Two senators in Big Island race

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Recent reapportionment is forcing incumbent state Sens. Lorraine Inouye and David Matsuura to face off in what is expected to be a closely contested Democratic primary for the Big Island's 1st District.

Candidates for Big Island's 1st District Lorraine Inouye, 62 (D) • Address: 215 Pauka'a Drive, Hilo, 96720 • Occupation: Former hotel executive and orchid and flower grower • Family: Married with three children and five grandchildren • One big idea: To help Waimea community establish a new middle school through a public and private partnership David Matsuura, 39 (D) • Address: 458 Ponahawai St., Hilo, 96720 • Occupation: Runs family nursery and operates ranch for owners in Japan. • Family: Married with four children • One big idea: Plant seeds for the future of East Hawai'i with emphasis on agriculture Charles W. "Chuck" Clarke, 60 (R) • Address: 66-711 Alaneo, Waimea 96743 • Occupation: Realtor and developer • Family: Married with seven children • One big idea: "Change happens and new growth emerges."

Inouye, 62, represents the 1st District, which includes Hawi, North Kona and Waimea.

Redistricting has placed both lawmakers in the newly redrawn 1st District that runs from Waimea south to Kawailani Street in Hilo, and does not include either Puna or North Kona.

Both Democrats grow orchids commercially, but they are miles apart on many issues.

Matsuura opposed the assisted-suicide bill that was defeated in the 2002 legislative session, while Inouye supported it.

Inouye found success with passage of the "bottle bill" requiring a deposit on drink containers, which Matsuura opposed.

In the highly controversial battle over the 2000 confirmation of Margery Bronster, Matsuura voted against the former state attorney general, who was leading an investigation into the Bishop Estate trustees, while Inouye voted for Bronster, who was rejected by the Senate.

Another dividing line between the two Democrats is that Matsuura aligned himself with a dissident faction of freshman lawmakers, led by state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Kalaeloa, Makaha) who pushed for reorganization of Senate leadership. At the time, the group of five said not enough was being done to improve the state's economy.

Inouye, also a freshman lawmaker, chose to side with the leadership.

The two did find agreement on an issue that has a high degree of interest on the Big Island — medical marijuana. Both senators voted against a 2000 bill that allows acquisition, possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes to treat symptoms of debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, glaucoma or AIDS.

Despite their opposition, the bill passed.

The Big Island's 1st District includes former plantation towns along the rural Hamakua Coast, capped on either end by urban Hilo and fast-growing Waimea.

Except for Waimea, Democrats have dominated the area since statehood.

Hiroshi "Scrub" Tanaka of Hilo, who has managed campaigns for 40 years here, perceives Inouye as "a touch ahead" of Matsuura because the district realignment has both candidates vying for votes in the strong union areas of Hilo and Hamakua, where Inouye's brother, Benny, is a former leader of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Semi-retired professor Jim Wang of the University of Hawai'i-Hilo agrees Inouye may be slightly ahead due to ILWU support along the former sugar coast. The union has backed her, as has the Hawai'i Government Employees Association and building trade unions.

But Wang added that the influx of newcomers in Waimea and Hamakua has changed the demographics, and without polling, it's hard to predict which way the Democratic primary will go.

Matsuura is conducting a door-to-door campaign, leaving bags of soy beans as part of his "planting seeds for the future" theme. There are written instructions on how to sprout and grow them.

Inouye's campaign is evident from abundant yard signs bearing her name, a large, high-visibility downtown Hilo campaign headquarters, phone banks and many social functions.

Inouye is the sixth oldest child in a family that raised eight children in the plantation village of Wainaku, outside Hilo. She spent 21 years working for hotels and the last 10 as a flower grower.

She began public life as a planning commission appointee, served six years on the Hawai'i County Council, a two-year term as mayor and the last four years in the state Senate after unseating incumbent Malama Solomon.

Matsuura was born in India to missionary parents who resettled on the Big Island when he was 10. He went to public schools and was graduated from the University of California-Davis with degrees in agriculture and business.

He operates a 2,000-acre ranch on the Hamakua coast for owners from Japan, is in charge of a development in Puna, which is no longer in his district, and operates a family nursery just upslope of downtown Hilo.

His father, Richard Matsuura, was a 16-year lawmaker who resigned in 1997 while suffering from cancer and died a short time later. Gov. Ben Cayetano refused to appoint David Matsuura to succeed his father in the Senate, but Matsuura had sweet revenge in the 1998 election when he beat the governor's pick, Wayne Metcalf, now the state insurance commissioner.

Matsuura said his role in defeating the governor's assisted-suicide proposal was widely misunderstood. He said voters he's talked to have come to understand that arguing that allowing the terminally ill to take steps to end their life would save medical costs "is bad public policy."

Inouye said she has interests on three fronts: creating a separate middle school for Waimea, instead of combining the elementary and intermediate schools as it now stands; monitoring the development of a timber harvesting industry to address pollution and traffic concerns; and improving facilities at Hilo Harbor to accommodate more cruise ship visits.

Matsuura said his education-related priority is establishment of a public high school in Waimea, which now has two private high schools. Public school students from the area have to be bused from South Kohala to either Honoka'a or Kealakehe high schools.

Healthcare and insurance costs are his principal issues, Matsuura said.

The winner of the Inouye-Matsuura primary will advance to the general election to face Republican Charles W. Clarke, 60, a Waimea real estate figure.

This is Clarke's third campaign for a Senate seat, and he has yet to win.

He advocates a reduction in taxes and regulations that he says would aid in expanding business and worker salaries.

Clarke said focusing on small-scale economic activity, rather than large projects likely to draw public opposition, can "release creative energy growth."