The most diverse graduating class in the Hawaii Carpenters Union’s fourth group — inspired by one another’s commitments to their communities — included two sitting Honolulu City Council members, a Maui County Council member and others who may want to pursue their own political careers or just advocate for their causes.
Some of the 28 participants graduating from the six-month program were initially concerned that the Partners for Democracy training program organized by the carpenters union’s politically influential political arm would emphasize Democratic messaging.
Christine Pelosi — the daughter of former progressive U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi whose husband, Paul Pelosi, continues to recover from a politically motivated hammer attack in their San Francisco home, has been involved in the program all four years and delivered the graduation ceremony’s keynote address.
But participant Kaulana Kino — the Maui Fire Department battalion chief who served as incident commander of the Aug. 8, 2023, Lahaina fire that killed 102 people — was impressed by the range of speakers who participated in panels, such as opposing positions about the complications in developing more housing.
Two back-to-back housing panels looked at government bureaucracy, environmental concerns and other topics.
The first panel included developer Stanford Carr, who talked about challenges that include government regulations.
Don’t miss out on what’s happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It’s FREE!
The second day included presentations from the leaders of House and Senate housing committees who detailed their points of view.
“What PRP (Pacific Resource Partnership) did was, if you’re pro development or against development, you will have access to different positions,” Kino said. “It was exactly what I was looking for. We were literally talking to Stanford Carr about his firsthand knowledge. You cannot say you did not have access to all this information and were making decisions based on misperception. To me that was very important and very impactful.”
Kino, 44, expects to retire in 2027 and, like an estimated two-thirds of his fellow 27 participants, may consider running for the state Legislature or their local county councils some day.
Before joining the fourth class, Kino estimated he knew barely “1%” of what he learned while attending Partners for Democracy workshops about what it takes to run for political office.
“This program opened my eyes to what campaigning would look like, getting elected and serving, and the policy decisions once you’re elected,” he said.
He was surprised that Ian Terayma — program manager of the Pacific Resource Partnership’s Partners for Democracy program — knew who he was and reached out to recruit Kino for the class, which has six months of in-person, once-a-month sessions in Waikiki that included paid airfare and hotel lodging in Waikiki for neighbor island participants.
Kino planned ahead and estimated he used up 70 to 80 hours of vacation time to attend the monthly Friday and Saturday sessions.
Even for fellow participant North Shore Honolulu City Council member Matt Meyer, 37, the program meant heading to the opposite end of Oahu to busy Waikiki on weekends.
The other participants included current Council Chair Tommy Waters and current Maui County Council member Yuki Lei Sugimura, who all intimidated Kino when he walked in for his first session.
Kino only previously dealt with Sugimura while testifying before the full Maui County Council representing the Maui Fire Department.
“I thought, ‘I am in the wrong room and way over my head,’” Kino said. “I would never have access to her or with Tommy Waters and Matt Meyer.”
Especially with Sugimura, Kino said, “I believe we now have a completely different relationship that I probably would never have had before.”
Kino’s fellow participants elected him as their valedictorian for Saturday’s graduation at Waikiki’s ‘Alohilani resort, praising his combination of leadership and humility.
Meyer, 37, wanted to hear from participants with different backgrounds, especially from those flying in from every island except Molokai this year.
“It was an amazing opportunity to connect with others, especially emerging members in neighbor island communities,” Meyer said. “It was awesome to see what the next generation of leaders is working on. That was the biggest value for me.”
This year’s participants represented a wide range of backgrounds that included the deputy director of the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association; a member of the Ewa Neighborhood Board; a planning specialist with the state Department of Health; a business owner; a law clerk for a First District Court judge; the community relations manager for the Institute for Human Services, which operates Hawaii’s largest homeless shelters; a law clerk with the Honolulu Prosecutor’s office; Maui County’s director of the Office of Economic Development; a real estate broker; Navy Lt. Naadia Savera Puri — a Naval Academy graduate and Navy helicopter and fixed-wing pilot — now working on the cleanup of Red Hill.
Kino called them all “people who could go anywhere, but choose to stay here to focus on making Hawaii better.”
Nate Serota, a 39-year-old former Honolulu television journalist who has worked as spokesperson for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation for nearly 10 years, has left open the possibility of running for office in the future.
He also was pleased that the program did not emphasize partisan Democratic policies and politics.
“It didn’t lean one direction over the other and it was comforting and reassuring to see the diversity of this group,” Serota said.
He heard opposing points of views, along with seeing “the interface between government, nonprofits and business,” Serota said. “That was a big piece because being in government we can’t do it alone.”
Out of all the impressive participants he met and engaged with, Serota joined the others in picking Battalion Chief Kino to present the valedictorian speech at their graduation.
Serota called Kino “an “amazing combination of being well-spoken, extremely personable and really, really humble. He exudes leadership and that was something a lot of the participants gravitated to in response to the worst fire disaster that the state has ever seen. He was inquisitive and wanted to learn.”
Kino — the father of three children ages 11, 13 and 19 — frequently thinks of how to build a more affordable Hawaii to stem the exodus of local residents to the mainland, especially in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires.
His oldest attends the University of Hawaii Maui College, and family discussions include, “How do I help him navigate housing?” Kino said. “What do the next five years look like? What do the next 10 years look like? This isn’t theoretical for me.”
Kino’s valedictorian speech was meant as “a call to action,” he said. “We cannot wait for the right time. The time is now to be that person to step forward and take responsibility and lead Hawaii right now.”
To learn more
>> For information or to apply for the next six-month Partners for Democracy program starting in January, visit partnersfordemocracyhi.com.
