Following nearly three hours of divided testimony from dozens of residents, the Maui County Council on Thursday began questioning the three nominees they are considering to fill the vacant seat left by the late Kahului council member Tasha Kama.

Kelson Kauanoe Batangan, Carol Lee Kamekona and Virgilio “Leo” Agcolicol expressed starkly different views on controversial policy debates and how they planned to approach their potential role on the council if appointed, highlighting the high stakes surrounding the question of who will finish the remaining year left on Kama’s term.

Because the eight current council members are evenly split on major policy issues, Kama’s successor will likely determine the fate of hotly contested legislation such as Bill 9, Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed plan to phase out thousands of vacation rentals in an effort to create more long-term housing for residents. 

In July, council members voted 6-3 in favor of advancing Bill 9 out of the Housing and Land Use Committee, which Kama had chaired. Some of the legislation’s most contentious details have yet to be finalized, and some council members only agreed to advance the bill if the possible economic and social repercussions continued to be investigated.

Kama, who died Oct. 26, was one of the three dissenting votes. Council members Yuki Lei Sugimura and Tom Cook also voted against it.

Community members who testified were largely split between Batangan and Kamekona, and many recognized the consequential nature of the decision before the council.

Christian Galapon, a Lānaʻi resident, said many members of the public worried that the decision over who should succeed Kama had become overtly political.

“This appointment is not routine. The individuals selected today will influence the power dynamics for the remainder of the term,” he said. “The public understands that, and because the implications are so significant, it’s even more critical that the selection be made through transparent, independent judgment, and not through predetermined factional alignments.”

Under county charter rules, the council must make an appointment by the end of the day Tuesday when they reconvene, or the power to appoint a new council member will be passed to Bissen. 

Batangan Would Oppose Vacation Rental Bill

Kama asked the council to consider appointing Batangan, executive director of the Maui Metropolitan Planning Organization, to fill her seat shortly before she died, according to a statement her office released after her death. 

Council member Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins nominated him for the position. In 2022, Batangan and U’u-Hodgins were part of Pacific Resource Partnership’s inaugural Partners for Democracy program for emerging leaders. PRP, which is bankrolled by the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters, has been one of the most politically influential organizations in the state. 

Batangan previously served as the deputy director of the Maui Department of Transportation as part of the Bissen administration, and he was council member Yuki Lei Sugimura’s executive assistant from 2018 to 2019.

Batangan also spent a few years working at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. as an aide to the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. He later ran for state House in 2018 against Rep. Justin Woodson, losing by an almost two-to-one margin.

When asked about his stance on Bill 9, Batangan said he had concerns about the legislation, but he was open to looking into accompanying legislation that has been recommended to mitigate some of the potential negative repercussions. 

“My preference would be that the two be taken up together, but since Bill 9 is already scheduled as a standalone bill,” he said, “I would not be able to support Bill 9.”

He added that he “would be in favor of pushing for affordable housing at every income level.”

Kama’s son-in-law Evan Dust said he had promised to do whatever he could to encourage council members to appoint Batangan.

“I believe there are some on this council and in the community who would like to use this as an opportunity to dramatically shift the political balance of this body. In my opinion, that would be contrary to the choices that the majority of voters made in 2024,” he said. “I believe doing so would be a visible dishonor to the memory of your late colleague.”

Kamekona Strongly Supports Bill 9

Council member Shane Sinenci nominated 22-year U.S. Navy veteran and longtime community organizer Carol Lee Kamekona, the runner-up to Kama in last year’s election. She currently works in Sinenci’s office, and she previously worked at the Kahului airport. 

Community members such as Ann Pitcaithley said they supported Kamekona because she has long been an accessible and highly visible community advocate for the homeless and Native Hawaiian communities, and her stances on various political issues are well-known and established.

“I don’t know anybody who has been more engaged with local politics. She has been present and active and visible in many council meetings and committee meetings, and she does not accept money from big money interests,” Pitcaithley said. “She believes in a diversified economy, knowing that our Maui community remains vulnerable to economic shocks, and that we must start small businesses and invest in workforce development to diversify our economy.”

While some testifiers argued that Batangan was the most democratic choice because he was Kama’s recommendation, others said it would make more sense to appoint Kamekona because she received almost 35% of the vote in the most recent election.

Kamekona told council members that she was 100% in favor of passing Bill 9 as it was proposed by the mayor.

“I want it to be passed without any carveouts and without any exemptions,” she said. “Pass it clean, because if you pass it in any other way, for me, it shows some kind of preferential treatment to whomever resides in the area that you’re trying to carve out.”

The only self-nominated candidate, Virgilio “Leo” Agcolicol, is a retired banker and the current director of the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce. Agcolicol was a field worker for Wailuku Sugar Company during the 1960s, until he was drafted by the U.S. Army to serve in the Vietnam War.

“I think I have had enough time to see all the growth of Maui,” Agcolicol said. “You folks, the members of the Maui County Council here, are doing a terrific job. But I would like to see a change of voices, to equalize, so that we can deliver more to the people of Maui County.”

Agcolicol said although he has followed the Bill 9 debate, he has not yet taken a side. He added that one of his top concerns is Kahului’s aging and deteriorating infrastructure, and he believed there was still room for Maui County to grow and develop further, so long as it was done carefully and with respect for the community.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.