Pamela V. Brown
Write Path, an L.L.C.
Kauai Business Report, December 2003
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Pamela V. Brown Write Path, an L.L.C. |
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Kauai Business Report, December 2003 |
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Business Owners find Politics
Challenging, Invigorating
By Pamela V. Brown LIHUE - For first-year Councilman and Kauai business owner Mel Rapozo, getting used to the pace of government has been a learning experience. "I'm quite impatient and I don't say that in a bad way. I'm eager to get things done," Rapozo said. "The frustrating thing for me is the time it takes to get things done in government as opposed to private business." Time is the pervasive theme for business owners-turned politicians - too much time to accomplish things in government, the challenge of sharing personal time with constituents and juggling time between business and political responsibilities. Rapozo was used to calling the shots himself as owner of M & P Legal Support Services, a private detective agency, and with a partner in Kauai Metals and Pawn. He's found it to be an educational - and time-consuming - experience to listen to six other perspectives presented by his fellow council members. "A lot of times people think we're stalling and that we're not doing anything, but that's just the way it's set up," Rapozo said. "You just gotta play by those rules." Fellow councilman Jimmy Tokioka, who was a partner in the restaurant Da Box Lunch Place when first elected to the council seven years ago, also struggled with the tempo of government as compared to decision-making in his own business. Now he understands that the responsibility placed upon politicians translates into time. "When you're spending the taxpayers' dollars, you need to be informative to the entire tax base on how and why and what you're spending their money on, and that in itself takes a long time," Tokioka said. Kauai's state senator Gary Hooser believes that the deliberate slowness and complexity of lawmaking is what America's forefathers had in mind when the rules were originally created. "They didn't want the legislative body to get so caught up in the whatever's the issue of the day that they ram all this stuff through." Hooser said. "The world is made up of a lot of people so we're all checks and balances on ourselves," he said. Time in Short Supply Hooser, a former Kauai county councilman and partner in H&S Publishing and Best Places Hawaii, says it's not this intense on Oahu, but the accessibility on Kauai serves the public well. "It's a lot easier for someone to grab me in the store than to set up an appointment or to call me on the phone," he said. "I like talking to people and that's part of your job." As much as he enjoys it, emergency dashes to pick up milk are no longer on the agenda. "I can't run in and get anything because people want to talk," he said. "I don't want to be rushing around. I tell people don't worry because if I didn't want to talk, I wouldn't be in the store." Approaching elected officials in person is part of Kauai's culture and Tokioka agrees with Hooser that it's just part of the job. "I don't know that you ever get used to it, but you expect it," he said. Tokioka, who is now sales and marketing director for Hawaii Timeshare Exchange, said people have talked with him at bus stops, in crosswalks and at baseball games. "They see me and it clicks, 'I can talk to him about this' because I'm visible," he said. The constant attention can get tiring - "It never stops," said Rapozo - but all three men agree that the direct connection with the public they serve is vital. "I haven't had anyone come up and complain about something that isn't valid," Rapozo said. "That's what I feed off of and that's what starts the process for me." Toll on Business Both council and senate jobs are considered part-time - and the pay is commensurate - but there's no way to tackle all the work in part-time hours. "Council is no doubt a full-time job," Rapozo said. "I can honestly say at the council level, any elected position here, it's community service." To handle the extra work at his detective agency that he's no longer able to do personally due to council commitments, Rapozo has hired two employees, an expense that he wouldn't have otherwise had. "It hasn't improved my financial status," he said. It's a constant challenge to fit in family commitments, school schedules and the council life with work. "I'm just like everyone else out there trying to make a living. You've got to find a way to juggle it," Tokioka said. The challenge for Kauai-sized businesses, Hooser said, is that they're not usually large enough to afford a manager who's not around to manage or an owner in name only. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Indeed, Tokioka said he left the last restaurant partnership he was in due to time constraints. Hooser acknowledges that public service done right takes time away from all aspects of life. "Everything gets a little less attention," he said, but he's found ways to cope. "You just compartmentalize your brain," he said. "You try to do what you're doing more effectively. At the same time you do what your heart's into. My heart's into this."
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Contact Information: Pamela V. Brown (808) 651-3533 cell (808) 821-1027 fax |
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"Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Proverbs in Prose |
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