Romeo Munoz Cachola, commonly known as Romy Cachola, is a Democratic

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

from the state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

and former member of the

Hawaii State House of Representatives The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consis ...

, representing House District 30 (Kalihi Kai, Sand Island, Hickam, Pearl Harbor, Ford Island, and Halawa Valley Estate) since 2012. He formerly served in the Hawaii State House of Representatives from 1984 to 1992 and 1998 to 2000. An immigrant from the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Cachola became one of the first

Filipino American Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...

s to be elected to the

Honolulu City Council Honolulu City Council is the legislature of the City and County of Honolulu, the capital and largest city in Hawai'i, the fiftieth state in the United States. The City and County of Honolulu is a municipal corporation that manages government asp ...

since statehood in 1959.

Education

Born in the historic

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Vigan Vigan, officially the City of Vigan ( ilo, Siudad ti Vigan; fil, Lungsod ng Vigan), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 53,935 people. Loc ...

in the Philippines province of

Ilocos Sur Ilocos Sur, officially the Province of Ilocos Sur ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ilocos Sur; tl, Lalawigan ng Ilocos Sur), is a province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the capital o ...

, Cachola studied at Quezon University near

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees. After having settled in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

and obtained

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

citizenship, Cachola became an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and realtor.

Politics

With the urging of fellow Filipino Americans in his neighborhood, Cachola ran for the House District 39 seat comprising Aliamanu, Foster Village, and all the military housing districts on the southern coast of

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

. He served the district until reapportionment in 1991 placed him in House District 30. He successfully ran for the seat and continued his service as a legislator until his election to the Honolulu City Council in 2000, when he replaced outgoing then-Councilmember

Donna Mercado Kim Donna Mercado Kim is an American Democratic party politician from Hawaii. She is a state senator from Senate District 14 and was President of the Hawaiʻi Senate for almost three years. Education Kim attended, and graduated from Farrington Hig ...

in a special election. In the Honolulu City Council, Cachola served as chairman of key positions with budget authority. As Chairman of the Zoning Committee, he was considered one of the most powerful politicians in the

City & County of Honolulu Honolulu County (officially known as the City and County of Honolulu, formerly Oahu County) is a consolidated city–county in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The city–county includes both the city of Honolulu (the state's capital and largest city ...

following the mayor, managing director and council budget chairman. In 2003, Cachola was elected by his fellow council members as floor leader. Cachola was reelected to the Honolulu City Council on September 18, 2004. In 2005, the City Council approved a tax increase to fund mass transit, the largest and most expensive public works project in state history. In 2007, shortly after the tax went into effect, Cachola was the swing vote in a controversial decision to decide the train's route. Cachola insisted that the route go through Salt Lake as a condition of his support. Though the Council voted 5-4 to approve a route with Cachola's changes, some Salt Lake residents voiced opposition to the noise and property devaluation that they feared rail transit would bring to their community. After the following city elections and over loud objections by Cachola and some Salt Lake residents, the new City Council reconsidered the decision and decided to re-route the rail line to pass by

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

and the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

, without a Salt Lake alignment. Cachola was fined $2,500 in July 2014 by the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission for state campaign spending violations and had to reimburse his campaign $32,000 for using campaign money to buy a new truck and allegedly use it for personal reasons. He admits no wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement agreement. In September 2014, the Honolulu Ethics Commission fined Cachola $50,000 "based on a number of aggravating factors in the case, ..including that the misconduct occurred over several years on a monthly basis, that Cachola knew the ethics laws and their penalties but 'blatantly disregarded' them, and that he failed to cooperate with the commission during its investigation." Honolulu Ethics Commission executive director Chuck Totto said in a news release that " is case is a perfect storm of public corruption," and that the $50,000 was the largest civil fine ever approved by the commission. In the 2020 Democratic primary elections, he lost his bid for reelection to Sonny Ganaden in a 64% to 36% vote.

References

External links

City Council District VII

Representative Romy M. Cachola
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cachola, Romeo Munoz Filipino emigrants to the United States American politicians of Filipino descent Members of the Hawaii House of Representatives Honolulu City Council members Living people People from Vigan Manuel L. Quezon University alumni 21st-century American politicians 1938 births Asian-American city council members Asian-American people in Hawaii politics Hawaii politicians of Filipino descent