LIHUE — Kapaa resident Steven Yoder filed his nomination papers on Wednesday to run as a Republican candidate in this year’s election for the state House District 15 seat held by Rep. James “Jimmy” Kunane Tokioka.
“I just don’t like how the state House is being run by the Democratic Party,” Yoder said by phone on Wednesday. “I think we’re being taxed too heavily and I don’t think we’re running it like a business.”
The 59-year-old Wailua Homesteads resident said he and his family moved to Kauai in 1965 from Southern California before he left the island in 1972 to attend college on the Mainland.
He later moved back to Kauai in 1987 and has worked for a local tour company for the past two decades.
“I didn’t really want to run for office but no one is presently running against Jimmy Tokioka,” Yoder said. “I’m doing something that nobody else is willing to do, so I guess I got tired of complaining about things and decided to do something about it myself.”
Among the many issues being considered in the state Legislature, Yoder said he is concerned by House and Senate efforts to gradually raise the state minimum wage over the next few years and change the tip credit.
“It does nothing except lay people off because businesses can only spend so much money to run it,” Yoder said. “It sounds good — it’s a go-getter, I’m sure. When you offer candy to kids, they flock. People don’t understand that it doesn’t have much effect here anyway because there aren’t too many people here who are paying less than $10 an hour.”
Yoder said is also unhappy with the way many state lawmakers are handling the state’s budget.
“I adhere to conservative principles that less government is better government,” Yoder said. “I don’t believe we have a taxation problem in our state — we have a spending problem. I think we’re being taxed enough and the problem is that we’re spending too much.”
Yoder is the first person to file his nomination papers to run for Tokioka’s seat in the state House, which includes Wailua Homesteads, Hanamaulu, Lihue, Puhi, Old Koloa Town and Omao.
The state House seat held by Rep. Derek Kawakami, which runs from Wailua Homesteads to Hanalei, is also up for re-election this year.
• Darin Moriki, county government reporter, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @darinmoriki.
