The Garden Island Newspaper: Mahalo Kauai for electing Justin as Kauai’s next Prosecuting Attorney.
Endorsed by the Hawaii Government Employees Association
“I am humbled and honored that the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO, voted unanimously to endorse my candidacy for Prosecuting Attorney. HGEA is the largest union in Hawaii, with 42,400 members, and HGEA is the only union with members employed at the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. I look forward to working together with HGEA and its members in the years to come as we work to make our community a safer place.”
Endorsed by the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 50
Endorsed by Experienced Former Employees of the Kauai Office of the Prosecuting Attorney
Front row (l to r): Craig De Costa (former Prosecuting Attorney), Justin, Shauna Lee Cahill (former Deputy Prosecutor)
Back row (l to r): Rosa Flores (former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, former Deputy County Attorney), Jocelyn Barriga (former Prosecutor’s Office Victim Witness Advocate), Tracy Murakami (former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney) and Darren Kiyotsuka (former Prosecutor’s Office Victim Witness Advocate).
“I am proud to have endorsements from so many experienced and talented individuals. Together, these people spent many years making Kaua’i safer. I am honored and humbled to have their support.”
“Kaua`i is an amazing blend of kama`aina and malihini-kama`aina, and by that I mean all of the people who have been drawn to make Kaua`i their home. I am one of them.
“All of us have the same loyalty to our island home, and the desire to keep Kaua`i Kaua`i. I am running for prosecutor to help make that happen.”
Justin Kollar’s upbringing in Allentown, Pennsylvania was not unlike the upbringing of many of us here in the islands. His first generation American grandparents raised Justin and his younger brother while his parents worked in the garment factories. Much as many of our first generation worked in the plantations, Justin’s grandparents worked in the steel mills in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, part of America’s rust belt.
In the same way that so many islanders are “hapa,” having ancestors from many nations, Justin is of Slovak, Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch descent. He grew up surrounded by hard working people who worked to develop strong families and strong communities.
It isn’t at all surprising that someone with Justin Kollar’s values and background would find themselves at home on the island of Kaua`i. On his first visit to the islands in 2001, he fell in love with the place and the people that we have all fallen in love with, and returned to O`ahu to clerk for the Honorable Daniel R. Foley, who serves on the State of Hawa`i’s Intermediate Court of Appeals.
