MINA MORITA
SURROUNDED BY ALOHA

by Sheila Heathcote Arthur (Kauai Magazine Winter 2000)

The focus of Representative Mina Morita’s life, quite understandably, is politics. “I know I represent the most beautiful and spectacular district in the nation. It is an awesome responsibility to balance the natural beauty and rich culture of this paradise to the needs of our communities and visitors.” Mina confided.

Mina grew up at Koele Ranch, Lanai, the present site of the luxurious Koele Lodge. Her father, Richard, is of Japanese descent, and served as the State Game Warden. Her mother, Anita is half-Hawaiian and half-German, and worked as a Dole pineapple field worker. The sixth of eight children, young Mina was also hanai’d (informally adopted) by Lanai neighbors Ernest and Rebecca Richardson.

“Ernest was a ranch cowboy who became a Dole truck driver after the ranch closed, and Rebecca was also a pineapple field worker. I feel very fortunate that I grew up with two sets of parents, two sets of brother and sisters, two sets of aunties, uncles and cousins – everyone should be in the same “predicament,” Mina explains, “surrounded by a lot of aloha.” That’s what Mina and her husband, Lance Laney, provided their two daughters, Misha, age 20, and Mindy, age 19.

Mina, at age 12, boarded at Kamehameha School in Honolulu, then attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After UH, she worked in Washington, D.C. as Senator Hiram Fong’s receptionist. When the Senator retired, her first job on Kauai was in the visitor industry in the resort sales department at Princeville.

“Then in 1980, my sister got the lease on Hotel Lanai and I went home to Lanai to manage it for her. I lasted six months,” Mina said. “Both Lance, my husband, and I were so homesick for Kauai.” Returning to the Garden Island, Mina worked with her husband in his plaster and drywall business. She also ran for county council.

Though unsuccessful at her council bid, Morita stayed active in Kauai politics. Between 1990 to 1996, while business manager for Kong Lung, Morita served on the Planning Commission and the Police Commission.

“In 1996 I was part of a large group looking for a candidate to run against the incumbent. Unfortunately, no one would step forward, so I ran for State House of Representatives and won by 75 votes. I ran for office so people would have a choice in the elections.”

The 45-year-old legislator was elected to the House of Representatives in 1997 for the 12th District, which includes Hanalei, Kilauea, Anahola, and Kapaa on Kauai, plus Haiku, Keanae, Nahiku and Hana on Maui – a so-called “canoe” district. She serves on the Energy and Environmental Protection Committee as the Chair, Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, Consumer Protection and Commerce, Water and Land Use, Ocean, Recreation and Marine Resources.

“I have lived in some very special places . . . However, I can always remember the day when I first visited the north shore. It was the summer of 1968 and I was 13. Even though I was from Hawaii, when I saw Hanalei Bay, I could not believe that such a beautiful place existed. The whole drive out to the north shore was like a dream – each vista was more striking than the next. I never imagined that I would be calling Hanalei my home. Now I know I never want to live anywhere else.
“I feel spiritually grounded in Hanalei. As I watch the rise and fall of Hanalei River as it runs through my backyard, experience the ka ua loku (the heavy rains) of Hanalei, the big winter surf, the cycles of planting and harvesting taro – I feel connected to and humbled by a greater force.

“These are the elements that I hope our communities and visitors will recognize as the essential life forces that we must keep in balance. I know our Kauai community is sensitive of the importance of natural and cultural resources to our identity and quality of life. Our biggest challenge is how to share this wealth, which we cannot create, without compromise and destruction.”

District 14, East & North Kauai

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CA Hydrogen Business Council
Hanalei Rotary
Women In Business
Hydrogen Partnering Meeting

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Bottle Bill
Hawaiani Electric Company

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