emiller@westhawaiitoday.com
BY ERIN MILLER | WEST HAWAII TODAY
An Oahu counselor will take on a former governor and a perennial GOP candidate for the Republican Party’s U.S. Senate nomination.
John Roco, 46, said he wants to build on his showing during the 2010 GOP Senate primary election, when he garnered 22 percent of the vote against eventual nominee Cam Cavasso. He likely will face Linda Lingle and John Carroll in the August primary to select the GOP candidate to vie for outgoing Sen. Daniel Akaka’s seat.
Roco said he’s not taking campaign donations, and that sets him apart from his opponents.
“I’m beholden to nobody,” he said.
The married father of two, a Catholic, said family values are a top issue for him.
He said he plans to consider “what issues need to be looked at to make it a better place when I’m not here anymore.”
Roco founded Saint Damien Advocates, a nonprofit organization he said defends Catholic organizations against laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in adoptions and foster care placements. Such laws have forced the closure of Catholic adoption agencies in three states, he said, and a national law was introduced in Congress last year.
Roco said he lost his voice following a car accident 11 years ago, and when he regained it, he was motivated to run for elected office.
“I’m really someone that has had quite a journey in my life,” he said. “You need to use what you’re given back.”
emiller@westhawaiitoday.com