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Candidate Don Couch
October 18, 2012
Running against: Alana Kay
Birthplace: Long Beach, CA
Profession: Incumbent
Electoral Win/Loss Record: 1/3
First electoral victory: 2010
Supports: New water source development, short-term rental regulations
Opposes: Lipoa Point development, drinking alcohol in South Maui parks
Gets campaign donations from: Promoter Shep Gordon, Masons Local 630, Maui Vacation Rental Association, Alexander & Baldwin HI PAC, builder Stephen J. Goodfellow, West Maui Venture Group Partner John Kean, Operating Engineers Local #3
Don Couch isn't your typical Maui County Councilmember. Though nominally a Republican, Couch's own record over the last two years show authentic bipartisanship. After repeatedly failing to get elected to the state Legislature, Couch spend a few years as an aide to Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa (who is also nominally a Republican). Though still fiscally conservative, Couch has won pretty deep support from various labor unions. His opposition to Maui Land & Pineapple Company's cynical request to remove development protections from beloved Lipoa Point has also endeared him to the island's environmentalists. But don't mistake him for a slow growth activist: his actions during the Maui Island Plan hearings show him far friendlier to the county Planning Department (and its opposition to urban growth boundaries) than to Maui Tomorrow.