{"id":10388,"date":"2018-05-11T05:10:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T15:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/workable-level.flywheelsites.com\/?p=10388"},"modified":"2018-05-10T23:53:34","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T09:53:34","slug":"kaniela-ing-hopes-to-push-progessive-ideas-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/11\/kaniela-ing-hopes-to-push-progessive-ideas-in-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaniela Ing Hopes to Push Progessive Ideas in Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Mark Ladao<\/a> | Staff Writer<\/h5>\n

When state Rep. Kaniela Ing decided to run for Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s 1st Congressional District in November, he did so with the intention of further pushing progressive ideas,<\/a> which include a $15 minimum wage, tuition-free college education and affordable housing to fight homelessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the seat opened for Congress, it\u2019s such a rare opportunity to make a difference on a larger level,\u201d said the millennial legislator in a Skype interview in early May.<\/p>\n

Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, a Democrat, has decided to vacate her seat in the 1st Congressional District, which covers the urban areas of O\u02bbahu, to run for governor of Hawai\u02bbi, and the primaries of both elections will be held Aug. 11. Though Ing is the youngest of the four candidates \u2014 the others being state Sen. Donna Kim, Attorney General Doug Chin and Councilman Ernie Martin \u2014 at only 29 years old, he decided to give Congress a shot.<\/p>\n

Many of the differences Ing hopes to make in Congress revolve around helping the working class.<\/p>\n

On the homepage<\/a> of his website, Ing\u2019s top three goals are to \u201cfix the rigged economy,\u201d \u201cact on climate change\u201d and \u201cimpeach [President Donald] Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot people understand that our system is broken,\u201d he said. \u201cThe things that people want, the issues with broad majority support, don\u2019t even see the light of day, when issues that help the already well-off tend to be pushed to the fore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Working-Class Candidate<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ing believes his progressive ideology comes from growing up in a working-class family.<\/p>\n

His father worked at a hotel and his mother was a shoe clerk while he was growing up on Maui, and he said that he had to start working in pineapple fields at 14 years old to help his family financially. Even then, Ing said, his family \u201crelied on our community and government programs\u201d to survive.<\/p>\n

Ing, who is part Hawaiian, said his family was Republican growing up, but as a teenager he became more progressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were actually hardcore Republicans, as many people are in the working class, because we\u2019re told, \u2018If you\u2019re failing, it\u2019s your fault, you just gotta work harder,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut \u2026 I\u2019ve never seen anyone work harder than my mom … but we still needed so much help.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Ing, he is the only candidate of those running for the 1st Congressional District not compromised regarding his ability to speak out on the problems that big corporations create for the general public. In April, Civil Beat\u00a0sifted through data from the Federal Election Commission<\/a>, showing that Kim and Martin received donations from wealthy lobbyists, developers and contractors who have ties to companies such as Nan Inc., a major construction company in Hawai\u02bbi. Chin has received thousands in donations from individuals employed by Dawson Technical, a company that provides a variety of services, from construction to cyber solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can talk about \u2026 healthcare as a human right, because I\u2019m not beholden to insurance companies and big pharma,\u201d he said. \u201cI can talk about how we need a 100 percent renewable energy goal because I\u2019m not beholden to oil companies. All three of my opponents, they\u2019re good people, but they took money from, like, Hawai\u2018i Gas, and that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to FEC data, Ing has also received donations from businesses including Lehbros Limited, a real estate company, and Snorkel Bob’s, which rents out water sports equipment.<\/p>\n

Ing in Government<\/strong><\/p>\n

In college at the University of Hawai\u2018i at M\u0101noa, Ing said he was \u201cfully apolitical \u2014 just sports and music\u201d \u2014 and even had dreadlocks at one point.<\/p>\n

But after then Gov. Linda Lingle introduced heavy budget cuts to the UH system and mandatory furloughs for public school students<\/a> and state workers<\/a> in 2009 to reduce the state\u2019s budget deficit, Ing decided to run for president of UH M\u0101noa\u2019s student government. Ing said the budget cuts affected his his major, requiring him to stay in school longer.<\/p>\n

But through a grassroots campaign, in which Ing said he held barbecues on campus, gave short talks in shuttles and lecture halls before class and raised money by selling donated T-shirts, he was elected president of the university\u2019s Associate Students of the University of Hawai\u2018i in 2009.<\/p>\n

He followed the same campaign strategy when he successfully ran to be a state legislator in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just knocked on every door personally,\u201d he said. \u201cI was working at Four Seasons from 4 a.m. to noon cleaning locker rooms, and I just knocked on doors until sunset, and then I did all my emails and stuff after that … every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a state legislator, Ing responded to the lawsuits filed by Facebook\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> against Native Hawaiians over disputed lands he purchased on Maui, and in a CBC Radio article in 2017, compared Zuckerberg to sugar barons who “used the same legal mechanism … to displace thousands of Hawaiians families from their ancestral lands.”<\/p>\n

