Russ Grunch’s Campaign Gains Momentum with Key Star-Advertiser Endorsement

News Release from Grunch Campaign July 27, 2014

Honolulu City Council District 8 (Aiea/Pearl City/Waipahu) candidate Russ Grunch picked up a key endorsement from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The Star-Advertiser made their announcement July 22, 2014, noting that Grunch “stands out among the four vying to replace Breene Harimoto, who is giving up the Aiea-Pearl City-Waipahu seat to run for state Senate. Grunch, elected to the Aiea Neighborhood Board in 2013, is a strategic planner adept at zero-base budgeting, and would not be quick to raise property taxes or other city fees.

Grunch, 61, a retired colonel who works as a civilian logistics supervisor for the Air Force, wants the city to consolidate multiple billing systems to extract savings. His opinion about extending the 0.5 percent excise tax surcharge to fund Oahu's rail project past the current sunset date is equally pragmatic: "2022 is eight years away. If we extend the tax surcharge now, there will be little incentive for our rail program managers to find ways to lower program costs. He offers viable, common-sense solutions to address district concerns, which include improving pedestrian safety, reducing traffic and curtailing unwanted development, and thinks big when it comes to energy self-reliance.”

About Russ Grunch

Russ retired from the Air Force in 2004 after 34 years of enlisted and officer service with experience as a commander, staff officer, planner, programmer, budget analyst, transportation, urban development and medical logistics. Since then, he has been an Air Force civilian doing much the same work for the Pacific Air Forces Command at Hickam Air Force Base. Russ has spent over 30 of his 43 year association with the Air Force in the Pacific theater with 10 years in Korea and numerous assignments in Hawaii, Japan, and Diego Garcia.

He was awarded two Legion of Merits for superior leadership first as Director of Logistics and Commander of the 607th Air Support Group for Seventh Air Force in Korea and then as Chief of the Logistics Plans Division at Pacific Air Forces. He was selected for and attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base and later in his career was the National Defense University Senior Air Force Fellow at RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California.

Russ and his wife Jeanie have been married for 40 years and have two children and four grandchildren.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/RussForResults