2018 Primary Election Candidates

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KONG, Sam Satoru
Name on ballot:

KONG, Sam Satoru

Running for:

State House

District (if applicable):

33

Political party:

Democrat

Campaign website:

friendsforsamkong.com

Current occupation:

State House Representative

Age:

58

Previous job history:

Sam's Cab - Owner/Operator; Aiea Florist - Owner; Software Plus - Assistant Service Manager (Computer Technician); SERVCO Pacific - Assistant Service Manager (Electronic Technician); USAF - NAVAIDS Technician

Previous elected office, if any:

2 terms - State House

What qualifies you to represent the people of Hawaii?

N/A

What are the top three challenges facing the voters you seek to represent?

The most pressing issues facing my district are traffic congestion, air conditioning in our schools, infrastructure, and homelessness.

If elected, what will be your highest legislative priority?

Tackling the homeless problem in Hawaii is one of my legislative priorities. I have assembled a team, the 313 Homeless Task Force, and we have come up with a comprehensive plan to tackle our homeless problem. This team’s goal is to research available City and State properties to house homeless individuals and put them into a stable environment where they can rehabilitate and reintegrate back into society. This is a multi-faceted approach with various project plans for homeless families, individuals with mental illnesses, veterans, and drug addicts.
As Vice-Chair of the Education committee, I will also fight for more funding for our schools and our teachers. Being involved with Aiea schools for the past twenty years, I am well informed in regards to our education system and will continue to introduce and support legislation for better teacher retention, teacher autonomy, and improved student performance.

If elected, what can you do to improve the lives of your constituents?

Quality of life is the most important priority for my community and the State. The cost of living continues to rise forcing many to relocate to the mainland. This is a hard fight because working with all parties and getting them on the same page is something that I have been working hard on since day one! And what makes it very hard coming from a business/private sector, the necessary changes needed for government to address this, should have been made yesterday!
We need to find better solutions to fix traffic on Oahu and build more affordable housing! House Bill (HB) 2748 was just signed into law by the Governor, allocating $570 million for affordable housing. We need to make sure that we have the infrastructure for these developments and that the “affordable” housing is actually affordable for the majority of the population.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?

N/A

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