Ing has also\u00a0sponsored legislation to increase Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s minimum wage to $15 an hour<\/a> and has introduced several bills related to protecting marine life and coral ecosystems.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Current Controversies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ing might appear to be the ideal candidate for Congress for working class people involved in what he said is an inevitable \u201cpopulist uprising,\u201d the movement to take power and money from the wealthy to support the struggling lower classes, but he has not been without his share of controversy that may hurt his reputation.<\/p>\n

Last month, Hawai\u02bbi News Now reported that Ing had more than $18,000 worth of undisclosed campaign donations<\/a>\u00a0since 2012. HNN also reported on the inaccurate information regarding his academic record on LinkedIn<\/a>, which falsely stated that he had received a master\u2019s degree from UH M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported a ticket Ing received for driving an uninsured car<\/a>, which Ing disputed. The article reported that Ing had changed his explanation for why the ticket was wrongly issued and had been arrested on a bench warrant because he had failed to appear in court for the ticket.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Ing also called the late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye an \u201caccused serial rapist.\u201d<\/a> Inouye faced sexual harassment allegations in the early ’90s when he was a senator in Hawai\u02bbi.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ing accepted fault for the unreported donations, but attributed it to long hours working at the Four Seasons Resort and said there was nothing malicious about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there were any mistakes, I took full responsibility for it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s really clear that they\u2019re unintentional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ing said\u00a0<\/b>his grassroots campaign may have contributed to some of those mistakes. He said he gets many small donations and claims to do his own accounting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my races, I\u2019ll get like 900 $5 donations, and it\u2019s like, I\u2019ve got to report that myself,” he said. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna make mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ing also admitted his mistakes regarding his LinkedIn information but dismissed the importance of the website.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think LinkedIn is sort of a joke for most of us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only people I know who use LinkedIn are like 60 years old because it\u2019s like a phishing website. You put your information on there and companies use it to exploit your data.\u201d
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Ing stood by his comments about the sexual harassment allegations against Sen. Inouye, saying that, despite the criticism, it was something that he needed to address in light of the growing #MeToo movement around the world<\/a>, the goal of which is to end sexual violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaniel K. Inouye, the fact that we named an airport after him, is so insulting to millions of women,\u201d he said. \u201cIf people in power aren\u2019t willing to use their positions to push issues like that \u2026 what good are we?\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a Target to Opponents<\/strong><\/p>\n

To Ing, this willingness to address such issues makes him a target for his opponents, attributing the fundraising criticism to expensive opposition research he said is being done to smear him and send him \u201cback to the cave of irrelevance that he came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ing said the attacks from the other congressional candidates was a \u201cwake-up call,\u201d especially when it calls into question his trustworthiness and affects his relationship with friends and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah it sucks personally, but the movement is bigger than one person,” he said. “If I were to just fold over, then that would be demoralizing for a lot of people, so I\u2019ve just got to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ing said that candidates usually spend a lot of money on opposition research, particularly on themselves, so that they know what to expect. Ing said that it is too expensive for him to spend on the research, so he is not sure what will come next. He also said that he did not want to \u201cmudsling\u201d at his opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought, like, I should be digging up personal stuff about my opponents,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought that was like, not Hawai\u2018i style, but I guess that\u2019s how it\u2019s done in 2018. That\u2019s why I\u2019m the only one getting blasted.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Ing attacked one of his opponents, Attorney General Doug Chin, for accepting money to lobby for private prisons<\/a>, saying it should be \u201ca disqualifier for anyone pretending to be a Democrat,\u201d and criticized Chin for belonging to a church \u2014 the O\u2018ahu Church of Christ \u2014 that does gay-to-straight conversion therapy.<\/p>\n

While Ing believes such criticism is relevant to campaigns and falls beyond the realm of mudslinging, Chin responded in an article in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser last February by saying Ing was using \u201cTrumpian tactics\u201d and \u201cseems determined at all costs to say just about anything to get into the news but talk about issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ing said that these days he spends most of his time canvassing and calling for donations, like he used to as a college student and when he got elected state legislator as a 23-year-old.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to be where I can make the \u2026 biggest impact for my state and push my progressive values as far as I can,” he said. “It seems right now that would be Congress. \u2026 I\u2019m really dedicated to the work I do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mark Ladao | Staff Writer When state Rep. Kaniela Ing decided to run for Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s 1st Congressional District in November, he did so with the intention of further pushing progressive ideas, which include a $15 minimum wage, tuition-free college education and affordable housing to fight homelessness. \u201cWhen the seat opened for Congress, it\u2019s such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":10390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}