a very regular basis in terms of what's going on there. One of the things that I did make sure that I kept in good communication on, especially with a lot of the things that are going on at the federal level right now is whether they were home or even when they were in DC was kept in touch with whether it was our US senators or other representatives, found out what's going on right now, how do we need to be prepared? And more importantly, how can we be proactive about what might come up? Because a legislative session for us at least, at least in the rural life currently, I mean, is only a small window in time. So knowing that, how can we be prepared to help Hawaii? Because for citizens, they don't know the difference between a federal program and a state program or a county program. So in many cases, we have to be very proactive. Also, and on that note, Senator, I'm going to ask us to hold for a second. I'm gonna go do a commercial break and we'll get back to more specific issues and we'll be right back after the break. Thank you. Aloha, I'm Kili Ikeena and I'm here every other week on Mondays at two 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 two p.m. on Think Tech Hawaii Broadcast Network. Join us for Hawaii Together. I'm Kili Ikeena. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Winston Welch and every other Monday at three p.m., you can join me at Out and About, a show where we explore a variety of topics, organizations, events and the people who fuel them in our city, state, country and world. So please join us every other Monday at three and we'll see you then. Aloha. Welcome back. This is Kara Monly on Making Leadership Work with my special guest, Senator Jill Takuda who is running for Lieutenant Governor in the 2018 race. So thank you for coming. Thank you. So we were talking about some of the national, the ways you keep up with what's going on at a national level. So I was wondering, specifically, have you, do you have thoughts about, let's say on a state level, the prison system? I know that's come up lately about establishing a new prison and I know that that was something that the governor would be responsible for. So do you have any thoughts on that particular issue? You know, I definitely know that that's a huge issue that needs very focused attention on. One of the things that we did look very closely at the last few sessions has been the operating cost of the prison system and how sustainable is it? In fact, if we take a look at the last few budget cycles and some of the proposals that we did specifically that came out of my committee, we did look at the overtime issues and how sustainable that was and made some very specific recommendations on ways that we could really start to clamp down on some of those and try to work with the administration to try to get a handle on spending in many cases because one, we want to help them create a system that is supportive, but it has to be manageable from a fiscal standpoint as well because as we know, the costs that go into it comes out of the pockets of other programs. Relating to other programs, how do you rank the prison issue with regard to everything else that the governor and lieutenant governor would have to face? What would you consider the major, the top three issues that as lieutenant governor and governor that you would want to have input in and be able to affect? Well, I think you have to look at it balanced out with everything else. If a program is looking at tens of billions of dollars or upwards of 10 millions of dollars in overtime, it's coming out of the pockets of education. It's coming out of the pockets of whether or not you can afford a long-term care program for your seniors. It is all connected whether you like it or not. If you cannot somehow create a program that is helping to reduce recidivism for the individuals who are in the criminal justice system, then they're just going to be going back in. So it really is about looking at, do you have an effective prison or criminal justice system or not? And so it is about trying to get a good handle on public safety. It's actually one of the smaller departments out of all of the executive branch agencies and departments, but by no means is it insignificant. So the governor really has to look at prioritizing everything and where there might be one area where he needs to drill down deeper. That could be an opportunity to delegate it to a lieutenant governor to say, you need to go work on this area and drill down with the various departments and agencies to make sure that we can do better and should be doing better in this particular area, whether it be the prison system and justice reinvestment and even looking at the overtime and staffing issues, would there be something like the state hospital and what we just saw recently? Because it's not just about escapes there. It is about the operational costs there. We've been looking at that for years and it's connected even to community-based mental health, something that I was looking at for many years in connection with the state hospital because why are they so crowded there? Why do we have homeless on the street that are dealing with mental health and substance abuse? If you don't have enough capacity at either the state hospital or in our community-based mental health system, where do they end up on the street? So if you don't have the time as the executive, the chief executive, to run all of your departments at the same time, you should be delegating this to drill down deeper to your second-in-command and that's usually how it should work. And so that's the real opportunity for myself having seen where these kinds of opportunities exist, where you can have better collaboration and efficiencies, especially during departments, where some of these pockets lie and where some efficiencies lie, especially from a budgetary standpoint, that's the exciting part for me because where we can reduce some of the spending, see some of these efficiencies, then you can take those resources and put it where you really need it, whether it be education or seniors or other things. So that's the exciting opportunity to me to have a functional executive with a chief executive and a lieutenant governor working as two strong leaders for the state. So officially, though, that's not part of the responsibility of the lieutenant governor, right? That would have to be almost a negotiation between the governor and the lieutenant governor. But also, you need to have a lieutenant governor who can identify exactly where these opportunities are. So how do you work with the current governor and candidates for governor? I think I've been very blessed that I've worked with both of them for many, many years. So we're talking about Governor E. Gay and current representative Colleen Hanna-Boussa. Both of them in the Senate. I've had relationships with them while they were both serving in the Senate. Colleen, when she was Senate president, Governor E. Gay, when he was in the Senate, and actually Governor E. Gay and I have known each other from when he was education chair in the house, and I was a student. So we go back even further. He was very young, though. I must say, when he was very young. When we were starting out. But my relationship with both of them go back quite some ways. And I think I'm very fortunate that we have a good open relationship in the sense that we may not always agree, but we can have that good conversation, open conversation about what we think should be done. And they are very familiar with my style and my abilities as well. And how is your relationship with the neighbor islands? Because as a state center, you really don't have to be involved on a regular basis. No, I agree. But that was one thing that was very important for me as a chair in all of my capacities. Even as education chair, one of the things that was important to me was that I got the perspectives of the principals on a number of things. So when it came to, for example, looking at the Waitest Student Formula, which is a very contentious issue about funding, I did a statewide tour and talked to all of the principals in the state and went and met with them for hours and went island to island and met with them. Every principal. What are the advice principles facing the neighbor islands? For many of them, it's equity. It was. Equity in terms of. There was the feeling back then, it's been a few years. It was equitable. It was not adequate in terms of the funding. There was concerns about the adequacy of the funding. The equity for the most part, it was distributed equitably across the board, but it was a huge adequacy issue. There was not enough funding, especially for all the different kinds of mandates that were coming down from the federal level, from what they saw from the state level. There was a lot of additional burdens being placed on to the principal. For many of them, they got into being a principal to be academic leaders for the school and they were finding themselves being, in charge of projects, maintenance projects and HR directors and IT directors and all these other things. And lost was what they originally got into educating for. They wanted to teach children and to grow minds and that was not what they were finding at the end of the day. But that was really a big thing for me to be able to go to each island and be able to listen to literally hundreds of different perspectives, but go to them, not have them come to me. In some cases we had maybe one or two video conferences, but it was important for me to go to them and listen, even see the distance it took to drive the sum charter schools and see you take an hour and a half to get somewhere. But beyond education issues for the neighbor island, there's governor, lieutenant governor, what? And you said mentioned equity. Are there other important areas that you would like to see improved or? Absolutely, yeah. There's many. And I was able to really also see some of that for the last few years as Ways and Means Chair for the grant and aid process, for example. Realized that it was very difficult for most people to come to the hearing at the auditorium, you get three minutes to give your spiel. And in front of an auditorium of people, and you might be at the end of a five hour process at that particular point. So set up listening stops on each island. And it was tough because for the most part, each person, each group only got about 10 minutes or so. But I did sit downs on each island and I would sit for about five, six hours on each island for the last couple of years and just give them a chance to meet one-on-one with me and usually the senator is from that island. But I wanted them to have a chance to not have to pay and oftentimes the trip to Oahu to have one-on-one time with me and just talk about what they do and why their mission was important. And for me, it was about coming to them and it was getting their perspectives of how they wanna partner with government and what they do for their community. That led a great deal. That was extremely important for me to also see how we could do better through partnerships in many different aspects of government, not just education, but in all the different divisions and departments that we work through. And again, what the needs are in each community statewide on all the islands and how those needs are often being met in partnerships with the government, but in oftentimes through community-based organizations as well. Right. Well, we only have a few more seconds in the center. So I'm gonna give you an opportunity to look into camera floor and say something to our audience. Again, we're speaking with Senator Jill Takuta who is running for Lieutenant Governor in the 2018 race. So the camera's all yours for a few seconds. Well, I just really wanna thank you for this opportunity to chat with you and to your viewers and just say that this is really gonna be a really amazing opportunity for to have democracy in action with so many candidates running for the Lieutenant Governor position. And it really is a critical position in that we need two strong people in the executive branch because there's so many problems and issues facing our state that no one person can take it on alone. And for myself, like I said, I'm a working mother at the end of the day. It's the lens in which I see the world. And every day for myself, it was about walking my two little children to school. And I couldn't help but feel that sense of urgency that if we don't do something, if we don't step up, we as families, we're not gonna be able to make it here. For all intensive purposes, all the economic indicators look great. We've got planes full of tourists flying in, virtual unemployment and construction looks all right. But if you just scratch a little bit below the surface, you can feel the struggle. And I think for most of us, it really is about knowing that after we work hard from a long day's work, that when we go home to that kitchen table and we all sit down and we try to balance it all out, we just wanna know is government working just as hard as the rest of us to make it balance out? And for myself, it was about stepping up and making sure that they know that they had somebody just like them that was gonna work just as hard. That's really what it's about. It's for our families, it's for our kids. And I think 2018 is gonna be the year when we make sure that we take care of our families just like we take care of our own. So thank you for this opportunity. And I think 2018 is gonna be a great year for all of us. Thank you so much, Senator. And I wish we had more time because I'd love to cover some of the tax issues that are coming up at the national level. But we do appreciate you're taking the time to come down. Of course, you wish you the very best. No, thank you. Thank you, Senator. Well, today you have been watching Making Leadership Work with my special guest Senator Jill Takuta. We've enjoyed bringing it to you and I'm your host, Carol Monly. We've been talking about many important issues. And if you would like to see this show, please go to ThinkTekHawaii.com or YouTube.com slash ThinkTekHawaii, where you will be able to get a link to this show and many more just like this one. So thanks so much to our Intrepid Studio staff and to all people who have watched and contributed to ThinkTekHawaii. We'll see you next time. And Allah.